Christopher S. Sales, MD, MPH

Dr. Christopher S. Sales is a board-certified ophthalmologist and fellowship-trained cornea and refractive surgeon practicing with Starling Physicians in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He brings an extraordinary career spanning the nation's premier medical institutions to serve patients in the greater Hartford area.

Dr. Sales earned his MD and MPH with Research Honors from Tufts University School of Medicine after completing his undergraduate studies at Brown. He completed internship training at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, ophthalmology residency at Stanford's Byers Eye Institute, and fellowship training in cornea, external disease, and refractive surgery at the Devers Eye Institute and the U.S. military's Joint Warfighter Refractive Surgery Center.

After fellowship, Dr. Sales served as an attending surgeon at Tufts–Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston before joining Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where he advanced to Associate Professor and helped pioneer DMEK surgery in New York City. At Weill Cornell, he also established the laser cataract and ICL programs.

In 2020, he joined the University of Iowa, where he became a tenured Associate Professor and served in departmental leadership roles. There, he advanced DMEK techniques for high-risk eyes, launched the HumanOptics prosthetic iris and EVO ICL programs, and founded the Iowa Eye Device Lab and the CIRCAA cornea fellowship.

In 2024, Dr. Sales founded Oko-Tek Inc., a medical device company dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from dry eye. He was selected as an inaugural domestic member of the Stanford BioDesign Global Faculty Training Program in MedTech Entrepreneurship that same year.

Dr. Sales has authored 50+ peer-reviewed publications, holds multiple patents for surgical devices, and was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in 2023. His expertise in DMEK surgery has made him a sought-after surgical coach worldwide, having trained 15+ cornea fellows and 40+ ophthalmology residents, and leading skills transfer courses at the American Academy of Ophthalmology, ASCRS, and the Cornea Society. He received the Gold Medal for Notable Contributions to Endothelial Keratoplasty from the Indian Intraocular Implant & Refractive Surgery Convention in 2024 and American Academy of Ophthalmology's Secretariat Award in 2025 for his video contributions to surgical education.

Beyond his clinical and entrepreneurial work, Dr. Sales has dedicated time to volunteer surgical missions in Tanzania, Guatemala, and Mauritius, and served in relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina. His commitment to service runs throughout his career.