Frank J. Ruda, M.D.

Frank J. Ruda, M.D., grew up in Midland, Texas, and was inspired early on by his father, an ophthalmologist, to care for patients with vision-threatening eye disease. He studied biochemistry and genetics at Texas A&M University before earning his medical degree from Texas Tech University School of Medicine. Dr. Ruda then served as a Herbert E. Kaufman Research Fellow at Louisiana State University before completing his internship and ophthalmology residency at the LSU–Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. He concluded his formal training with a vitreo-retinal surgery fellowship at the West Virginia University Eye Institute.

As a retina specialist, Dr. Ruda cares for patients with a wide range of conditions, including diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, age-related macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion, macular holes and puckers, complex retinal detachments, and eye trauma. He is actively involved as an investigator in clinical research trials for macular edema and macular degeneration, focusing on novel long-acting pharmacologic therapies and gene therapy approaches for neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration to reduce treatment burden and optimize long-term visual outcomes.

Dr. Ruda has authored several peer-reviewed journal publications and presented research on various retinal diseases and treatments at national ophthalmology meetings. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Retina Specialists, and has been recognized as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 2023 and a Houstonia Magazine Top Doctor since 2024. He is proficient in Spanish, which helps him communicate more comfortably with many of his patients and their families.

Awards