William T Driebe, M.D.

William T. Driebe, Jr., MD, attended medical school at the University of Virginia, where he graduated in 1979. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 1980 and completed his residency in ophthalmology at UF in 1983. He completed his fellowship in cornea and external diseases at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami.

Dr. Driebe joined the UF department of ophthalmology in 1984 and also served as chief of ophthalmology at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center until 1989. His practice at UF concentrated on the ophthalmic specialties of cornea and external disease and contact lenses. His areas of expertise  include corneal transplantation, ocular infections such as infectious keratitis  and endophthalmitis, and infections and complications associated with the use of contact lenses.

Dr. Driebe received an Honor Award and Senior Achievement Award for educational contributions  from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and was a member of its Preferred Practice Pattern Committee for more than a decade. He is past president of the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists and served as program chair for that organization. He also served as a board member for the CLAO Educational Research Foundation. Dr. Driebe is a past program chair and executive secretary for the Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group. He served as an oral examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology for nearly 3 decades and has been repeatedly listed in “America’s Top Doctors.”

After leaving clinical practice because of a right hand medical issue he served as Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at UF for nearly a decade, steeping down in late 2013. In 2014 he was appointed as the physician liaison for the grateful patient philanthropy program with the UF Office of Development. In this capacity he educated and worked with the COM departments and divisions.

Dr. Driebe retired in early 2024 after which he was appointed as an honorary member of the Society of Teaching Scholars.