Our Physicians

Michael Engelbert, MD, PhD, a vitreoretinal surgeon and macular disease specialist, provides both medical care for age-related macular degeneration and diabetic eye disease as well as surgical management of macular disease and retinal detachment repair, including complex detachments from diabetes and after trauma or failed primary repair. He also specializes in secondary intraocular lens implantation after complicated cataract surgery. He is an internationally renowned expert on vitreous anatomy and vitreoretinal interface disorders, topics on which he lectures at home and abroad.   

Dr. Engelbert received his medical degree Magna Cum Laude from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany, after which he dedicated himself several years to basic research in the study of endophthalmitis, a vision-threatening infection, that can occur after eye surgery. He earned a Ph.D. for this work and is considered a leader in this field. 

Before joining the residency program at Columbia University, Dr. Engelbert served his internship at Griffin Hospital, a Yale-affiliated center in Connecticut, where he was granted the Vincent D. DeLuca award for the best medical intern.

Afterward, he was resident and chief resident in the Department of Ophthalmology of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons at the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute on the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center Campus. Following his residency training, Dr. Engelbert was awarded a medical and surgical vitreoretinal fellowship at Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital and Columbia University.

Dr. Engelbert is a member of The American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS), The European Society of Vitreoretinal Specialists (EVRS), the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and the prestigious Club Jules Gonin. He has published numerous papers on retinal disease, received several awards and has been granted permanent resident status in the United States in the category “outstanding scientist”. He serves as a reviewer for the premier journals in the field, including the Archives of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Retina, Eye, and Graefe’s Archives of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.

He is a Research Assistant Professor at New York University and Clinical Instructor at NYU , where he is actively involved in instructing residents and fellows in the art of medical retina and retinal surgery, and provides care for an underserved population with often advanced disease requiring complex surgical intervention.