Cornea and External Diseases Subspecialists

Cornea and External Diseases Sub-specialists

CESAR RAMON G. ESPIRITU, MD

Dr. Espiritu practices at the Associated Eye Specialists, the American Eye Center and serves as vice-chairman of the Manila Doctors Hospital ophthalmology department.

He earned his degree as Doctor of Medicine at the University of the Philippines and obtained his ophthalmology training from the University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital. He completed a fellowship in cornea, uveitis and infectious diseases at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California in San Francisco.

Dr. Espiritu is a founding member of the Philippine Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the Philippine Ocular Inflammation Society and the Cornea Club of the Philippines of which he serves as current president. He is also a member of the board of examiners of the Philippine Board of Ophthalmology, the course director of the Center for Ophthalmic Microsurgical Skills Advancement, and the chief of service of the cataract section of the department of ophthalmology of The Medical City Hospital.

He is recognized as one of the top cataract surgeons and key opinion leaders locally and internationally. Testament to this is the total of twelve live cataract surgery demonstrations that he has done in eye conventions abroad since 2005 (Jakarta, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Bali, Lahore, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hanoi, Chicago, Berlin and Sydney). He is also a much sought after speaker and moderator on his key interests which are infectious diseases, corneal surgery and cataract surgery.

ALNETTE LEE TAN, MD

Dr. Tan obtained her Medical Degree from the University of the Philippines in 1992, after which she completed her residency training in Ophthalmology at the UP-Philippine General Hospital. She then pursued a career in Cornea, Refractive Surgery and External Disease, training under Dr. Marguerite McDonald - the first-ever physician to perform excimer laser eye surgery – at the Southern Vision Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Dr. Tan joined the Associated Eye Specialists-American Eye Center in 1997 and, since then, has developed into its Senior Refractive Surgeon. She is a frequent lecturer on LASIK and corneal refractive surgery in the Philippines and Asia, and is considered one of the key opinion leaders in the field of laser refractive surgery in the country.

She is a Clinical Associate Professor and a consultant in the Cataract and Refractive Surgery Service of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the UP-PGH. Dr. Tan is also a faculty member of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health.

Presently, Dr. Tan is the secretary of the Philippine Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery of which she is also a founding member. Other memberships include the Cornea Club of the Philippines, the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

BENJAMIN GERARDO G. CABRERA, MD

Co-founded the Associated Eye Specialists and practices at the American Eye Center in Manila. His training resume includes ophthalmology training at the University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital, clinical fellowship in Anterior Segment and External Disease at the University of the Philippines Institute of Ophthalmology and a clinical fellowship in Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation at the National Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled in Saitama, Japan.

Dr. Cabrera has been a board member of the Capitol Medical Center, an examiner for the Philippine Board of Ophthalmology and a clinical associate professor of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences of the University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital.

He is the founding president of the Philippine Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, a member of the Corneal Club of the Philippines and of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He heads the Evidence-Based Interest Group in Ophthalmology, a committee of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology.

Currently, he is a faculty member of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health and faculty of the Center for Micro-surgical Skills Advancement at The Medical City. He holds clinics at the American Eye Center, Capitol Medical Center and is a visiting consultant at The Medical City.

VICTOR JOSE L. CAPARAS, MD, MPH

Practices at the Associated Eye Specialists and the American Eye Center Manila. He obtained his ophthalmology training from the University of Philippines–Philippine General Hospital and completed fellowships in cornea/anterior segment at the University of the Philippines Institute of Ophthalmology and the Schepens Eye Research Institute of the Harvard Medical School. He also holds a masters degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Caparas is a founding member of the Cornea Club of the Philippines, the Philippine Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the International Ocular Surface Society. He is a member of the prestigious Cornea Society (formerly the Castroviejo Society) and is member and country liaison for the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society. He is a frequent lecturer here and abroad on ocular surface topics such as Dry Eye, allergic conjunctivitis, and ocular infections.

In addition to the above, he is Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology of The Medical City, Pasig City, Philippines as well as the head of its Cornea and External Diseases section. He is also immediate past president of the Cornea Club of the Philippines, and vice president of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines. Dr. Caparas is currently Chairman of the Committee on Ethics and Practice Management of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology and is faculty member-in-charge for Ophthalmology of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Medicine and Public Health.

ANNA LISA T. YU-MATEO, MD

Dr. Yu-Mateo is a product of the Integrated Arts and Medicine (INTARMed) Program of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. After graduating in 1996, she underwent residency training in Ophthalmology at the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences (DOVS) of the Philippine General Hospital and served as its chief resident in 2000.

She underwent further training in Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgery at the University of California Los Angeles–Jules Stein Eye Institute. This was followed by another year of fellowship also in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at the Singapore National Eye Center.

In 2004, she became a partner of Associated Eye Specialists and The American Eye Center. She is currently a Clinical Associate Professor of the DOVS of the UP-PGH and a consultant of its Cataract & Refractive Surgery Service. She is also the chief of the Cornea & External Disease Section of the Rizal Medical Center. Dr. Yu-Mateo is currently an active member of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology, the Philippine Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery and the Cornea Club of the Philippines.

She is married to a stock trader and is a mother to a cute little boy.

MARY ELLEN A. SY , MD

Dr. Sy obtained her ophthalmology training and fellowship in External Diseases and Cornea from the University of Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH). She underwent further fellowship training in cataract and refractive surgery at the American Eye Center. She stayed on to practice full-time at the American Eye Center, specializing in LASIK and cataract surgery.

Dr. Sy graduated cum laude from Saint Louis University College of Medicine in 2000. She is also a licensed pharmacist.

Dr. Sy is an active member of the Cornea Club of the Philippines, the Philippine Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology. She is the representative of the Cornea Club of the Philippines to the Committee on Continuing Education in Ophthalmology (CCEO) of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology.