PHYSICIAN CEO 2022 Participant Directory

George Tanaka, MD, is a board-certified and fellowship-trained glaucoma and cataract surgeon who has been

offering his expertise in glaucoma diagnosis and management to the Bay Area community for over twenty years.

He is currently a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Pacific Vision Foundation Eye Institute and Co-

Director of the Glaucoma Service at California Pacific Medical Center where he has been awarded the Clinical

Faculty Teaching award five times. Dr. Tanaka was also the first Bay Area glaucoma specialist to perform all of

the recently FDA-approved MIGS (Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery) procedures. Dr. Tanaka has lectured

locally, nationally, and internationally on glaucoma diagnosis and surgery. He has authored numerous articles in

both peer-reviewed journals and subspecialty publications. His current research interests include novel methods

of improving the success of traditional and MIGS glaucoma procedures. Dr. Tanaka serves as an Associate

Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. He is a member of the American Glaucoma Society and

American Academy of Ophthalmology from which he has received an Achievement Award.

Dr. Tanaka graduated with high honors from Princeton University where he majored in electrical engineering

and computer science, completing a senior thesis on a microprocessor-based distance estimation system for the

visually impaired. Dr. Tanaka went on to receive his medical degree with honors from both Harvard Medical

School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and

Technology Program. During medical school he conducted two years of eye research focused on lens and

corneal metabolism at the Howe Laboratory of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Tanaka completed

an ophthalmology residency at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco where he received the

Erdbrink Resident Research Award. He then finished a glaucoma fellowship at Northwestern University before

entering private practice and joining the clinical faculty at CPMC.

Outside of work Dr. Tanaka enjoys hiking, cycling, working out in the gym, snowboarding, travel, and playing

the cello.