Harvard Ophthalmology hosted its 2023 Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion on Friday, June 9. The one-day event featured faculty and alumni lectures, award presentations, a poster contest, gala dinner, and lots of opportunities to catch up and reconnect. The event was co-chaired by Harvard Ophthalmology Chair Joan W. Miller, MD, and faculty members Joseph B. Ciolino, MD; Gena Heidary, MD, PhD; Rachel Huckfeldt, MD, PhD, and Joseph F. Rizzo III, MD.
Mariana Mead Lecture
Alumnus and former Chief Resident Peter Hersh, MD, Founder of the Cornea and Laser Eye Institute and Director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Division at Rutgers Medical School, presented the Mariana D. Mead lecture. Dr. Hersh is a world renown expert in laser vision correction and keratoconus, and his lecture discussed corneal tissue addition keratoplasty (CTAK) for the treatment of keratoconus.
This lecture was established to honor the memory of Mariana D. Mead, MD, an accomplished ophthalmologist who trained and worked at Harvard Ophthalmology and Mass Eye and Ear before she passed away in 2002.
Faculty Presentations and Mentoring Awards
The Annual Meeting portion of the event featured 12 faculty lectures and presentations on a range of topics, including new lens technologies for cataract patients, new tools for assessing functional vision, and using telemedicine and artificial intelligence to diagnose and treat retinopathy of prematurity.
Silas Wang, MD, Co-Director of the Harvard Ophthalmology Research Scholars Program, shared an overview of the summer program, now in its third year, which offers first-year medical students from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups an immersive eight-week experience in ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear and Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass Eye and Ear. We were thrilled to have several current and alumni Research Scholars join us at the Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion.
David Hunter, MD, PhD, Director of our award-winning Mentoring Program, shared an update on the program and presented our 2023 faculty mentoring awards. Congratulations to our 2023 honorees:
- 2023 Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award: Joseph F. Rizzo III, MD, Simmons Lessell Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School
- 2023 Excellence in Mentoring Award: Lotfi Merabet, OD, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of the Mobility Enhancement and Vision Rehabilitation Center of Excellence at Harvard Ophthalmology
Alumni Reunion and Achievement Award Lectures
The Alumni Reunion program included several alumni presentations from representatives of ten graduating classes and two Distinguished Achievement Award Lectures.
Former faculty member Ilene K. Gipson, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology Emeritus at Harvard Medical School, presented the 2023 Distinguished Research Achievement Award Lecture. A Harvard Ophthalmology faculty member for more than 40 years, Dr. Gipson discussed her research on the function of mucins on the ocular surface epithelia and their alteration in disease and infection.
Alumnus M. Roy Wilson, MD, MS, President of Wayne State University, presented the 2023 Distinguished Clinical Achievement Award Lecture. Dr. Wilson has made an indelible mark on the fields of ophthalmology, academic medicine, public health, and education. In 2022, he published his memoir, The Plum Tree Blossoms Even in Winter, sharing insights gleaned through his life experiences. An expert in glaucoma epidemiology, Dr. Wilson’s lecture discussed his own personal experience with glaucoma and raced-based practices in the treatment of the disease.
Trainee Poster Contest
On Friday evening, attendees gathered at The Newbury Hotel for our annual Trainee Poster Contest, reception, and gala dinner. Thank you to Poster Contest judges Pablo Altschwager Kreft, MD; Ankoor Shah, MD, PhD; Levi Kanu, MD; Bruce Ksander, PhD; Michael Lin, MD; Qin Liu, MD, PhD; Austin Meeker, MD; and Daniel Sun, PhD, and thank you to all our residents and fellows for your participation.
Drs. Gena Heidary and Rachel Huckfeldt announced the Poster Contest winners. Congratulations to:
- Jonathan Lin, MD, PhD, a PGY-3 ophthalmology resident, for his poster, Aqueous Humor Neurofilament Light Chain is a Marker of Neurodegeneration in Glaucoma
- Filippos Vingopoulos, MD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Mass Eye and Ear, for his poster, Quantitative Contrast Sensitivity Correlates Better Than Visual Acuity with Geographic Atrophy Size in Advanced Dry AMD: A New Functional Endpoint
- Shazia Ashraf, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Mass Eye and Ear, for her poster ATM-Mediated Prominent DNA Damage Response in Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy
- Cindy Hoppe, MS, a graduate student and member of the Gregory-Ksander Laboratory at the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Mass Eye and Ear, for her poster, The Alternative Complement Pathway Triggers Neuroinflammation, Glial Activation, and Retinal Ganglion Cell Death in a Microbead Induced Mouse Model of Glaucoma
Save the Date for 2024
Thank you to all our event organizers, speakers, honorees, and attendees for such a terrific event. We will be hosting an extra special Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion next year to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Mass Eye and Ear. Please put June 13-15, 2024 in your calendars.
