Jerry Maida, M.D., M.B.A.

Dr. Maida is recognized world-wide as an authority on refractive surgery and LASIK. He performs thousands of refractive procedures yearly, more than anyone in North Florida. He is among the most experienced LASIK surgeons in the world. Dr. Maida has been using the Excimer laser for over 25 years, seven years longer than anyone else in Northeast Florida. He was also the first to perform the LASIK procedure in Northeast Florida, in 1996. Dr. Maida has been the recipient of the National and International Summit/Autonomous Excellence awards twice; only 20 and 25 (respectively) of the most experienced surgeons in the world received these awards. Dr. Maida is the only corneal refractive specialist in Northeast Florida dedicating his practice to refractive surgery.

After only three years of undergraduate study, Dr. Jerry Maida was accepted to the New Jersey College of Medicine without a diploma. After completion of his medical studies, he was the recipient of a New Jersey College of Medicine Fellowship that gave him an opportunity to work in the “bush” of Tanzania and study tropical disease medicine and work as a medical missionary. Dr. Maida was a Naval Flight Surgeon and pilot in the early 1970’s, and he served his residency at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia in 1976. He then undertook a fellowship in cornea and anterior segment surgery under Dr. John Sheets in Texas. He earned an MBA from the Wharton School of business in Philadelphia in 1992.

Dr. Maida organized the first Excimer Laser clinics in the countries of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in 1993. He trained over 100 surgeons in these countries in courses given with other world-renowned authorities. He has been in practice in Jacksonville for over 30 years, and throughout that time he has been a leader in the field of vision correction.

  • 1977-78 – Helped pioneer outpatient cataract surgery and lens implantation
  • 1981 – Began performing radial keratotomy (RK) and YAG laser surgery.
  • 1989 – Selected by Summit Technology to participate in FDA clinical trials.
  • 1989 – First to use Summit Excimer Laser in Florida and the sixth in the United States.
  • 1995 – One of the first in Florida and in the United States to perform the PRK laser procedure after its approval by the FDA.
  • 1996 – The first in Northeast Florida to perform the LASIK procedure.
  • 1999 – Received Distinguished National Award from Summit Technology for excellence in LASIK. Only 20 ophthalmologists share this prestigious membership into the Summit Apex Plus Society.
  • 2000 – Received the Distinguished International Award from Summit/Autonomous for excellence in LASIK. First to acquire the Autonomous Tracking Laser in Jacksonville. One of the first in the country to perform Hyperopic Astigmatism treatment after FDA approval.
  • 2002 – Only surgeon in Northeast Florida selected to offer conductive keratoplasty “CK.” First to utilize Wavefront technology in a private practice setting in the state of Florida.
  • 2003 – June 30th first to utilize IntraLase®- All laser LASIK in combination with LADARvision Wavefront technology in Florida.
  • 2010 & 2012 – Medical Missionary in Romania.
  • 1999-2016 – His Hobby – Mountain climbing has taken him to Everest seven times, Annapurna,  Kachunjunga, Kilimanjaro, Grand Tetons, Patagonia, Machu Pichu and Mt. McKinley.
  • 2016 – Dr. Maida merges his practice with Drs. Amit Chokshi and Akbar Hasan of Florida Eye Specialists to now form the largest group of fellowship-trained LASIK surgeons in the region.
  • TODAY – Dr. Maida has performed more than 22,000 LASIK procedures and 37,000 eye surgeries overall.