Charles A. Cole, MD

Professional Education, Practice, and Affiliations

Charles Cole, M.D. is a board-certified ophthalmologist who is fellowship trained in Glaucoma, Cataract and Refractive Surgery and a Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology. Dr. Cole earned his medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and did his residency at Mount Sinai/NYU. He completed his glaucoma fellowship at the Weill Cornell Medical Center joining the fulltime faculty and is now on the voluntary faculty. Dr. Cole is the director of the Glaucoma services at the New York Hospital Queens Eye Center where he is an integral part of the residency training program and is on the voluntary faculty of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.  Dr. Cole specializes in complex cataract and anterior segment reconstruction and advanced glaucoma techniques. He has expertise in minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), trabeculectomy, glaucoma drainage implants, manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) as well as femtosecond laser cataract surgery and all forms of refractive cataract surgery. Dr. Cole is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and an active member several organizations including the New York State Ophthalmologic Society, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) and the New York State Glaucoma Society. He is affiliated with ORBIS International, SEE International, the Virtue Foundation, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, and the Weill Cornell Medical College.

Dr. Cole is a dedicated educator and has worked as a course director for MSICS courses at NYEEI and was a speaker and instructor at the UIC/Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary MSICS course. Dr. Cole volunteers time at the annual meetings of the AAO and the ASCRS teaching in skills transfer courses that teach advanced anterior segment and cataract surgery techniques, MSICS, basic cataract surgery skills and MIGS procedures. He also teaches at the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) resident surgical training courses. He was a member of the AAO Basic and Clinical Science Course (BCSC) Lens and Cataract Committee responsible for writing and updating the Lens and Cataract volume of this series and has co-authored the most recent chapter in Albert and Jakobiec’s Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology on MSICS.

Service with SEE International

Dr. Cole is very active with the international community having conducted 30 surgical outreach programs to date since 2012 and travels annually to places such as Mongolia, Tanzania, Ghana, Peru, India and Cameroon to teach surgical techniques for cataract and glaucoma surgery. Presently Mongolia, Tanzania and Ghana are annual trips. He has been invited to speak or give courses in Austria, Cameroon, China, Croatia, India, Mongolia, Peru, Taiwan, and Tanzania.

Global & Local Health Initiatives

Dr. Cole is a volunteer faculty member of the Glaucoma Fellowship program in Mwanza, Tanzania operated in collaboration with the University of Utah, Moran Eye Center, University of Dodoma and Weill Cornell Medical College. This project seeks to make ophthalmology a center of excellence in Tanzania.

Dr. Cole actively participates in the AAO Global Ophthalmology Summits as a panel moderator and continues to be part of the Summit planning committee.