David W. Parke II, MD

Dr. Parke serves as President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2008. He is a fellow of the Academy and received its Honor Award in 1989 and its Senior Achievement Award in 1998. In 2001 he was elected Senior Secretary for Ophthalmic Practice and has served on the Academy’s Board of Trustees since 2000.

Dr. Parke is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dean McGee Eye Institute. The McGee Eye Institute is one of the nation's largest nonprofit facilities devoted solely to research, clinical care, and education in ophthalmology and vision science. It has nearly 400 faculty and staff and consistently ranks in the top ten nationally in terms of National Eye Institute research grant support. Dr. Parke is also Edward L. Gaylord Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

A graduate of Stanford University and an AOA graduate of Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Parke completed residency training at Baylor College of Medicine, serving as Chief Resident. He then completed two years of fellowship training in diseases and surgery of the retina and vitreous. His professional activities have focused on that subspecialty and on medical education and biomedical organizational leadership and development.

Dr. Parke has held leadership positions on multiple professional boards. He is a Director of MedEncentive, a company integrating evidence-based medicine into a pay-for-performance structure. He is also Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company (OMIC), chairs the Board of Directors of the Academic Physicians Insurance Company and is on the Board of Directors of Medem, Inc., a San Francisco-based internet healthcare company. Dr. Parke’s other past medical leadership positions have included President of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology and Director of the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Parke has served on the Editorial Board of two ophthalmic journals, including as Executive Editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology and has received numerous biomedical research grants. Dr. Parke lectures widely on topics in retinal diseases and surgery, academic professional development, medical liability insurance, and medical organizational leadership and management. He is recognized in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Best Doctors in America.

Community activities include Board member of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and past Board member of the Oklahoma Economic Development Foundation and of Casady School. Dr. Parke is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation and served for ten years on the Board of the Presbyterian Health Foundation.

Dr. Parke’s wife, Julie T. Parke, MD, is Presbyterian Health Foundation Professor in the Department of Neurology at OU and Director of the Section of Child Neurology. The Parkes have three children—Will, who will begin ophthalmology residency at the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute; Laura, a research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein; and Lindsey, a senior at Wake Forest University.