Dr. Vance Thompson is currently the Director of Refractive Surgery for Sanford Clinic in Sioux Falls, SD, and serves as an assistant professor of Ophthalmology at the Sanford USD School of Medicine.

A leading international researcher in the field of laser vision correction, he has played a key role in developing the Excimer Laser for vision correction and has also served as a principal investigator in numerous FDA monitored clinical trials studying laser and implant vision correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

Dr. Thompson continues to play an important role in the continuing development and refinement of laser and implant vision correction, currently conducting research in hyperopic LASIK, implant vision correction and presbyopia correction. In addition, Dr. Thompson has been published extensively in journals and books, and is co-author of a refractive surgery textbook. He also lectures and teaches refractive surgery to thousands of eye surgeons throughout the world.

A Gregory, S.D., native, Dr. Thompson received his BS from the University of South Dakota and his MD from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. After a year-long internship at McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, Dr. Thompson completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia and his fellowship in refractive surgery with Dan Durrie, MD, at the Hunkeler Eye Centers in Kansas City.

Dr. Thompson and his wife, Jana, reside in Sioux Falls with their three children, Blake, Joel and Lauren. His main interests include hunting, fishing and spending time outdoors.