Florida Retina Institute

by Laura Breen Galante

The specialists at Florida Retina Institute in Lake Mary are highly qualified and dedicated to exceptional patient care. 

The retina is an extremely specialized field of study. Providers at Florida Retina Institute each decided to focus on the retina by following different paths.

Dr. Matthew Cunningham chose to study the retina due to its critical importance for healthy vision. The retina plays an extremely important role in our vision, and when something goes wrong in the retina, it can lead to blindness.

“It gives me the opportunity to really change the outcomes in a lot of patients’ lives,” Dr. Cunningham says. “We have different interventions that we’re able to offer patients with potentially vision-threatening conditions to allow them to have the best potential outcome.”

Dr. Alexander Barnes agrees. “As a medical student and resident, I was amazed by how retina specialists could improve their patients’ quality of life through a variety of medical and surgical interventions,” he says.

Dr. Jaya Kumar enjoys the intricacies of studying the retina.

“I found so many parts of ophthalmology to be fascinating and very technically challenging, but I found the retina to be the most challenging from the technology, treatment options, and surgical techniques that we can do,” she says. “I really found that we had a positive significant impact on patients’ vision.”

Dr. Elias Mavrofrides says he was very fortunate to have some great mentors along his educational journey. He ended up working alongside Dr. William Mieler, recipient of the Life Achievement Honor Award from the American Board of Ophthalmology.

“He is a very well-known retina specialist and just a wonderful person to learn under,” says Dr. Mavrofrides. “I gravitated toward spending extra time with him and ultimately fell in love with the retina.”

With an initial interest in neurobiology and study of the brain, Dr. Ruwan Silva switched his field of study to the retina because, he explains, the retina is actually part of the brain.

“A lot of the research I did in neurobiology comes from studying the retina,” Dr. Silva described. “It’s extraordinarily interesting from that perspective. The surgeries are some of the most intricate in the entire body.”

Providers at Florida Retina Institute are not only experts in their field – they care for their patients as they would a family friend.

Born into a family of optometrists, Dr. Tom Barnard was inspired by family members but went one step further. He founded Florida Retina Institute and brought on doctors who believe in putting patients first. 

“Florida Retina is a unique practice,” says Dr. Kumar. “From the time that you make your appointment to the time you’re seen by the doctor and you check out, each and every person that interacts with you really tries to make you feel like you are the most valuable patient coming to our practice.” 

When Dr. Mavrofrides was looking to return to his hometown of Orlando, he chose Florida Retina Institute because he says the practice was head-and-shoulders above anyone else.

“It’s just a great group of doctors who are focused on taking great care of patients and prioritizing patient needs,” he explains.

Exceptionally trained, personable physicians who are committed to providing excellent patient care attracted Dr. Barnes to the practice.

“The support staff, from the front desk to the managers, are all wonderful to work with and committed to providing patients with an outstanding experience,” he says.

The overall quality of the physicians was important to Dr. Silva, too. Not only do their clinical skill and acumen stand out, he says, but “from top to bottom, every single person in the group is a fantastic, good person.”

Dr. Cunningham agrees. “I wanted a practice that was an ethical practice, that puts patient care first, and one where I had a very good relationship with my partners,” he says.

Everyone on staff at Florida Retina Institute is dedicated to a mission of putting patients’ needs first.

“We want to provide the highest level of care that we can,” says Dr. Kumar, “with our very well fellowship-trained doctors.”