Alden Mead, JD

Alden is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor as well as the Program Manager for the section of International Ophthalmology and Global Eye Health and has been affiliated with the department for more than fifty years. He was a full-time clinical and basic science researcher and technologist from 1972 to 1999 and has been a member of the part-time faculty since that time. He is an author or coauthor of numerous scientific and clinical articles and papers in peer-reviewed ophthalmology journals, most in the area of glaucoma.

Alden has a diverse and comprehensive background in the international and business arenas of ophthalmology. He served as the Director of Technology Resources and Clinical Engineering of ORBIS International, a global nongovernmental organization dedicated to fighting blindness worldwide, working with numerous ophthalmologists, organizations, and governments around the globe. He has significant on-the-ground ophthalmology-related experience in countries that include Myanmar, Mongolia, India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Cuba, El Salvador, China, among others.

While at Yale full-time, he spent two summers collaborating on-site at the Institute Regina Elena in Rome, Italy, in research of the ciliary epithelium. He was also the United States Guest Scientist to the International Whaling Commission serving in Albany, Australia and on the Southern Ocean. As an intern during law school, he personally handling numerous refugee and immigration cases for the Chairman (Bruce Morrison) of the Immigration Committee of the United States House of Representatives.

For some years following Yale, Alden was the CEO of a very successful local ophthalmology group, overseeing much growth and success. He has been a member of the Advisory Committee for Outpatient Surgical Facilities to the Commissioner of Health, and currently serves the Connecticut Department of Health as a board member of the Connecticut State Board of Examiners of Opticians. He has been a member of several professional societies, both in and outside of ophthalmology, as well as a founding member of the Connecticut Glaucoma Society.

Alden received a J.D. degree from the University of Connecticut and attended the Yale Law School, Yale School of Management, and Yale School of Public Health as well. He is a combat veteran who served with distinction in Vietnam. As an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University, he currently teaches undergraduate courses in Global Health, Healthcare Business, and Engineering.