Welcoming Two New Specialists

The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute recently welcomed two new physicians to our faculty: pediatric ophthalmologist Stephen Prepas, MD, and neuro-ophthalmologist Sam Spiegel, MD.

Prepas is no stranger to UC Irvine. He remembers when buffalo roamed along what is now Bison Avenue. After finishing medical school at UCI in 1975, he completed his residency under the guidance of nationally esteemed glaucoma specialist, the late Dr. Irving Leopold, who was then chair of ophthalmology at the UCI School of Medicine. Over the last four decades, Prepas continued the tradition of training new doctors, first as an award-winning ophthalmology professor at UCI from 1980 to 2002, then at George Washington University’s school of medicine.

The work Prepas is most proud of, though, is volunteering with the nonprofit Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International, treating patients and training eye doctors around the world. He has given his time and expertise on dozens of trips to countries that included Namibia, Nepal, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

“When I first started, there were no ophthalmology subspecialists in these places, so we would go there to treat patients,” Prepas says. “But over time, we trained local doctors to treat pediatric cases. By the 1990s, we were doing almost as much teaching as doing. It was a great evolution.”

Now, he is orchestrating a different kind of evolution. Transitioning patients from his longtime private practice in Newport Beach to the eye institute. He continues to provide their care alongside fellow UCI Health pediatric ophthalmologists Donny Suh, MD, and Charlotte Gore, MD. Prepas is also helping to train a new generation of pediatric ophthalmology fellows at UCI.

Spiegel also hopes to train up-and-coming ophthalmologists and neurologists in his specialty of neuro-ophthalmology, which has a shortage of trained providers. As a board-certified neurologist, Spiegel focuses on treating vision problems that stem from neurologic diseases, such as visual auras caused by migraines or optic nerve inflammation caused by multiple sclerosis. He earned his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at UCLA, his medical degree at Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia, then completed a neurology residency at Stanford University Hospital. He comes to UCI Health and the eye institute after completing a neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at UCLA’s joint Stein and Doheny Eye Institute.

“The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute offers the perfect mix of an outstanding academic health system with excellent training programs in both neurology and ophthalmology, along with a collegial community where I can help further develop interdisciplinary relationships between neurology, ophthalmology and other subspecialties” says Spiegel. “We have exciting opportunities to create unique and collaborative pathways for patients that can really have a tremendous impact on patient care.”