Dr. Horn trained in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and completed his ophthalmology residency at Northwestern University. This was followed by a fellowship in corneal and refractive surgery at the Shiley Eye Institute at the University of California, San Diego.
In 1997, he joined Vanderbilt Medical Center, specializing in cataract, lens replacement, corneal transplantation, and LASIK surgery. He was awarded the Best Surgical Instructor by the ophthalmology residents he trained.
In 2005, he started his private practice, Vision for Life, dedicated to providing the most advanced vision correction technologies. Dr. Horn continues to teach other eye surgeons worldwide and has been prolific in his clinical research, helping to bring numerous lens implant technologies to fruition. In 2019, he was one of 12 surgeons nationwide selected to investigate the PanOptix lens. The PanOptix lens was the very first trifocal lens implanted in the United States, and Dr. Horn was the first to implant PanOptix in Tennessee.
Among Dr. Horn’s numerous awards, he has been selected by his peers as one of the best physicians, one of the best eye surgeons, and one of the top 250 premier cataract surgeons in America.
“The patient experience is the single most important focus of Vision for Life. It’s all about putting patients at ease with warmth, compassion, and following through with great results.”
Jeffrey Horn, M.D.
In addition to being a world-class eye surgeon, Dr. Horn is also an accomplished drummer. It only makes sense in Music City that your eye surgeon is also a drummer! Here is what Dr. Horn said about drumming:
“It provided me with an outlet to express myself creatively, and this is still true today. It taught me that practice, hard work, commitment to excellence, and continually trying to improve my abilities were needed to excel. I think I apply those same ideals to medicine and surgery in constantly trying to improve the care I provide my patients.”
Jeffrey Horn, M.D.
Behind every procedure Dr. Horn performs is a lifelong dedication to caring for others. His journey into medicine and ultimately into ophthalmology is deeply personal, shaped by early-life experiences, a passion for precision and excellence, and decades of commitment to helping patients regain the gift of sight.
In his own words, Dr. Horn shares what inspires his work, why he invests so much time with each patient, and the moments that continue to drive his passion for vision correction.
Click below to read Dr. Horn’s personal letter and learn what makes his approach to patient care truly unique.
For more than two decades, Dr. Jeffrey Horn has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts in the surgical correction of vision. His extensive training, groundbreaking contributions to refractive and cataract surgery, and long history of teaching future surgeons reflect a career built on excellence, innovation, and patient-centered care. From being the first surgeon in Tennessee to introduce several advanced technologies, including laser cataract removal and the PanOptix Trifocal Lens, to earning repeated “Top Doctor” and “Best Ophthalmologist” honors, Dr. Horn’s credentials highlight why Vision for Life is considered one of the premier vision correction centers in the United States. Below is a closer look at the education, experience, and accolades that set Dr. Horn apart.
| FELLOWSHIP | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO La Jolla, California Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgery July 1993 – June 1994 |
| RESIDENCY | NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Chicago, Illinois Ophthalmology Chief Resident, 1992 July 1990 – June 1993 |
| INTERNSHIP | CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER Los Angeles, California Internal Medicine July 1989 – June 1990 |
| EDUCATION | SUNY HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER at SYRACUSE Syracuse, New York Doctor of Medicine, Magna Cum Laude May 1989 Suny at Stony Brook Stony Brook, New York Bachelor of Science, Biology, Summa Cum Laude May 1985 |
| FACULTY AND STAFF APPOINTMENTS | STAFF PHYSICIAN Baptist Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee St. Thomas Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee ASSISTANT PROFESSOR Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, Tennessee August 1997 – July 2005 Clinical Instructor Department of Ophthalmology University of California, San Diego July 1993 – April 1996 |
| HONORS AND AWARDS | HONORS AND AWARDS • America’s Most Honored Doctors, Top 5% of physicians nationwide, 2025 • Voted Nashville’s Best Ophthalmologist, Tennessean’s Best of Music City 2024 |
Hello Vision for Life Patient,
My interest in medicine and caring for people was formed at an early age. I lost my mother to cancer when I was 12, and so I, unfortunately, spent a considerable amount of time during my childhood in hospitals and dealing with illness.
A couple of years after losing my mother, I took up playing the drums. It provided me with an outlet for creative expression, and it remains true today. It taught me that practice, hard work, commitment to excellence, and continually trying to improve my abilities were needed to excel. I think I apply those same ideals to medicine and surgery in constantly trying to improve the care I provide my patients. It is important to me to teach and to continually research new ideas.
As a beginning fourth-year med student, I suffered a serious facial injury with broken bones after colliding with a teammate during a competitive softball championship. The severity of the injury guided me from my Orthopedic rotation toward Ophthalmology. I needed to continue my clinical training and chose to work in an ophthalmologist’s private practice. After four weeks of watching him care for patients in his office and perform amazing surgeries, it was clear this was what I needed to do. My interests in medicine, physiology, physics, optics, and mathematics, along with my work in microsurgery, align perfectly with the specialty. The coordination, ambidexterity, and hand control I learned from drumming help me as an eye surgeon.
Today, I can’t see myself doing anything else. The progressive nature of the field, with rapid improvements underway in vision correction through my own efforts and those of my colleagues, makes my practice extremely gratifying, challenging, and humbling.
A recent patient, who had seen several other eye doctors before seeing me, had extreme myopia and cataracts, and desperately wanted to improve her vision while achieving some independence from the glasses she had worn since childhood. Her case was complex, and I spent a fair amount of time explaining her options. At one point, she asked me why I was devoting so much time to her. She had never had a physician do that, and she was skeptical. She ultimately allowed me to remove her cataract and implant a new multifocal lens. In the recovery room, several minutes after her surgery, I checked on her and removed her eye shield. She could immediately see both far and close for the first time in her life, and the look on her face and in her eyes said it all. I reminded her of her question before the surgery and explained that being allowed to participate in this moment with her was the reason I spent so much time with her.
I hope to share my passion with you and join you on your journey to clear vision.
Sincerely,
-Jeffrey D. Horn, MD
