Dr. Kraft is a staff ophthalmologist in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, practising paediatric ophthalmology with a specialty interest in strabismus, and at the University Health Network in Toronto, specializing in adult strabismus and botulinum treatment of dystonia and strabismus. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at the University of Toronto in 1982. His fellowships in paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus included one year at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, under Drs. William Scott and Frank Judisch, and 6 months in San Francisco, California at the Smith-Kettlewell Institute and Pacific Medical Center, under Drs. Arthur Jampolsky and Alan Scott.
He is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, having been promoted in 2001. His research interests include clinical and surgical advances in strabismus, diagnosis of amblyopia, botulinum toxin therapy of strabismus and neurologic disorders, and children’s vision development.
Dr. Kraft has published 112 peer-reviewed papers and 47 book chapters, and he has given over 400 presentations all over the world. In November 2018, Dr. Kraft gave the 48th Richard Scobee Memorial Lecture of the American Association of Certified Orthoptists, and he was the fifth John Pratt-Johnson Lecturer of The Canadian Orthoptic Society (TCOS). He is scheduled to give the 16th Alfred Bielschowsky Lecture of the International Strabismological Association (ISA) as well as the Keynote Strabismus Lecture of the World Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (WSPOS), both in 2024, and he is the first Canadian selected to give either presentation.
Among his presentations were several other named lectures, including the Roger Trimble Lecture (BISA), Robert Letson Lecture (U Minnesota), Burton Kushner Medallist Lectureship (U Wisconsin), von Noorden Lecture (Baylor U), Angeline Parks Lecture (Costenbader Society), Arthur Jampolsky Lecture (Smith-Kettlewell Inst.), and the William Scott Visiting Professorship (U Iowa).
Dr. Kraft has trained 180 part-time and full-time fellows in strabismus and paediatric ophthalmology from over 40 countries, and he has been a visiting professor on 56 occasions. He has received numerous clinical and surgical teaching awards from the graduating Toronto residents, as well as teaching awards from the University of Toronto undergraduate medical students. He has received the Honor Awards of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS). Finally, he is the only Canadian member of the Association for Research in Strabismus (“Squint Club”) of North America.
