Cesar Michael A. Samson, MD

As an NYU Langone ophthalmologist, I treat patients who have uveitis, a form of eye inflammation. I also manage other serious inflammatory eye disorders, such as scleritis and ocular cicatricial pemphigoid. In most cases, these conditions are caused by an autoimmune disease within the eye.

Other ophthalmologists may refer patients with eye inflammation to our service because we are familiar with these rare conditions and have sophisticated methods of analyzing eye tissue and fluid samples. This gives us a distinct advantage in diagnosing uveitis and other inflammatory disorders. I also treat patients diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease, who are experiencing new-onset eye symptoms. Their physician may refer them to me for an ocular assessment as part of managing or diagnosing their systemic condition.

Medicine was truly my calling. The need for broad and deep scientific knowledge to help people in a personal and life-altering way gives me a level of fulfillment I felt I could not obtain in any other profession. I chose to specialize in ophthalmology because vision is one of the most important aspects of our health. I gravitated to the subspecialty of uveitis and ocular inflammatory disease because many of these conditions are among the most challenging and complicated cases eye doctors face, and they affect patients of all ages.

My treatment philosophy is to do whatever is possible to restore and preserve my patients’ eye health and vision. My training with numerous knowledgeable mentors, experience from years of practice, and collaboration with equally passionate physicians and healthcare providers have led to a high level of success. When my team and I do not have all the answers, we reach out to our network of specialist colleagues to find the best path forward.

When I’m not caring for patients, my research focus has been the efficacy of immunomodulatory therapy on different ocular inflammatory disorders and the immunologic mechanisms that drive uveitis. My hope is it will unlock ways to treat or even cure uveitis without the need to suppress the immune system.

Throughout my career, I have been listed in Castle Connolly’s “Top Doctors” series for the New York metro area. I have also received the Margaret Loeb Humanitarian Award for my research efforts in the field of trachoma, a bacterial eye infection, but the greatest awards are the smiles and gratitude of my patients.