Meet Dr. Douglas Katsev

Douglas Katsev, M.D., is the Surgical Director and founder of Santa Barbara Eyecare. Dr. Katsev grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and went on to receive his Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Louis University and graduated from Emory Medical School in Atlanta, Georgia. He returned to his hometown for his ophthalmology residency at Bathesda Eye Institute at St. Louis University.

He did a corneal/refractive fellowship at UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. He was previously practicing in private practice from 1990 to 2020 at the Sansum Clinic of Santa Barbara, CA. He has been both the chair of Ophthalmology at Sansum Clinic and Cottage Hospital.

After 30 years of dedicated work in the Ophthalmology world, he started Santa Barbara Eyecare in 2020. He performs more than 2500 cataract and refractive surgeries a year. Dr. Katsev is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. He has been on the editorial board of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today as well as has been a board member of the American College of Eye Surgeons and the Santa Barbara Surgery Center.

During private practice, he has been active in clinical research with various intraocular lenses and refractive products. He continues to lecture on cataract and refractive surgery at most major meetings and is a consultant for Omeras, Norvaritis, AMO, and Bausch + Lomb, Johnson & Johnson, Eyevance, Kala and has been a speaker for Alcon Sun and Allergan.

Dr. Katsev’s main passion is helping others. He has traveled the world correcting vision for the underprivileged and taught many surgeons internationally. He has traveled to Kenya, Honduras, Fiji, Vietnam, Singapore, and Venezuela to name a few. He works closely with SEE international and Kenya Relief on these medical missions. Most recently Dr. Katsev taught new advancements in corneal transplants all over India. Dr. Katsev is thrilled to start this next journey at Santa Barbara Eyecare.