Damien Gatinel
The Power List 2018
Damien Gatinel
Head of The Anterior and Refractive Surgery Department of The Rothschild Foundation, Paris, France
Damien is not only an excellent surgeon and innovator extraordinaire. He is also a co-inventor of the first trifocal IOL, and devised a new classification for HOAs in his applied mathematics PhD thesis. With his colleague, Alain Saad, he developed an AI system for the detection of ectasia-susceptible eyes, the SCORE analyzer. He leads one of the most advanced departments in cataract, cornea and refractive surgery in Europe at the Rothschild Foundation in Paris. He teaches and trains around 12 residents and fellows per year, has published more than 100 manuscripts in the peer-reviewed literature and has given more than 200 invited oral presentations all over the world. His website, www.gatinel.com, is a national and international reference for ocular optics and optical wavefront understanding, receiving above 2,000 visits per day. Damien is also the co-creator of the website www.defeatkeratoconus.com.”
His research is mainly focused on IOL optical design, the mathematical modeling of laser refractive surgical procedures, astigmatism correction, and the detection of subclinical keratoconus. He owns several patents, and patent for the first diffractive trifocal IOL design resulting in him being given the title of Knight of the Order of the Crown from the Kingdom of Belgium. Damien is a board member of the Executive Committee of the ISRS and of the Research Committee of the ESCRS. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Refractive Surgery, and has received more than 20 international awards, including 10 Best Paper of Session, won during ASCRS meetings.
What are your goals for the future?
“Building success with a great team, coaching my fellows and watching them succeed.”
What has been your most successful collaboration?
“With Alain Saad, a top-notch collaborator without whom I could not have handled some challenging projects.”
What are your plans for the next 10 years?
“Developing other innovative ideas that come to fruition.”
