Flavio A. Rezende, MD, PhD
801 Rue de la Commune
Apt 501
Montreal, QC H2L0A3
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(514) 867-2990 office
Professional Affiliations
Academic Appointments- Professor of Ophthalmology
- Vitreoretinal staff
Biography
Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After completing medical school and residency in Rio de Janeiro, Flavio went to McGill University, Montreal, Canada where he completed his Surgical Retina fellowship under mentorship of Drs Michael Kapusta and David Chow. Still at McGill, he also completed Ocular Oncology and Ophthalmic Pathology fellowships. Then finished his PhD degree in Science at University of São Paulo, Brazil.
He became an Associate Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology at Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC) – Rio de Janeiro and although he moved to Canada 15 years ago, still gives his annual Retina Course at PUC-Rio.
In Montreal, he serves as a Full Professor from the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Montreal (UdeM), where he leads the clinical/surgical side of the translational research team at the Centre Universitaire d’Ophtalmologie, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (CUO-HMR), Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His main focus is on surgical management of complex vitreoretinal diseases, academic teaching, and surgical translational research up to clinical trials.
As a vitreoretinal surgeon, he has been developing and improving complex vitreoretinal surgical techniques to manage vitreoretinal diseases and now leads the CLOSE Study Group for large macular holes studies.
On the academic side, he was in charge of the Vitreoretinal Fellowship Program from the Retina Service, Department of Ophthalmology, UdeM for 5 years (2013-2018). He is now creating the Flavio Rezende Surgical Teaching Foundation (FIER) in memory of his recently departed father (a former well-known anterior segment surgeon in Brazil). He’s constantly involved in training fellows and residents at UdeM.
As a surgical translational researcher, he has developed surgical techniques to obtain vitreous biopsies in an ambulatory setting, providing instrumental material for the Neuro-Vascular Biology Research Unit at CUO-HMR. Two molecules out this lab are in ongoing clinical trials in the US and Canada.
Flavio was also involved for 5 years with the implantation of ARGUS 2 Retinal Chip implant and helped developing an innovative surgical technique for a new generation retinal chip.
And finally, in the past 4 years he has served as the Clinical Director at CUO-HMR and, as such, he has been committed to bringing further innovation to benefit his patients and the Quebec community. We have become now one of the first centers in Canada for subretinal gene therapy for previously untreatable retinal conditions.