Razek Coussa, M.D., FRCSC

A native of Syria, Dr. Razek Georges Coussa will begin seeing patients on March 3rd, 2024. He recently practiced as a Clinical Assistant Professor and an adult and pediatric vitreoretinal surgeon at the Dean McGee Eye Institute (University of Oklahoma), where he founded the Retinal Gene Therapy Center, and granted the institute national certification. He is also the only and first surgeon who has treated patients with FDA approved subretinal gene therapy in the State of Oklahoma.

His academic journey started at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), where he graduated with a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering (Dean’s Honours list) in 2007, followed by a Masters in Biomedical Engineering in 2008. After obtaining a Masters in Philosophy in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom 2009), he returned to McGill University and completed his training in Medicine (2009-2013) followed by a post-graduate residency in Ophthalmology (2013-2018). Thereafter, he successfully obtained the Canadian Royal College certification in Ophthalmology and the American Board of Ophthalmology certification.

To develop complementary clinical, surgical, and research expertise in multiple retina-related sub-specialties, he undertook a unique pathway and completed four years of fellowship training. He first completed a one-year fellowship in Pediatric Ophthalmology and Inherited Retinal Diseases at the prestigious Cole Eye Institute of the Cleveland Clinic (2018-2019). This then led to pursuing advanced training in Medical Retina and Molecular Ophthalmology at world renowned Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Iowa (2019-2020), followed by an extensive training in Vitreoretinal Diseases and Surgery at Iowa (2020-2022).

Dr. Coussa has acquired extensive clinical research skills during his career, and has authored and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He plans on continuing his clinical and translational research interests in pediatric retina and inherited eye diseases, and conducting human clinical trials in view of advancing healthcare and promoting patient care. Dr. Coussa is fluent in 3 languages (English, French and Arabic).

In Wisconsin, Dr. Coussa will provide a wide range of adult medical and surgical retinal care, ranging from common conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, to complex retinal trauma and proliferative vitreoretinopathy-related retinal detachments. Additionally, Dr. Coussa will also be developing both a pediatric clinical and surgical practice in addition to an inherited retinal disease clinic. He also looks forward to caring for patients with complex and traumatic cataracts and providing them with the most up-to-date techniques in scleral fixated secondary lens placement.