Mega Doctor News
Rio Grande Valley, Texas – Continuing its mission to provide exceptional medical care to patients across the Rio Grande Valley, DHR Health is pleased to welcome ophthalmologist Dr. Rachel Gelman to its team of healthcare providers.
Born and raised in McAllen, Dr. Gelman graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas–Pan American before earning her Doctor of Medicine degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She completed her ophthalmology residency at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she served as chief resident during her senior year. She then completed a fellowship at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Gelman is a board-certified specialist in cornea, cataract, and refractive surgery. Dedicated to providing customized eye care tailored to each patient’s individual needs, goals and lifestyle, she offers vision-correction procedures using advanced refractive technology designed to eliminate dependence on glasses or contact lenses.
She also treats a broad range of corneal diseases through advanced medical and surgical techniques, including corneal transplantation. In 2019, Dr. Gelman performed DHR Health’s first corneal transplant and has since completed more than 900 transplants. In collaboration with the DHR team, she has helped to make this sight-restoring surgery available to the community.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Rachel Gelman back to the DHR Health family,” said Marissa Castaneda, senior executive vice president at DHR Health. “Her expertise in cornea, cataract and refractive surgery, along with her commitment to personalized, patient-centered care, will further strengthen our ophthalmology services and expand access to advanced vision care for residents throughout the Rio Grande Valley.”
Dr. Gelman, daughter of the late Dr. Lawrence Gelman, one of DHR Health’s founding physicians, remarked: “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to return to DHR Health. This decision is profoundly personal because it provides me with the opportunity to honor my father. A distinguished anesthesiologist and critical care specialist, visionary healthcare leader, and passionate advocate for patients and physicians, he shaped my own vision for the practice of medicine—one centered on compassionate patient care, grounded in the utmost quality and enhanced by cutting-edge technology. It was the same vision he had for DHR Health, and I am committed to carrying it forward.”
In Dr. Lawrence Gelman’s own words from the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the DHR Health Eye Institute in 2019: “We are all working towards the same goal. I think we are unique in that the agenda and the goals of everyone involved in the hospital is going in the same direction, for the same purpose. Everybody feels themselves part of the same machinery, an essential part of the machinery, that is going to allow us to achieve the goal, which is essentially to be the best hospital in the United States.”
Dr. Gelman is now accepting patients at her clinic, Gelman Vision at DHR Health, which is located at 5201 N. G Street in McAllen. To make an appointment, call (956) 305-5795. Gelman Vision at DHR Health accepts various health insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid.
