Steve Aaron Arshinoff was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he attended high school and McGill University (B.Sc. 1st Class Honours Microbiology & Immunology). He received his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and then attended the University of Toronto for his residency in ophthalmology. He has been in private ophthalmic group practice in Toronto, Canada, since 1980, with academic appointments at the University of Toronto and McMaster University, Hamilton.

Dr. Arshinoff’s areas of special interest are primarily in cataract and refractive surgery. He is the author of over 250 peer-reviewed publications, 24 chapters in medical textbooks, and has lectured globally on techniques of cataract and refractive surgery. He has received numerous honors and awards, including ASCRS film festival awards, national society lectureships, presented named lectures including the Rayner lecture, and was invested with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. He is on the editorial board of five peer reviewed ophthalmology journals. He maintains an ongoing research commitment, primarily in simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery (SBCS), antibiotic prophylaxis for intraocular surgery, ophthalmic viscosurgical devices (viscoelastics) and phaco machine design.

Dr. Arshinoff has over 18 years experience in excimer laser refractive surgery. He was among the first in Canada to perform photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) (1991), and was the first in the world to propose and use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) topically to alleviate the pain of PRK (July 1991).

Dr. Arshinoff is the designer of the Ontario Medical Association - Canadian National Institute for the Blind Mobile Medical Eye Care Unit (OMA-CNIB MECU), and is the medical director of the MECU program, with which he has averaged 2 weeks per year in ophthalmic medical outreach to northern Ontario, Canada, for the past 30 years.

Dr. Arshinoff has served on the council of the Section of Ophthalmology of the Ontario Medical Association, and is the Founding President, and was a board member and Annual Meeting Program Chairman of the Canadian Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery (CSCRS) for over 10 years, the Founding President of the Eye Foundation of Canada, and a founding and current executive board member of the Toronto Ophthalmological Society (TOS). He is the founding president of the International Society of Bilateral Cataract Surgeons (iSBCS), and is an active member of many other ophthalmic academic societies, including the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC), of which he is currently an executive board member.