Charles R. Niles, MD ’83

Charles R. Niles, MD ’83, generously volunteers his time, energy and expertise to a variety of endeavors that support academic medicine, education and the medically underserved.

A clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Niles is co-founder of Ophthalmology Associates of Western New York, and the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Western New York.  

An exemplary alumnus and ambassador for UB, Niles played a lead volunteer role in the Build the Vision campaign, serving as co-chair of the Circle of Visionaries giving society. Members of this giving society made gifts of $100,000 or more to the Jacobs School during the campaign. In this key role, Niles identified, engaged and encouraged others to give at this special time in the school’s history, helping to secure numerous leadership gifts from alumni and members of the community.

Niles is a past president of the UB Medical Alumni Association; the Buffalo Ophthalmologic Society; the Maimonides Medical Society; and the Kadimah Academy, for which he co-chaired its capital campaign to expand its facilities. In addition, he has conducted international mission work with the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital.  

A native of Kenmore/Tonawanda, N.Y., Niles earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at UB. He recalls how, when he was young, his parents would drive down Bailey Avenue, point to the medical school, and say: “That is where you will go to medical school one day.”

After completing his residency in ophthalmology, also at UB, Niles served a glaucoma fellowship at the University of Toronto. He was recruited back to Buffalo with a full time position at the Jacobs School, where he was chief of the glaucoma service, before entering private practice. Niles is a past recipient of the Ophthalmology Residency Teaching Award at the Jacobs School.

His wife, Ellen, is a 1982 graduate of UB School of Management, CEO of Ophthalmology Associates of Western New York and co-chair of the Circle of Visionaries giving society. The couple has three sons: Philip (a local retina specialist); Robert (Harvard JD/MBA, clerk for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan 2019); and Eric (a third-year student in the UB Dental School).