Many of the physicians and surgeons affiliated with Midwest Eye Institute also have an ownership interest in the organization. For leadership and decision-making, the Institute's ownership group relies on several sub-groups whose memberships are assigned and/or re-evaluated regularly, including a Board of Directors and an Operations Committee. The Board also elects corporate officers, and it is these individuals who assume responsibility for Midwest Eye's business (i.e. non-clinical) operations. Currently, the Board officers are:
Richard A. Burgett, MD, FACS - Board President
Dr. Richard Burgett, an Indianapolis native, serves as President of Midwest Eye Institute since 2021 as only the third president since the Institute's founding in 1982. He oversaw the Institute's 2025 expansion into its current home at 11220 Illinois Street in Carmel, a modern facility that houses the Institute's affiliated practices and clinics along with its administrative offices. He is a fellowship-trained ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgeon and a Fellow of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS), the specialty's leading professional society. He is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) and serves the ABO as an examiner for the comprehensive oral examination. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a member of the American Medical Association. Clinically active, his experience covers the breadth of ophthalmic plastic surgery with unique experience in orbital trauma, pediatric oculoplastic surgery, thyroid eye disease, sphenoid wing meningioma, and silent sinus syndrome. He practices with Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery, Inc., and serves patients in Carmel, Fort Wayne, and Muncie.
Dr. Burgett attended Wabash College as a four-year Honor Scholar, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. At Indiana University School of Medicine, he earned his M.D. and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. After a Transitional Internship at Methodist Hospital of Indiana, he completed his ophthalmology residency at Indiana University. There he served as Chief Teaching Resident and received the Best Research Award at Resident's Day. He then completed two fellowships: one in neuro-ophthalmology and one in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery at Indiana University.
Teaching has defined his career. He joined the Indiana University faculty in 1999, served as Chief of the Division of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has been the primary educator of oculoplastic surgery for Indiana University's ophthalmology residents for the entirely of his career and is currently Adjunct Clinical Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology. He has served as Associate Preceptor for the ASOPRS-approved oculoplastic surgery fellowship. He has received the Indiana University School of Medicine Trustee Teaching Award, the Department of Ophthalmology's Volunteer Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award, and three Professor of the Year awards. For many years he directed the annual Orbital Anatomy Course at Methodist Research Institute and chaired the Maxillofacial Trauma Committee at Methodist Hospital.
Outside medicine, he is an avid cyclist and a member of Team Heroes, a Notre Dame football fan, a trivia lover, a daily NYT crossword player, an experienced traveler, and a dedicated family man.
Thomas A. Ciulla, MD, MBA, FASRS - Board Vice President
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Dr. Thomas Ciulla serves as Vice President of the Midwest Eye Institute Board of Directors, bringing to the Institute's leadership executive experience across five biotechnology companies, both publicly traded and private, alongside his clinical career. He has been a retina specialist and surgeon at the Institute since 2002 and has served on its Board for more than a decade. He has conducted more than 65 clinical trials as principal investigator, has co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, and has received the Senior Honor Award of the American Society of Retina Specialists and the Senior Achievement Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
He trained at Harvard University, the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard Medical School, and Tufts University School of Medicine. He previously held a tenured Associate Professor appointment and co-directed the Retina Service and Angiogenesis Research Laboratory at Indiana University, and he currently serves as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the IU School of Medicine. In 2015, he earned an MBA in the Business of Medicine from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, along with a Healthcare Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and in 2023 he received the school's Anthony D. Cox Leadership and Impact Award.
While maintaining a clinical practice at Midwest Eye Institute, Dr. Ciulla serves as President and CEO of Ikarovec, a gene therapy company developing treatments for geographic atrophy and wet AMD. He previously was Chief Medical Officer of Viridian Therapeutics and Clearside Biomedical and held senior roles at Spark Therapeutics and Ophthotech/IVERIC Bio. His work has contributed to four FDA approvals: LUXTURNA, the first gene therapy for an inherited disease; XIPERE, the first suprachoroidal therapy; IZERVAY, a treatment for geographic atrophy; and LUMVOA, a therapy for thyroid eye disease. He has facilitated strategic partnerships with companies including Bausch + Lomb, Regenxbio, Aura Biosciences, and Arctic Vision, and has led investor and analyst discussions that contributed to securing a $65 million non-dilutive financing agreement.
He also serves on the Board of Directors of Ikarovec and as an advisor to the Board of Nanoscope Therapeutics, and he is Editor-in-Chief of Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy.
John Minturn, MD - Secretary/Treasurer
Dr. John Minturn has served as Treasurer of Midwest Eye Institute for more than two decades and is currently Secretary/Treasurer of its Board of Directors. He is the senior partner on the lnstitute's retina service and a vitreoretinal surgeon and ocular oncologist whose practice covers the full range of medical and surgical retina. His particular expertise is the diagnosis and treatment of eye tumors, including ocular melanoma, and patients from across the country seek him out for second opinions and ocular tumor consultations.
Dr. Minturn graduated from Princeton University and earned his MD at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Pittsburgh. He then completed a fellowship in retina, vitreous, uveitis, and ocular oncology at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, one of the nation's leading eye hospitals. He is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Minturn served as principal investigator at Midwest Eye Institute for the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study, the landmark National Eye Institute trial that showed many patients with ocular melanoma could be treated with radiation and keep the eye without compromising survival. He has published multiple papers on ocular oncology and has served as faculty at the Cleveland Clinic's Ohio Ocular Oncology Symposium. He is Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Indiana University School of Medicine.