Dr. Joseph Kiernan trained at the University of Chicago where he achieved top honors. In college he received the prestigious Lincoln Award for combined academic achievement and leadership. He graduated Alpha Omega Alpha (top ten percent) from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. While chief resident at University of Chicago, he was elected to the Sigma Xi scientific honorary society.

Since 1982, Dr. Kiernan has practiced in the Chicago suburbs. He first became involved in refractive surgery in 1984. In the last twenty years he has performed over 12,000 ocular procedures including more than 4,000 refractive procedures. Dr. Kiernan and his practice became involved in laser vision correction in 1995 and since that time has performed over three thousand LASIK procedures. Included among these patients are other physicians, CEO’s, attorneys, engineers and members of the clergy. In 2001 Dr. Kiernan performed LASIK on his oldest son.

Dr. Kiernan was rated top hospital surgeon in three separate studies that look at efficiency, complication rate and results.

Dr. Kiernan has contributed to the field of ophthalmology by giving lectures, performing live surgery to teach other surgeons and inventing new instrumentation. For his public service he was granted the Lions Club International Governors Award. In 2006, Dr. Kiernan was honored by the Salvation Army for donating his time and expertise to a young Haitian man who had lost his sight years earlier to tuberculosis. Dr. Kiernan, teaming with physicians at Good Shepherd Hospital, performed a corneal transplant procedure on each eye in an effort to restore vision. When the young man flew back to his native country less than a week after the procedures, his sight had returned to the 20/70 level—good enough to pass a driver’s exam for daylight driving.

Dr. Kiernan and his family enjoy windsurfing, skiing, biking and reading.