Dr. Chao earned a BS in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University and an M.D. and Ph.D. in Neurosciences at Stanford University. He completed his internship at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, his ophthalmology residency at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, and then completed his vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He has been honored with many awards including the Heed Fellowship, and the William F. Hoyt Teaching Award.