Thomas D. Lindquist, MD, PhD, has been serving as Medical Director at SightLife since 1987. Lindquist is a cornea transplant surgeon and is Chief of Cornea and External Diseases at Group Health Cooperative in Redmond, Washington. Prior to this, he was Director of Cornea and External Service at Virginia Mason Hospital for nine years and also taught for nine years at the University of Washington, reaching the rank of professor.
He is a member of various professional organizations, including the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Cornea Society, Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group, Paton Society, and the Washington Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. He has served on many organization's boards, advisory panels, committees, and projects, including the Cornea Donor Study, working on medical standards, long-range planning, eye care, scientific programs, research, statistical reporting, etc.
His medical training includes:
Dr. Lindquist is the 2009 recipient of the Eye Bank Association of America's R. Townley Paton Society Award for Eye Banking, the EBAA's highest honor for cornea physicians in recognition of outstanding contribution to the EBAA's development and for exemplifying the precepts of R. Townley Paton, MD, father of modern eye banking and founder of the first eye bank established in the U.S. He received the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Senior Honor Award in 2002. He has been listed in the Best Doctors in America numerous times and listed in Seattle Magazine's "Top Docs."
He has served on the Editorial Advisory Board for Clinical Investigation for the Western Journal of Medicine and has been a scientific reviewer for publications including the American Journal of Ophthalmology, British Journal of Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology, Cornea, Comprehensive Ophthalmology Update, Current Eye Research, Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, etc.
Recent publications include two articles in Ophthalmology in 2008 — one on the effect of donor age on cornea transplantation outcome and the other on endothelial cell loss five years after successful cornea transplantation — as a member of the Cornea Donor Study Investigator Group. He has over 75 published papers, more than 40 book chapters, has co-authored five editions of Ophthalmic Surgery, published by Mosby-Year Book Medical Publishers, written numerous abstracts, and given many presentations on a variety of medical topics.
Dr. Lindquist’s research interests include axonal transport in normal and regenerating nerve, glial-axon interactions, astigmatism management, cornea wound healing, light-induced maculopathy, immunocytochemistry, and infectious keratitis, including protozoal organisms. Dr. and Mrs. Lindquist’s four children are all working, studying, or interning in healthcare-related endeavors.