Alumni News
Dear Fellow Alumnus,
This is an exciting time for Bascom Palmer!
As the new chairman, my priorities are straightforward: We will continue to provide exceptional patient care, ensure our residents and fellows receive unsurpassed training, recruit the nation's finest physicians and scientist, expand and improve our facilities to meet increasing patient demand and make certain Bascom Palmer is the best place to work. And we will do this together.
We can all share in the remarkable news that Bascom Palmer has been rated the #1 eye hospital in the country by U.S.News & World Report for the sixth consecutive year. In fact, the institute has never been ranked below second place in the 20 years that the survey has been taking place. We owe this honor to the many skilled and dedicated ophthalmologists who have been on our faculty as well as those who have aritcipated in our residency and fellowhips programs, for we learn from each other.
In the coming months and years we will build upon Bascom Palmer's solid foundation as we enter a new period of growth and development. By working with faculty and staff to establish our plans and priorities, we will invest our time, energy and resources into making Bascom Palmer an even-better place for our patients and for all of us.
I am pleased to announce that Vittorio Porciatti, D. Sc., has been named Bascom Palmer’s director and vice-chair of research. A tenured research professor of ophthalmology, as well as a neuroscientist, electrophysiologist and biophysicist, Dr. Porciatti’s current research focuses on prevention of glaucoma. He had served as Bascom Palmer’s interim scientific director since 2008.
Dr. Porciatti holds a grant from the NIH/National Eye Institute for the project “Reversible Dysfunction of Retinal Ganglion Cells in Glaucoma.” Additionally, he is principal investigator of another NIH-funded study on experimental models of glaucoma and of the NIH-core grant, “Miami Eye Team.” This latter grant supports clinical and basic research at various departments at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Dr. Porciatti’s vast expertise and exceptional leadership skills make him the ideal candidate for this pivotal position. His inspirational vision and passion will serve as the foundation of ground-breaking research projects and help ensure their success.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Porciatti, his alma mater is the University of Pisa, Italy. Prior to joining Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s faculty in 2001, he served for many years as senior scientist and a member of the scientific committee at the Institute of Neurophysiology at the Italian Research Council, Pisa. He also had an appointment at the School of Ophthalmology, Catholic University Rome, for studies on clinical applications of electrophysiological techniques. He has published and lectured extensively, served on NIH-study sections and collaborated with prestigious institutions, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Institut Pasteur, Paris. In 2000, his article in Nature Neuroscience on Pokémon-generated seizures explained physiological abnormalities in the brain of photosensitive children and made worldwide headlines. He is married to Lori Ventura, M.D., associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer.
Please join me in congratulating Drs. Sonia Yoo and Craig McKeown who were recently named professors of the department of ophthalmology. Additional faculty promotions effective June 1, 2010 include:
James Banta, M.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology
Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Ph.D. Associate Professor (promotion and tenure)
Delia Cabrera, Ph.D. Research Associate Professor
Jeffrey Goldberg, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor (promotion and tenure)
Abigail Hackam, Ph.D. Associate Professor (promotion and tenure)
XiangRun Huang, Ph.D. Research Associate Professor
Richard Lee, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor
Maria Marin-Castano, M.D., Ph.D. Research Associate Professor
Victor Perez, M.D. Associate Professor (tenure)
Jay Wang, M.D., Ph.D., M.S. Associate Professor
We also extend congratulations to Dr. Steven Gayer for being promoted to professor of clinical anesthesiology and ophthalmology. Further congratulations to the following faculty members who received secondary appointments in the department of biomedical engineering at the Miller School: Dr. Vittorio Porciatti, professor; Dr. Sonia Yoo, associate professor; and Dr. Xiang Run Huang, research assistant professor;
It gives me great pleasure to announce Bascom Palmer has added six physicians to its faculty roster this summer: Bascom Palmer fellows Chris Alabiad, M.D. and Sara Wester, M.D., are joining our oculoplastics service; Amy Schefler, M.D., who served as chief resident, is joining the retina service to specialize in retina oncology; and Jorge Fortun, M.D.,will join the faculty in our Palm Beach Gardens location in retina.
Congratulations to Drs. Sonia Yoo, Buddy Culbertson, Terry O'Brien, and Richard Awdeh, who join me in being selected to Premier Surgeon’s PS250 list of leading innovators in the field of premium intraocular lens (IOL) implant surgery. The editors of Premier Surgeon researched and compiled a list of surgeons they knew were: educating their colleagues about premium IOLs at ophthalmic meetings; conducting research to optimize patient clinical outcomes; digging into the diagnostic technology to assist in selecting the best patient, and the ideal lens for that patient; looking into the unique business aspects of premium IOL surgery; and early adopters of the IOL technology.
Congratulations to Dr. David Greenfield who received the Clinician-Scientist of the Year Award from the American Glaucoma Society (AGS). Presented in Naples, FL, this is one of the highest honors of the AGS.
Congratulations to Drs. Jean Marie-Parel and David Tse, who recently received a Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA) for the Orbital Tissue Expander (OTE). The OTE, composed of an inflatable globe with self-sealing port, uniformly delivers pressure to the bony orbit to stimulate orbital growth for the prevention of facial asymmetry caused children born without an eye. The MDEA program recognizes the achievements of medical device manufacturers, their suppliers, and the many people behind the scenes- engineers, scientists, designers, and clinicians- who are responsible for creating innovative products that are changing the face of healthcare.
Recognition continues as two of our investigators received prestigious Research to Prevent Blindness Awards: Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg received the Walt and Lily Disney Award; and Dr. Abigail Hackam received the Special Scholar Award.
Congratulations to research fellow, Dr. Mohamed Abou Shousha, for receiving the “best paper of the [Cornea Imaging] session” award at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Symposium & Congress. The title of the paper, “Novel technique to evaluate Fuchs endothelial dystrophy: ultra-high-resolution optical coherence tomography versus specular microscopy was co-authored by Drs. Sonia Yoo, Jay Wang and Victor Perez.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Dr. Stephen Schwartz on his recent installment as president of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology.
Our faculty continues to travel around the world participating in dozens of ophthalmic educational programs. Our residents and fellows contribute to Grand Rounds each week in the Retter Auditorium, (you can see these on this page); and our continuing medical education department is busier than ever organizing a full roster of post-graduate programs to meet the needs of ophthalmologists in this region and
beyond.
I hope to see you at the Academy meeting and at one of our many named lectures or continuing medical education programs. Please visit our Continuing Medical Education web pages for details of upcoming events and visit our Calendar of Events. Thank you again for your loyalty and support of Bascom Palmer and the Alumni Association.
We have our sights set on accomplishing great things! Thank you for making a difference.
Sincerely yours,
Eduardo C. Alfonso, M.D. (84)
President, Bascom Palmer Alumni Association
Professor and Chairman, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
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