Research Day 2025

Dr. James Tsai is President of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (NYEE) of Mount Sinai, the first and longest-operating specialty hospital in the Western Hemisphere. He is also System Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, the inaugural Delafield-Rodgers Professor of Ophthalmology, and Founding Director of the Barry Family Center for  Ophthalmic Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Tsai was the inaugural Robert R. Young Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at Yale University School of Medicine and Chief of Ophthalmology at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Dr. Tsai is an expert in the diagnosis and management of challenging glaucoma cases and complex glaucoma surgery. He published the first taxonomy of medication compliance and adherence barriers in patients with glaucoma, and one of the first studies evaluating the use of erythropoietin  for neuroprotection in an animal model of glaucoma. He has served as editorial board member of 9 scientific journals and authored more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles,  chapters, reviews, and textbooks, including the Oxford  American Handbook of Ophthalmology and Medical  Management of Glaucoma.

Under his leadership, NYEE has pursued groundbreaking research in ocular imaging, artificial intelligence, and genomics, and developed the largest ophthalmology residency program in the country. Dr. Tsai has enhanced the capabilities of the country’s first ophthalmic robotic assistant and has overseen the implementation of an innovative system-wide tele-consult program for diabetic retinopathy, emergency department ophthalmic conditions, and central retinal artery occlusion. 

Dr. Tsai is the incoming President-Elect of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), immediate Past  President of the International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (IJCAHPO), and Chair of the Section on Ophthalmology of the New York Academy of Medicine and serves on the Administrative Board of the Council of Academic Health System Executives (CAHSE) for the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). He also serves as Executive Advisor to Mount Sinai’s Center for Asian Equity and Professional Development (CAEPD). 

He has received the American Academy of  Ophthalmology’s Life Achievement Honor Award, Fight for Sight’s Physician Scientist Award, Crain’s New York Business’ 2022 Notable Health Care Leaders Award, USC/Doheny Eye Institute’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime  Achievement Award. In 2023, Dr. Tsai received the Mount Sinai Alumni Association’s Dr. Sidney P. Grossman Distinguished Humanitarian Award. 

A Magna Cum Laude graduate and Trustee Emeritus of Amherst College, Dr. Tsai earned an MD from Stanford University School of Medicine and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He is the recipient of an M.A. (Hon) from Yale University. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles and glaucoma fellowship training at the Bascom Palmer Eye  Institute at the University of Miami Health System and at Moorfields Eye Hospital/Institute of Ophthalmology in London.