Born and raised in Harrisburg, Pa., David Haas, MD ’86, began his post-graduate career as a photographer. After receiving a BFA in Photographic Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology, he worked commercially in Chicago.

A change in his career path took him to Penn State to complete the requirements for medical school. After being accepted at his first choice, he graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1986. During those four incredible years in Philadelphia, he founded and was the first president of the Thomas D. Duane Ophthalmology Society and received the Carroll R. Mullen Prize in Ophthalmology. He did his internship and ophthalmology residency at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., and then worked in a private practice in Harrisburg from 1990 to 1995.  

A move in 1995 took him to his wife Jean's hometown of Wilson, N.C., where he worked and then became founder and managing partner of Medical Eye Associates in Wilson and Rocky Mount. He and Jean then moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., in the fall of 2016 where he practices part-time with Chapel Hill Ophthalmology. He is currently remodeling a space in downtown Chapel Hill for a photography studio, gallery, and digital print lab.