Joseph F. Rizzo, MD, Receives HMS Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award

Joseph F. Rizzo Rizzo, MD, the Simmons Lessell Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), is one of three recipients of the HMS 2023 William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award. This prestigious award honor exceptional mentors who have made a lifetime commitment to help trainees develop and advance their professional careers in basic/clinical medicine, research, teaching, and administration.

Dr. Rizzo joined Mass Eye and Ear in 1985 as a clinical fellow in neuro-ophthalmology, where he received the 1986 Fellow of the Year Award and has served as a full-time Harvard Ophthalmology faculty member since 1986. He succeeded Dr. Simmons Lessell as Director of the Neuro-Ophthalmology Service at Mass Eye and Ear in 2005. 

Over the past 37 years, Dr. Rizzo has proven to be an exceptional educator. He has mentored more than 300 residents and fellows, many of whom have gone on to have careers at top academic intuitions across the country, including Harvard Ophthalmology.

For more than 25 years, he directed the Neuro-Ophthalmology section of the Lancaster Course in Ophthalmology, which is the oldest and largest educational course that is designed for residents-in-training. In 2000, Dr. Rizzo was recognized with the Teacher of the Year Award by students attending the Lancaster Course.

He also serves as Director of the Harvard Ophthalmology Alumni Association and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Carroll Center for the Blind.

A celebration was held on June 7, 2023 to honor Dr. Rizzo and his fellow award recipients.