Sharon Fekrat
Professor of Ophthalmology

Sharon Fekrat, MD, FACS is a board-certified, fellowship-trained vitreoretinal surgeon and has been part of the Duke faculty for 25 years since completing her training at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions where she was the first woman Assistant Chief of Service on-call for ocular trauma and retinal conditions continuously for 365 days. Dr. Fekrat has co-authored over 200 publications in peer-reviewed medical journals and over 50 textbook chapters. She is chief Editor of Duke Eye Center’s All About Your Eyes, Wolters Kluwer's The Duke Manual of Vitreoretinal Surgery, and both editions of SLACK's Curbside Consultation in Retina as well as Series Editor for The Duke Manuals of Ophthalmic Surgery. Dr Fekrat is Faculty Editor-in-Chief of the Duke Journal of Case Reports in Ophthalmology which she founded. While at Duke, she has held various leadership roles at Duke's VA affiliate, the Durham VA Medical Center, including Chief of Ophthalmology, Interim Chief of Surgery (leading 80 Duke surgeons across all surgical specialties), Interim Deputy Chief of Staff, and is currently Associate Chief of Staff. Fekrat sits on the Editorial Board of Retinal Physician, Ophthalmology Times, Ophthalmic Surgery Lasers Imaging Retina, Retina Times, and is an Executive Editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology. She has received many prestigious awards including the Ronald G. Michels Award (first woman), Heed Award, Heed-Knapp Award, Rhett Buckler Trophy, AAO's Senior Achievement Award, American Society of Retina Specialists' (ASRS) Senior Honor Award, Golden Globe Award from the Duke Ophthalmology Residents, Distinguished Contributor Award from the ASRS Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases, Retina Hall of Fame induction, and 2022 ASRS Crystal Apple Award. She has been selected by her peers to Best Doctors in Business North Carolina annually since 2005. Fekrat was selected as one of 150 retina doctors leading retinal innovation by Ocular Surgery News.

Dr. Fekrat has been Director of the Duke Vitreoretinal Surgery Fellowship Program, Director of Ophthalmology Faculty Mentoring and Career Development, and is currently Director of Duke iMIND Research Group and Past President of the North Carolina Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. In addition to mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows in clinical research from her retinal vein occlusion, endophthalmitis, and other databases, Dr Fekrat is studying Alzheimer's proteins in the aqueous humor of the eye. She also leads the iMIND international multidisciplinary clinical research team evaluating multimodal retinal, choroidal, and optic nerve imaging for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerations and is collaborating with Duke engineers and computer scientists to train a machine learning model for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and mild cognitive impairment. Their team's work has been featured on ABC, CBS, Fox, Reuters, Newsweek, and several hundred news outlets around the world. She has given invited testimony on this work to the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

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