Tamara R. FountainDr

Dr. Fountain is professor of ophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center and maintains a private practice in oculofacial plastic surgery in Chicago’s northern suburbs. She grew up in Minneapolis where her dad was a commercial airline pilot and her mom a marketing executive. Dr. Fountain received her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. After an internship in internal medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital, she completed her residency in ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Wilmer Eye Institute. Dr. Fountain pursued specialty training in plastic and reconstructive surgery around the eye at University of Southern California’s Doheny Eye Institute before settling in the Chicago area to start her practice. 

Dr. Fountain was the 2021 president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) — at 32,000 members, the oldest and largest society of American and International Ophthalmologists in the world. Click here to watch her AAO president’s acceptance speech. Her past service to AAO includes Secretary for Member Services, at-large member of the Board of Trustees and editorial board of its EyeNet magazine. She has served on the Young Ophthalmologist; Ethics; and Health Policy Committees and was part of the inaugural class of the AAO’s flagship Leadership Development Program. Dr. Fountain was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for service to the Academy and appointed Secretary of Global Relations in 2025.

Dr. Fountain is Past-President of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS), having served as executive secretary and chair of both the thesis and oral exam committees in the past. She has also received the Orkan Stasior Leadership Award for service to the society. She has been a board director for the American Board of Ophthalmology since 2022 and also serves as an independent director on the boards of RxSight and Sight Sciences, two medtech firms that market devices for intraocular surgery. 

Dr. Fountain served for 15 years as a committee member and director for the Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company (OMIC) and was Chair of the Board of Directors 2014 and 2015. She is a past president of the Illinois Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons (formerly Illinois Association of Ophthalmology) and has been involved in programming for both Women in Ophthalmology and the Chicago Ophthalmological Society. She served as chair of the Alumni Fund for Harvard Medical School 2016-2019.

When not serving organized ophthalmology or helping patients with their surgical problems, Dr. Fountain enjoys golf, tennis, biking and lecturing at national and international meetings (she has been invited to speak on six continents). Dr. Fountain has enjoyed serving her patients and community on Chicago’s North Shore for over 20 years.