- TFOS global ambassadors and international chapter affiliate
Uruguay
Paola Pacheco
Paola Pacheco was Chief of the Cornea Department of the “Hospital de Ojos” Jose Marti in Montevideo Uruguay from 2007 until 2018. As Chief of the Cornea Department, Dr. Pacheco performed surgical training of residents and hundreds of small incision cataract surgeries, managed corneal surface diseases, keratoconus, ocular tumors and corneal and amniotic transplants. Currently, Dr. Pacheco is Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Catedra de Oftalmología del Hospital de Clinicas in Montevideo, Uruguay, Vice President of the Uruguayan Society of Cornea, Cataract and Refractive Surgery since 2017, and Chief of the Cornea Department at Clinica Oftalmovision since 2013. She studied ophthalmology and completed her residency at the “Catedra de Oftalmología del Hospital de Clinicas,” followed by Assistant Professorship from 2004 to 2007. Dr.Pacheco then completed the course for “Directors of Residency Programs” with the International Council of Ophthalmology in 2007. She completed observerships at the Eye Center in Washington Hospital Center, Washington DC, and in the cornea department at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, with Dr. Carol Karp. She is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Pan American Academy of Ophthalmology, and also a member of the Uruguayan Society of Ophthalmology. Dr. Pacheco regularly lectures at many national and international ophthalmology meetings and has published many articles at the “Archivos de la Cátedra de Oftalmología.” She also coordinated cataract cornea and refractive surgery modules at local and international meetings including the Panamerican Regional Meeting in Punta del Este, 2014. Dr. Pacheco’s career path in ophthamology was motivated by her mother, Alicia Martinez, a prestigious ophthalmologist in Uruguay, who influenced her and her brother to follow in her footsteps. She is married to an ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon, Miguel Zylberglajt who is the President of the Uruguayan and vitreoretinal Society, and they have three children. In her spare time she loves to travel and spend time with family and friends.