Dr. Martha G. Patel

I was born and raised right here in Durham, NC. After attending college at Duke, I ventured north to Boston, where I completed most of my medical training, and was fortunate to meet and marry the love of my life, my husband Neil (also on faculty as a cardiologist here at Duke). I returned to Durham for my Glaucoma fellowship, briefly joined the faculty “across the street” at UNC-Chapel Hill, and then returned “home” to Duke Eye Center in 1995, where I have been on the faculty ever since. Dual fellowship-trained in both Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus as well as in Glaucoma, I have a clinical and research focus on pediatric glaucoma and cataracts, as well as retinopathy of prematurity, but enjoy providing care for myriad pediatric problems of the eyes, including treatment of “grown children” with ocular alignment issues. My modus operandi is very simple – I simply try hard to treat each and every patient the way I would like someone to treat me. It works every time, and I am privileged to be a clinician and educator at Duke Eye Center and in Duke University Health System. Dr. Freedman is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Vascular Birthmark. Her top areas of expertise are Retinopathy of Prematurity, Strabismus, Brown Syndrome, Trabeculectomy, and Cataract Removal.

I see children with a variety of eye problems and adults with double vision and eye misalignment (strabismus). I provide specialized medical and surgical treatment for conditions such as tearing, eyelid abnormalities, lazy eye (amblyopia), strabismus, pediatric cataract, and childhood glaucoma. Many people, particularly children, may be nervous about going to the eye doctor. I hope I can show them how parts of the eye examination can actually be fun and interesting, like when looking at pictures through our special silly glasses or watching movie clips in the clinic.My goal is to help patients and their families understand their eye condition and treatment options so we can work together to improve and restore function in their lives. When people don’t see well or their eyes are not working together properly, it affects much more than just vision. The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the change that happens in other aspects of people’s lives when their eye problem is treated.I live in the Triangle with my husband and two daughters who are constantly teaching me new things. I look forward to all the lessons I have yet to learn from them. I enjoy playing volleyball and tennis in my spare time. Dr. Go is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Vascular Birthmark. Her top areas of expertise are Strabismus, Amblyopia, Ocular Hypertension (OHT), Trabeculectomy, and Vitrectomy.