Weldon (Don) Havins attended the Coronado, California primary school system, then San Diego State University where he received a B.A. with high honors. Graduating from Wake Forest University School of Medicine with an M.D. in 1970, he interned in surgery at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.  Following two years with the U.S. Navy (one year as a medical officer on the USS Daniel Webster SSBN-626 nuclear submarine, one year at the Long Beach Regional Naval Medical Center), he completed an ophthalmology residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA in 1976, and later, a fellowship in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Texas, Houston, in 1981.  He earned a Master’s degree in Management from the Claremont Graduate University while practicing Ophthalmology in Upland, California.

From 1982 to 1995, Don practiced Ophthalmology and Oculoplastic Surgery in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In 1995, he matriculated to law school at the University of San Diego, graduating in 1998 cum laude, where he was an editor of the Law Review, and selected to Order of the Coif.  Remaining at the University of San Diego School of Law for an additional year, Don earned a Master of Laws degree, cum laude, in Health Law.

In 1999, Don served as a lawclerk for a District Court Judge while continuing to practice ophthalmology part-time.  From 2001 to 2008, he worked as the executive director and legal counsel for the Clark County Medical Society. Following a stint as Executive Director of the Nevada Board of Osteopathic Medicine, Don received a full-time appointment to the faculty of Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, from where he recently retired and was awarded Professor Emeritus status.

A member of the Nevada Bar, he is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and the American Board of Legal Medicine.  Don has served as a Board Member of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners. He is a Board member of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Don is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, and the American College of Legal Medicine.  He is a past-president of the Nevada State Medical Association and the Clark County Medical Society.  Don has numerous publications in medical journals and law reviews.  In 2019, he was selected Nevada Distinguished Physician of the Year by the Nevada State Medical Association.

Don continues to practice ophthalmology part-time while being involved in numerous organized medicine activities and health law issues.  He endeavors to keep Nevada health care providers updated with ongoing changes affecting clinical practice through continuing education presentations and through his website wehavins.com

Don’s wife, Dr. Kelly Mecham, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Touro University.  His son, Bradley Havins is an Associate Professor of Primary Care Medicine at Touro University Nevada and Assistant Program Director in Family Medicine at the Valley Hospital FM residency.  His daughter Laura is a Nurse Practitioner working at the Nathan Adelson Hospice.  His other daughter Anna teaches English in Hanoi, Vietnam.

His grandchildren, James and Sloane, ages 8 and 6, are a constant source of wonder and a challenge to all.