The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), a professional society for surgeons specializing in eye surgery, based in Fairfax, VA, was founded in 1974. [1] [2] It is distinct from its sister organization, the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA), which concerns itself with the business management, including insurance reimbursement and marketing, of ophthalmic practices in the United States. Both associations hold annual meetings or conventions as well as publishing proceedings.
ASCRS publishes a monthly Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (JCRS), as a joint production with the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS). [3]
Since 1975, the ASCRS annually awards the Binkhorst medal to doctors who have made significant contributions to the science and practice of ophthalmology, which includes a stipend to give the Binkhorst lecture. [4] [5]
Since 1999, the ASCRS has hosted the Ophthalmology Hall of Fame to which it periodically elects pioneers of ophthalmology as well as those who have significantly inspired, supported and led the development of ophthalmology. [6] [7]
Ophthalmology is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
A microkeratome is a precision surgical instrument with an oscillating blade designed for creating the corneal flap in LASIK or ALK surgery. The normal human cornea varies from around 500 to 600 micrometres in thickness; and in the LASIK procedure, the microkeratome creates an 83 to 200 micrometre thick flap. This piece of equipment is used all around the world to cut the cornea flap. The microkeratome is also used in Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK), where it is used to slice a thin layer from the back of the donor cornea, which is then transplanted into the posterior cornea of the recipient. It was invented by Jose Barraquer and Cesar Carlos Carriazo in the 1950s in Colombia.
Charles David Kelman was an American ophthalmologist, surgeon, inventor, jazz musician, entertainer, and Broadway producer. Known as the father of phacoemulsification, he developed many of the medical devices, instruments, implant lenses and techniques used in cataract surgery. In the early 1960s, he began the use of cryosurgery to remove cataracts and repair retinal detachments. Cryosurgery for cataracts remained in heavy use until 1978, when phacoemulsification, a procedure Kelman also developed in 1967, became the modern standard treatment. Kelman was given the National Medal of Technology by President George H. W. Bush and recognized as the Ophthalmologist of the Century by the International Congress of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Montreal, Canada. He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, and received the 2004 Lasker Award.
José Ignacio Barraquer Moner was a Spanish ophthalmologist and inventor born in Barcelona who did most of his life's work in Bogotá, Colombia.
Jeff Machat MD, FRCSC, DABO is an ophthalmologist in the United States and Canada specializing in surgical vision correction better known as refractive eye surgery.
Howard V. Gimbel FRCSC, AOE, FACS, CABES, is a Canadian ophthalmologist, university professor, senior editor, and amateur musician. He is better known for his invention, along with Thomas Neuhann, of the continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC), a technique employed in modern cataract surgery.
Steve Charles is a vitreoretinal surgeon who has developed many of the techniques and devices used by vitreoretinal surgeons worldwide. He is a board certified ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon, a mechanical/electrical engineer who has 48 patents or patents applied for, and has developed many of the techniques and devices used by vitreoretinal surgeons worldwide. He has performed over 38,000 vitreoretinal surgeries, lectured in 50 countries and operated in 25, delivered 17 named lectures, and over 1000 speaking trips. He authored a leading textbook in the field which is now in the 5th edition and in 6 languages and authored over 174 articles in the medical literature and over 50 book chapters.
The Intra-Ocular Implant Club was founded in 1966 by the English ophthalmic surgeons Sir Harold Ridley and Peter Choyce, to promote research in the field of intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. At that time there was widespread opposition in the ophthalmic surgery profession to the use of IOLs. The founders saw the club as a forum to allow free and unhindered exchange of ideas about IOLs and implantation surgical techniques. From the outset it was international in its membership and it set itself a parental and advisory role for the then nascent national societies to develop in each country for intraocular implant surgeons. However, this global role was only acknowledged in the name change in July 1975, when the Intra-Ocular Implant Club became The International Intra-Ocular Implant Club (IIIC).
Marguerite McDonald is an eye surgeon who in 1987 performed the first excimer laser treatment. In 1993 she became the first to use this treatment to treat farsightedness. In September 2003, she became the first person in North America to perform Epi-LASIK. She has also conducted the first wavefront-based laser surgeries in the United States. She was a co-developer of Kaufman-McDonald epikeratophakia.
Theo Seiler is a German ophthalmologist and physicist. He is considered one of the pioneers of refractive surgery.
Gullapalli Nageswara Rao is an Indian ophthalmologist, the chairman of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI) and the founder of the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. A former Associate Professor at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Rochester, Rao is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, India. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2002, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. He was elected in 2017 to the Ophthalmology Hall of Fame instituted by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.
Mahipal S. Sachdev is an Indian ophthalmologist and the Chairman of Centre for Sight, a chain of Eye Hospitals in India. He is known as one of the pioneers of Phacoemulsification procedure in India. He is the co-author of A Practical Guide to Phacoemulsification, the first Indian book on the topic. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to Indian medicine. He is the Chairman Scientific Committee of the Intraocular Implant and Refractive Society of India, IIRSI.
Keiki R. Mehta, an Indian ophthalmologist, medical researcher and writer, is considered by many as the father of Phacoemulsification in India. He is the Chief Surgical and Medical Director at Mehta International Eye Institute, a Mumbai-based specialty eye hospital founded by him. He is known to be the first surgeon to perform a Radial keratotomy in India and is credited with the development of the first soft eye implant in the world, and the Keiki Mehta BP Valve Glaucoma Shunt, a medical implant used in the treatment of neovascular‚ congenital and uveitic glaucoma. He is a recipient of several honours including the Grand Honors Award of the National Eye Research Foundation, Chicago and the Triple Ribbon Award of the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to Medicine.
Dr Abhay R. Vasavada started Raghudeep Eye Clinic (REH) – as a cataract speciality center in 1984 Ahmedabad, India. He is the first Indian and the second Asian to be awarded the Binkhorst Medal Lecture by the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS) in 2011.
Burkhard Dick is a German ophthalmologist who has specialized in refractive and cataract surgery. With his many contributions to the scientific literature on this topic, he is considered one of the pioneers of employing the femtosecond laser in cataract surgery. In the "Power List 2018" ranking of the world's most influential ophthalmologists by the publication The Ophthalmologist, Burkhard Dick was listed among the Top 20.
John Marshall MBE, FMedSci, PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRSB, FRCOphth(Hon), FRCOptom (Hon), FARVO is a British medical scientist and inventor. Currently he is the Frost Professor of Ophthalmology at the Institute of Ophthalmology UCL and Emeritus Professor King's College London. He is a pioneer of laser eye surgery.
Robert Machemer was a German-American ophthalmologist, ophthalmic surgeon, and inventor. He is sometimes called the "father of modern retinal surgery."
Émile Jules Marie Joseph François was a Belgian ophthalmologist.
Vadrevu K. (VK) Raju is a board-certified ophthalmologist.
Dimitri Azar M.D. is an American ophthalmologist, professor, and businessman who leads Twenty Twenty Therapeutics, a joint venture established by Santen and Verily. Dr. Azar has held roles at Novartis and Verily, Alphabet's Life sciences research organization. He served as dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) from 2011 to 2018.