Rick Fraunfelder, M.D., director of the Casey Laser Center, brings a broad range of experience to Casey Eye Institute.  After an intensive education that took him from the United States to Australia to Sweden, Dr. Fraunfelder returned to Portland. “At Casey Eye Institute, I have the opportunity to work with the best,” he says.

Dr. Fraunfelder decided to become an eye surgeon because he loves helping people see better. “Eyesight is so precious,” he says. During his medical training, he demonstrated his commitment to helping others. After earning his M.D. from Oregon Health & Science University, Dr. Fraunfelder worked as a medical resident at Providence Medical Center in Portland. He then spent a year as an emergency room physician in the Australian outback, caring for the Aboriginal population.  “I wanted to care for patients in underserved areas,” says Dr. Fraunfelder. On his return to the U.S., he completed an ophthalmology residency at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.

After completing his residency, Dr. Fraunfelder returned to Casey Eye Institute for a fellowship in cornea, external eye disease, refractive surgery and eye cancer. He then arranged an additional, very specialized six-month fellowship to study the side effects of medications on the eye. During this time, Dr. Fraunfelder spent time at the World Health Organization in Sweden, drug companies in the United States and the United States Food and Drug Administration in Maryland. He then completed further training in eye cancers at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, where he specialized in tumors on the surface of the eye.

Dr. Fraunfelder has a long-standing interest in medication side effects and interactions. He directs the National Registry of Drug-Induced Ocular Side Effects (www.eyedrugregistry.com), the only database designed to gather data on the side effects of drugs on the eye. Dr. Fraunfelder and his father, Frederick T. Fraunfelder, M.D., a former chairman of Casey Eye Institute have co-authored three books together. In addition, he has published more than 100 articles in medical journals and many chapters in medical textbooks. He is a leader in using cryotherapy (freezing) for diseases on the eye’s surface, and also does corneal transplants using the latest advanced techniques.

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