William J. Foster, MD, PhD, FRCS(C)
Diabetic Eye Care
Diseases of the Retina and Vitreous
Dr. Foster was born on Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, but, with his father a pilot in the US Air Force, his family quickly moved to Guam and continued moving until he reached high school. He has lived in DE, NJ, OH, KS, CA, VA, MA, NC, MO, and TX as well as on Guam and in Münster, West Germany.
He attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with honors in Physics. He then went on to graduate school at Harvard University, where he earned both a Masters of Arts (A.M.) and a Ph.D. in physics, and focused his efforts upon Biological Physics. During graduate school, he befriended a number of scientists at Harvard Medical School and became interested in the application of physics to medicine. After a great deal of exploration and soul searching, he decided to attend medical school, to broaden and deepen his knowledge of human biology and also to enjoy the opportunity to serve others with his knowledge.
He accepted a faculty position at Harvard Medical School in the Division of Experimental Medicine at the Brigham & Woman’s Hospital and applied to medical school. His research at Harvard Medical School was funded by a prestigious National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award.
Dr. Foster furthered his education by attending Duke University School of Medicine where he was awarded scholarship funding to complete school. While a medical student, Dr. Foster spent considerable time in the Duke Ophthalmology Department, and became convinced that Ophthalmology, and particularly vitreoretinal surgery, was the place where he could combine his two loves: surgery and physics.
Dr. Foster continued his training by accepting an internship in General Surgery at Duke University Hospital, known as one of the most challenging clinical programs in the country. He went on to become a resident in the famous Ophthalmology residency program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis. In the last year of his residency, he married his friend and soul-mate Amalia. Amalia is from Montreal, Quebec (where they were married) and a professor at the University of Houston. He then underwent fellowship training in diseases and surgery of the retina & vitreous at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, ULCA. He was recruited to Houston by an offer of a faculty position in Physics at the University of Houston.
Dr. Foster is Board Certified (a Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology), a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. He is an examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology, testing physicians who have completed their training and who wish to be Board Certified in Ophthalmology.
He is currently a Research Professor of Physics at the University of Houston and a Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill-Cornell Medical School and has obtained over one million dollars in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Academies for his research in intra-ocular materials. His work spans the range from the application of high-tech polymeric compounds to the repair retinal detachments to understanding how neurons can interface with nanostructured materials. His laboratory is one of the only laboratories in the country that is run by a physician and that works at the interface of medicine and advanced materials.
Dr. Foster and his wife enjoy the outdoors, particularly hiking, fishing, and sailing. He enjoys trying to learn new languages and can speak Russian and German comfortably. Although he has lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and in Houston since 2004, he continues to take classes to improve his Spanish, and any help that you provide him is appreciated.
| Monday morning | West Holcombe |
| Friday afternoon | West Holcombe |