Eye care team

Dr. Ong Tone is a fellowship-trained clinician-scientist in Cornea and External Diseases at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Sunnybrook Research Institute, and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Ong Tone specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of cataracts, diseases of the cornea, anterior segment and external eye. Dr. Ong Tone performs complex cataract surgery, anterior segment surgery, corneal crosslinking, pterygium excision, ocular surface reconstruction, and corneal transplantation including penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK), Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK), Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), and Descemet’s stripping only (DSO).

Dr. Ong Tone completed his BSc, MDCM and PhD in Neurological Sciences at McGill University. He then went on to complete his Ophthalmology residency at the University of Toronto, where he served as co-chief resident and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada in Ophthalmology. Dr. Ong Tone completed a two year clinical-research fellowship in Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, where he served as co-chief Cornea fellow. During his fellowship, he received numerous awards including the 2018 Shire Research Scholarship, 2019 Claes H. Dohlman MD, PhD, Fellowship Award, and 2019-2020 Abelson Family Fellowship Award that recognize outstanding clinician-scientist trainees. Dr. Ong Tone has presented his clinical and basic science research at numerous international meetings and most recently was awarded Best Paper in Cornea at the 2019 American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting for his work on corneal endothelial cell migration in Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (Fuchs dystrophy).

Dr. Ong Tone’s research interests include understanding the mechanisms that regulate and maintain a normal and healthy corneal endothelium, and investigating diseases such as Fuchs dystrophy, that affect the corneal endothelium. Dr. Ong Tone’s research aims to understand what causes Fuchs dystrophy, and what regulates corneal endothelial cell migration in Fuchs dystrophy. To answer these questions, he has developed a new method of observing the movement of corneal endothelial cells from tissues that have been removed from Fuchs dystrophy patients during corneal transplant surgery. Furthermore, Dr. Ong Tone tries to understand what makes the movement different between patients including genetics, biological sex, and other cell signaling pathways. Overall, with a greater understanding of Fuchs dystrophy and corneal endothelial cell biology, potential new therapies and regenerative treatments can be developed aimed at curing Fuchs dystrophy and other causes of corneal blindness.