SPOTLIGHT: Deborah Pavan-Langston, MD, and Women in Ophthalmology

Alumna and Professor of Ophthalmology emerita Deborah Pavan-Langston paved the way for women in ophthalmology as our department's first female resident. In an American Academy of Ophthalmology Scope article, Joan W. Miller, MD, explains the profound impact that Dr. Pavan-Langston has had on our institution and our field.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Deborah Pavan-Langston since 1986, when I joined Massachusetts Eye and Ear as an ophthalmology resident.

At the time, Dr. Pavan-Langston was an associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and director of the cornea service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Pavan-Langston supervised me as a second-year resident, and frankly, I was a bit intimidated by her accomplishments and expertise, even though she was extremely down-to-earth. Dr. Pavan-Langston was clearly an efficient and knowledgeable clinician who taught in a no-nonsense manner and was also a very generous teacher and mentor.

Over the years, I came to admire her brilliance, tenacious spirit and — most of all — humility. Dr. Pavan-Langston has made a profound impact as a clinician, researcher, and mentor over the last three decades and has served as an inspiration to women ophthalmologists as a true pathfinder.

Read the full feature in the Scope newsletter