Dr. Epley was born and raised in Salem, Oregon, the oldest of 4 children. He attended Whitman College, where he earned a B.A. in Biology. Following college, he studied medicine at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, where he graduated with an M.D. in 1993. He interned at the Portland Program in Internal Medicine, then studied ophthalmology at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore from 1994-1997. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital/Barnes-Jewish Washington University program in 1998. He was board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1999, and he recertified in 2019. He is participating in Continuous Certification.
As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Epley has distinguished himself locally, nationally and internationally. He has published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature 40 times, given over 100 lectures to state, national and international scientific meetings, and written 4 book chapters. He completed the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s (AAO) Leadership Development Program in 2005-06. He has been honored with the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) and AAO Honor (2009, 2010) and Senior Honor (2019, 2021) awards, the Marshall M. Parks Bronze Medal in 2014, and the AAO Secretariat Award in 2016. He presided over AAPOS’ Inaugural International meeting with SNEC in Singapore in 2013.
Dr. Epley has served in dozens of leadership positions for the Washington Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons (WAEPS), the American Eye Study Club (AESC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) and AAPOS and the AAO. He served as President of WAEPS from 2004-05, AAPOS from 2012-13, the Children’s Eye Foundation from 2014-2018, and is currently President of the American Eye Study Club (2021-22). He is currently a Director of the American Board of Ophthalmology in his second term.
Dr. Epley enjoys reading, writing and editing, and music, both listening and playing. He is a skier, swimmer, and a cyclist. He is married, and he and his wife Elizabeth have two college-age children, Erick and Sarah.