Dr. Alan Kimura
Dr. Kimura is a board-certified vitreoretinal specialist in private practice in Denver, Colorado.
Combining deep experience as former tenured, academic faculty, with three decades in private practice, and a master's degree in public health (MPH) in health policy and management, Dr. Kimura brings a portfolio of diverse frameworks to the table as President, serving Colorado Retina, the largest retina-only, private practice in the Rocky Mountain West. Joining Retina Consultants of America was a natural evolution.
Dr Kimura grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, grateful to be exposed to ophthalmology by his uncle, a general ophthalmologist. Favored with outstanding mentors in retina during his ophthalmology residency at the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, he knew retinal diseases was to become his career path. Following residency, he studied vitreoretinal diseases at the University of Iowa during his two-year vitreoretinal fellowship, including a deeper dive into ocular vascular diseases under Dr. Sohan Hayreh.
After completing his fellowship, Dr Kimura accepted an offer to join the faculty in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa. Academicians must serve multiple roles and Dr Kimura returned to the University of Illinois for another fellowship to study under Dr. Gerald Fishman to learn inherited retinal diseases and clinical electrophysiology. Upon completing this additional fellowship, Dr Kimura assumed responsibility for the Electrodiagnostic Laboratory, in addition to duties as full-time faculty and Director of the Vitreoretinal Fellowship at Iowa. Dr. Kimura volunteers for the Foundation Fighting Blindness and Colorado Retina is one of 41 sites in FFB's Global Consortium of inherited retinal disease trials. He is the author of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters and has more than three decades of experience in FDA clinical trials, continuing in private practice with more than 30 active clinical trials today.
Dr. Kimura then began the next phase of his career, leaving his tenured faculty position at the University of Iowa to join a former colleague from Iowa in private practice in Denver. Through steady organic growth and friendly mergers, Colorado Retina has become the largest retina-only, community-based private practice in the Rocky Mountain West with 13 MD's. Combining a culture of uncompromising vitreoretinal clinical and surgical care with subspecialty care and clinical research generally found only in academic centers, Colorado Retina is a regional referral center for inherited retinal diseases, uveitis, and ocular oncology.
Ever curious, Dr. Kimura earned a master's degree in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2013, while working full-time. Focusing upon health policy and management, this learning has proven vitally important as President of Colorado Retina. He serves on multiple national, state, and local professional society committees, and medical society legislative committees on healthcare reform and financing, the larger context within which retina functions is viewed differently as a result. Colorado Retina was the only ophthalmology practice asked to participate in the Medicare Innovation Center's (CMMI) four-year, $700M Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, earning Exemplary Practice status and being named to the National Teaching Faculty. Dr Kimura is active in value-based insurance design, an accelerating trend in Colorado's healthcare ecosystem that informs national discussions affecting retina practices. Dr. Kimura also introduced Lean culture and process efficiencies to the practice after learning about the topic at the American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives meeting, coincident with the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology meetings. He was recently asked to join the AAOE Board for his practice's innovations in Lean. A graduate of AAO's Leadership Development Program, Dr. Kimura is honored to serve as a formal Mentor in the LDP program, as well as serving as faculty for the past five years on AAO's Global LDP for the next generation of Sub-Saharan African ophthalmologists. All these diverse experiences reinforce the lesson that strong leadership of diverse teams, each with their unique subject matter expertise, can outperform over the long-run, while innovating to create a better future.
