About Dr. Lindstrom
Richard L. Lindstrom MD is Founder and Attending Surgeon Emeritus at Minnesota Eye Consultants and a Senior Lecturer, Adjunct Professor Emeritus, and Trustee Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. He is a Visiting Professor and member of the Chairman’s Advisory Committee at the UC Irvine Gavin Herbert Eye Institute. He is a board-certified ophthalmologist and internationally recognized leader in cornea, cataract, refractive surgery, glaucoma, laser surgery, innovation, investment and the business of ophthalmology. He has been at the forefront of ophthalmology’s evolutionary changes throughout his 55-year career in medicine as a clinician, leader, researcher, teacher, inventor, writer, industry consultant and highly acclaimed physician and surgeon.
After graduating Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Lindstrom completed his B.S. and Doctorate Degree in Medicine at the University of Minnesota in 1972. After six months of corneal preservation research supported by the National Eye Institute, he completed a one-year internal medicine internship at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota followed by a three-year Residency in Ophthalmology and a one-year Fellowship in Cornea/External Disease and Research at the University of Minnesota and Affiliated Hospitals. He then extended his training with an Anterior Segment Surgery Fellowship at Mary Shiels Eye Hospital in Dallas, Texas for 6 months followed by a 6-month Heed Foundation Sponsored Fellowship in Glaucoma at The University of Utah Department of Ophthalmology in Salt Lake City, Utah. After two years of private practice in Dallas, Texas with William S. Harris MD at the Ophthalmology Center, in 1980 Dr. Lindstrom returned to the University of Minnesota, where he spent ten years in the faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences, the last two as a Full Professor and the Harold G. Scheie Research Chair. From 1980 to 1989 he also served as Chief of Ophthalmology at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Hospital.
Dr. Lindstrom entered private practice in 1990 and led the growth and expansion of Minnesota Eye Consultants, serving as Managing Partner for 15 years and Partner/Attending Surgeon for 32 years. In 2017 the practice was acquired by the Private Equity firm Waud Capital of Chicago and Unifeye Vision Partners (UVP) was founded. Dr. Lindstrom was appointed to the UVP Board of Directors and remains active in this position.
Dr. Lindstrom has served as Associate and then Chief Global Medical Editor for the USA and International Editions of Ocular Surgery News for 43 years, whose written and digital editions reach over thousands of ophthalmologists worldwide. The broadly read and influential Lindstrom’s Perspective is published twice per month. He has served as Course Director Healio Live Meetings Hawaii Eye and Retina, Sunshine Eye and Retina and OSN New York Eye and Retina since founding.
Dr. Lindstrom was elected President of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery for the 2007-2008 term and served on the ASCRS Executive Committee until 2025. He served on the Board of Directors of the ASCRS Foundation for 15 years, six as Board Chair. He served as President of the International Society of Refractive Surgery of the American Academy of Ophthalmology from 1993-1994, was elected President of the International Intraocular Implant Club for 2002 to 2004 and was president of the International Refractive Surgery Club from 2006 2008.
Dr. Lindstrom owns and serves as the Chairman and CEO of Lindstrom Restoration, a three-generation family Construction business founded by his father. His son Michael is the current President and COO and 12-year-old grandson Dean has begun his apprenticeship and is next in line.
He and his wife Jaci are active in philanthropy and have donated funds supporting the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology, the University of Minnesota Medical School, the University of Minnesota Tennis Team, The University of Minnesota Football Team, The Eye Bank Association of America, SightLife Eye Bank, hoag Hospital in Irvine, California, Blake Schools, Benilde Schools, AAO, ASCRS, ECLA and many others.
Dr. Lindstrom has been awarded 45 patents in ophthalmology having invented the widely used corneal preservation solution Optisol GS as well as several intraocular lenses, drugs and devices that are used daily in clinical practice worldwide. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lindstrom Restoration, Minnesota Eye Consultants, UVP, Ocular Therapeutix, Lensar, Harrow, Surface Ophthalmics, Foresight#6, Lentechs, Corneagen, Sydnexis, TearOptix, Lightfield Medical, EyeMac Regen, LeGrande, Horizon Surgical Systems and Acquea. He is a member of the Investment Committee at Visionary Ventures, a Co-Founder of Flying L Venture Partners and has advised several other Venture Capital firms including Versant, Schroeder Venture Life Sciences, and Merit Capital Partners.
Prior Board of Director service for sold companies includes eyeonics, Encore, Harrow, WaveTec, Iantech, Advanced Vision Science, Midwest Surgical Services, Laserboyz, Citation Ventures, LVCI, TLCVision, Sightpath, Onpoint Medical Diagnostics, Vision 21, Occulogix, Interfeen, Acufocus, MyEyeStore, Kedallion, Combangio, MD Backline, Wavetec, Equinix, Alphaeon, SightPath, Gondola, Refractec, MyEyeStore, Balance, LayerBio, Acufocus, Trukera, Interfeen and Aurion. Non-Profit Board service includes the University of Minnesota Foundation, Inner City Tennis, The Holland Foundation, the Minnesota Eye Consultants Foundation, and the ASCRS Foundation.
A frequent lecturer throughout the world on cornea, cataract, glaucoma, laser eye surgery, refractive surgery, innovation and the business of ophthalmology, he has presented over 45 named lectures and keynote speeches before professional societies in the United States and abroad, including the Binkhorst, Kelman Innovator, Steinert and Obstbaum lectures at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery; The American Academy of Ophthalmology Kelman, Barraquer and Lans Lectures; The Cornea Society Castroviejo Lecture; the David C. Chang MD Lecture at UCSF, the Steinert Lecture at UCI Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, the Norton Lecture at Bascom Palmer and the Michaels Lecture at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. He has received the Glaucoma 360 Accelerator Award. He is a member of the Eye Bank Association of America Paton Society and received the National Ambassador for Cornea Transplant award.
Select International named lectures include the Blumenthal Memorial Lecture in Jerusalem, Israel, the Benedetto Strampelli Medal Lecture in Rome, Italy, the Bjerrum Medal Lecture in Copenhagen, Denmark, the UKISCRS Choyce Medal Lecture in London England, the Albrecht Von GRAFE-Vorlesung Innovator’s Lecture in Nuremberg, Germany, and The International Intraocular Implant Society Medal Lecture in Paris, France.
In 2019 he was the first physician inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame. In 1998, the Eye and Contact Lens Association initiated the Richard L. Lindstrom MD Surgeon Lecture at its annual meeting. In 2021, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery initiated the Richard L. Lindstrom MD Symposium and Lindstrom Medal Lecture presented at its annual meeting each year. In 2022, The Wyanoke Group initiated the annual Lindstrom Leadership Lecture at Hawaii Eye and Retina in 2021. In 2025 at the World Cornea Congress in Washington DC the first Lindstrom Corneal Surgical Innovation Lecture and Prize will be awarded. In 2025 the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology inaugurated an annual Lindstrom Anterior Segment Visiting Professor and Lecturer. In 2025 Dr. Lindstrom was elected to the ASCRS Hall of Fame. Participants in the yearlong Minnesota Eye Consultants Corneal Fellowship Program founded in 1989 now number over 80 and are named Lindstrom Fellows.
Dr. Lindstrom serves on several journal editorial boards, including the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the Journal of Refractive Surgery. He has co-edited ten books, written many book chapters and published over 400 papers in peer reviewed journals. His professional affiliations are extensive and include the American Ophthalmological Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Refractive Surgery, the Cornea Society, The Eye Bank Association of America, The International Society for Refractive Surgery, The International Intraocular Implant Club, the Eye and Contact Lens Association, and the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology.
He is the recipient of numerous awards for distinguished service by national and international ophthalmology associations, including two Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International Society of Refractive Surgery of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Harold S. Diehl and Trustees Society Award from The University of Minnesota, and the Appleton Award from the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology. He has been elected repeatedly to Best Doctors in America. He was named the fourth most influential ophthalmologist in the world in the inaugural “The Ophthalmologist” power list in 2015.
Dr. Lindstrom is a fourth generation Minnesotan of Swedish descent and lives in his hometown of Wayzata, Minnesota on the shores of Lake Minnetonka with his wife Jaci. Their two children and five grandchildren live nearby. He and his wife Jaci have a second home in Irvine, California. He enjoys an active life including tennis, golf, boating, upland bird hunting, motorcycling, biking, walking their Pug Rubi, sharing family adventures and reading historical fiction when time allows.