Profiles in Giving

Eric Donnenfeld DC '77, DMS '80: The Best Years

"I look back at the four years I spent at Dartmouth College and the three years I spent at DMS as the best years of my life," reflects Dr. Eric Donnenfeld, an ophthalmologist specially trained in cornea and refractive surgery.

Donnenfeld's fondness for the years he spent at DMS is due in no small part to the Medical School faculty. "The faculty choose to be there because of their love of teaching and love of the Dartmouth environment," he notes, adding, "I formed a personal bond with many of my professors that extended beyond the classroom and really helped shape my career."

And what an extraordinary career it has been so far. Dr. Donnenfeld, a pioneer in laser vision correction surgery, was one of the principal investigators of the Excimer Laser Study for Corneal Disease at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and participated in the studies that led to its FDA approval in 1995. He has earned a solid reputation as an international authority on refractive surgery, having performed over 19,000 procedures and written over 100 papers and books on the subject and lecturing throughout the world.

While his time at DMS helped him prepare for his successful career, there's another, more personal reason Donnenfeld looks back on those years as among the best of his life. "I met my wife Marleen, who is a radiologist, at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital when she was an intern and I was a third-year medical student. So, I have an especially warm memory of the institution," Dr. Donnenfeld explains.

With his school days behind him and a thriving career that takes much of his time, Eric Donnenfeld still maintains strong ties to his alma mater: as a class agent, as a member of the Dean's Council for the Future of Dartmouth Medical School, and as a generous donor to the Fund for DMS. When asked what inspires him to support DMS, he explains, "I feel that I will never be able to repay Dartmouth Medical School for what it has helped me to achieve in my lifeÑthe quality education I received is something I want future generations of physicians to experience." (360)

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