Roberto Pineda II, MD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, will present the 2023 Barraquer Lecture, which is co-sponsored by the International Society of Refractive Surgery, at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Annual Meeting next month. He will discuss his work in corneal biomechanics and its relevance in cornea and refractive surgery.
An accomplished and internationally recognized clinician and surgical innovator, Dr. Pineda's clinical practice is focused on laser vision correction, corneal surgery, and cataract surgery. Most of his patients have complex cases and are referred to him after second or third opinions, or re-operations.
He was was the first faculty member at Mass Eye and Ear to use clear cornea incision techniques, topical and intracameral anesthesia, and limbal relaxing incisions during cataract surgery. Dr. Pineda also has brought new techniques and technology to Mass Eye and Ear and New England, including conductive keratoplasty; intacs with intralase for keratoconus; and DLEK, DSEK, and DALK.
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Pineda has demonstrated a deep commitment to international blindness prevention, with a goal of broadening the skill sets of physicians in developing countries. As a medical volunteer for ORBIS International since 1998, he has travelled to more than a dozen countries to train physicians in the techniques of cornea surgery, cataract surgery, and other anterior segment surgeries. He also established two longitudinal clinical sites to evaluate the viability of the Boston Keratoprosthesis—the most widely used artificial cornea in the world—in Ethiopia and Sudan.