News & Updates || The Society of Heed Fellows

2012-2013 Heed Fellows

The Heed Ophthalmic Foundation and the Society of Heed Fellows announces the appointment of the following 2012-2013 Heed Fellows:

Michael Chen, MD
Royce Chen, MD
Sulene Chi, MD, PhD
Alex Huang, MD, PhD
Nancy Huynh, MD
Nieraj Jain, MD
Amir Kashani, MD, PhD
Mark Kleinman, MD
Marc Levin, MD, PhD
Paula Anne Newman-Casey, MD
Pho Nguyen, MD
Eric Nudleman, MD, PhD
David Ramsey, MD, PhD, MPH
Rajesh Rao, MD
Ruwan Silva, MD
Jeffrey Sundstrom, MD, PhD
Shandiz Tehrani, MD, PhD
Glenn Yiu, MD, PhD

Each applicant will receive a follow-up letter. Thank you for applying to the 2012-2013 Heed Fellowship.

New Trustee, Julia A. Haller, MD

Julia Haller, MD has been elected Trustee of the Society of Heed Fellows beginning January 1, 2012.

Dr. Julia A. Haller is Ophthalmologist-in-Chief of the Wills Eye Institute, where she holds the William Tasman, M.D. Endowed Chair. She serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals. She was educated at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Princeton University, and Harvard Medical School. She was an ophthalmology resident, retina fellow, and the first female chief resident at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and went on to hold both the Katharine Graham and Robert Bond Welch, M.D. Professorships there before assuming leadership at Wills.

Her honors include the Rolex Achievement Award (to a past participant in collegiate varsity lacrosse), the Crystal Apple Award of the American Society of Retina Specialists for teaching and mentorship, the Kreissig Award from EURETINA, the President’s Award from Women in Ophthalmology, a Secretariat Award from the AAO, the Gertrude Pyron Award from the Retina Research Foundation and the ASRS, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the AAO.

Dr. Haller has published over 250 papers in the peer reviewed literature as well as 22 book chapters. She is past president of the American Society of Retina Specialists, Vice-President and President Elect of the Retina Society, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Macula Society and the Board of Trustees of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology. She serves on the editorial boards of RETINA, Retinal Physician, Retina Times, Ocular Surgery News, Retina Today, Ophthalmology Times, EyeWorld, and Evidence-Based Eye Care.

Dr. Haller serves on the Board of the American Retina Foundation, the Board of the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research, and the Board of Trustees of Princeton University.

Residents Retreat, October 18-19, 2012, Chicago, IL

The Heed Ophthalmic Foundation will sponsor the 7th annual Heed Foundation Residents Retreat on October 18 and 19, 2012 at a hotel property located near the O’Hare Airport.

Twenty to 25 residents nominated by their department chairs and residency program directors and 20 to 25 faculty including recent K-awardees, mid-career and senior faculty will gather for two half days to discuss careers in academic ophthalmology.

During the informal sessions, residents will mingle with academic ophthalmologists just a few years their senior to learn about how young faculty members made the transition from trainee to academic faculty.

Department chairs and residency program directors are encouraged to nominate one or two residents from their programs who have the talent and desire to pursue a career in academic ophthalmology. The application consists of a letter of recommendation from the department chair, the resident’s biosketch, and a personal statement from the resident. Seven collated hard copies of the application should be submitted to Stuart L. Fine at the address listed below:

Stuart L. Fine, M.D.
42 Wader
Carbondale, Colorado 81623

Nominations are reviewed and nominees are selected by the Heed Foundation Directors. Nominees and their chairs will be notified in June 2012. Nominations may be submitted at any time from now through April 15, 2012.

The Heed Foundation, www.Heed.org, is grateful to the AUPO chairs and residency program directors for their continuing support of the Heed Foundation Residents Retreat.

New Directors of Heed Foundation (Drs. Alfonso, Miller)

Dr. Eduardo C. Alfonso and Dr. Joan W. Miller will begin their first five-year terms as Directors of the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation on January 1, 2012. Their personal information is provided below:

EDUARDO C. ALFONSO, MD
Dr. Alfonso is Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute's patient care facilities, Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital in Miami, and outpatient facilities in Palm Beach Gardens, Plantation and Naples, Florida, is one of the most recognized ophthalmologists in the world. Holder of the Edward W. D. Norton Professor of Ophthalmology until 2009, when he was named to the Kathleen and Stanley Glaser Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmology, he is known for his clinical expertise in diseases and surgery of the cornea and ocular microbiology and laser vision correction. He has published numerous articles in refereed journals, chapters, and has been guest lecturer nationally and internationally. He is fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology where he has been awarded the distinguished honor award and senior honor award. He has been named as one of America's Top Doctors since 1992. Dr. Alfonso graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1976. He graduated from Yale Medical School in 1980. His ophthalmology residency was completed at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine. He completed fellowships in cornea and ocular pathology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School.

JOAN W. MILLER, MD
Dr. Miller is the Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology & Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School and Chief of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Joan Whitten Miller was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. She completed her ophthalmology residency and a vitreo-retinal fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Miller is the first female physician promoted to the rank of Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and the first woman to serve as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. Additionally, Dr. Miller is the director of Mass. Eye and Ear’s Angiogenesis Laboratory and a vitreo-retinal physician in the Retina Service at the Infirmary.

Dr. Miller’s research interests focus on ocular neovascularization, particularly as it relates to age related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy, including the molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis and neuroprotection, the development of effective therapies, and drug delivery. She and her colleagues at Mass. Eye and Ear pioneered the development of photodynamic therapy (PDT) using verteporphin (Visudyne®), the first pharmacologic therapy for AMD able to reduce and slow vision loss. The group also identified the importance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in neovascular AMD, and helped develop the anti-VEGF therapies pegaptanib and ranibizumab—the latter able to improve vision in about one-third of patients with neovascular AMD. While these approaches have improved the outlook for patients with AMD, Dr. Miller and her colleagues continue investigations to elucidate the pathophysiology of vision loss and improve therapies for AMD.

An internationally recognized expert in the field of macular degeneration, Dr. Miller has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers, 50 book chapters and review articles, is co-editor of the third edition of Albert and Jakobiec’s Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology, and is a named inventor on nine U.S. patents and five Canadian patents. She has received numerous awards, including the Rosenthal Award and Donald J. Gass Medal of the Macula Society, the Retina Research Award from the Club Jules Gonin, the Alcon Research Institute Award, the ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmic Translational Research Award, the Founder’s Award from the American Society of Retinal Specialists, the Harvard Medical School 2010 Joseph B. Martin Dean's Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty, the Suzanne Veronneau-Troutman Award from Women in Ophthalmology, the Paul Henkind Memorial Award from the Macula Society, and the Senior Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Miller will deliver the 2012 Edward Jackson Lecture for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Miller and her husband John live in Winchester, MA. John, a construction attorney, specializes in domestic and international engineering procurement and public-private partnerships in global infrastructure. Their son John, the eldest of three children, is currently an ophthalmology resident at Harvard Medical School. Their son Douglas is a 2010 graduate of Harvard College, where he was co-captain of his college basketball team; he now works in construction management for Schernecker Property Services. Daughter Mary graduated from Harvard College in 2011, and is working as a paralegal for the law firm Harkins Cunningham LLP in Philadelphia.

2011 Heed Award

David Abramson, MD, is the recipient of the 2011 Heed Award. The Award was presented at the Heed Luncheon held during the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting in Orlando. Dr. Abramson was a Heed Fellow from 1974 to 1975.

David H. Abramson, MD, FACS is the first Chief of the Ophthalmic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York, where he is a tenured Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Radiation Oncology in addition to Professor of Ophthalmology at the Weill-Cornell Medical Center.

After his undergraduate studies in Cell Biology at Harvard College, Dr. Abramson attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where he also did a medical internship. In 1971 he began his Ophthalmology training at the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He did a year’s research with D. Jackson Coleman, MD, in ophthalmic ultrasound and worked with Algernon B. Reese, MD on his third (and final) edition of his book: “Tumors of the Eye and Adnexa”. During his residency he spent time at the Armed forces Institute of Pathology working with Lorenz E. Zimmerman, MD. At the completion of his residency, he did a Heed fellowship under Robert M. Ellsworth, MD, at Columbia Presbyterian and then began a 20-year association with Dr. Ellsworth.

Dr. Abramson has published almost 500 articles, books and book chapters including his Teaching Text for Radiation Oncologists, “Tumors of the Eye and Orbit”. He has served as a reviewer for all the Ophthalmic journals in addition to journals in the field of molecular biology, medicine, pediatrics, pathology, genetics and anatomy.

His publications have received awards from the Ophthalmic community, radiation physics community, interventional radiology and pediatric oncology community. His early studies involved ultrasound and the mechanisms of drug action (pilocarpine) but also included topics in neuro-ophthalmology, strabismus, genetics, retina, glaucoma, ophthalmic plastics, radiology, molecular biology, and public health. He has written extensively on intraocular and orbital tumors. His 1976 publication changed the way orbital rhabdomyosarcoma was managed worldwide (ending exenteration and replacing it with multiagent chemotherapy and radiation). With collaborators at MSKCC he helped discover the cell of origin of retinoblastoma. His more than 30-year studies on second cancers in retinoblastoma transformed the understanding of second cancers and with collaborators from the NIH clarified the role of gene, environment and treatment in the genesis, timing and importance of second (third, fourth and fifth) cancers. This led to a worldwide change in the use of radiation for retinoblastoma and the modern-day approach of using chemotherapy as front-line management. With collaborators at Cornell/New York hospital, his group was the first to employ PGD for retinoblastoma. He was the first to use diopexy for retinoblastoma and in 2006 with collaborators at MSKCC and NY Presbyterian Hospital, began canulating the ophthalmic artery (from the femoral artery) in a technique known as “Super-selective Ophthalmic infusion of Chemotherapy-Chemosurgery” which has again changed the worldwide approach to retinoblastoma and eliminated the need for systemic chemotherapy or radiation in retinoblastoma.

Dr. Abramson has delivered a number of named lectures including the May Lecture (New York), Dunnington Lecture (New York), DeVoe Lecture (New York), Robert M. Ellsworth Memorial Lecture (France), Philip P.E. Ellis Lecture/Award (Denver), Alper Memorial Lecture (Washington, D.C.), Goodwin Breinan Lecture (New York), Jack Guyton Memorial Lecture (Detroit), Fink Memorial Lecture (New York) and the Mary and David Selsen Lecture (St. Louis).

He has received a number of prizes and medals including the Franchescetti Medal (International Society of Genetic Eye Diseases), the Stallard Medal (International Society of Ocular Oncology), Honor Award (AAO), Senior Honor Award (AAO) and Lifetime Achievement Award (AAO), Weisenfeld Award (ARVO), Alcon Research Institute Award, Honoree Helen Keller Society, Dorothy Robell Cohen Award (N.Y. Hospital), Hobart Lerner Award (N.Y. Ophthalmological Society) and the AECOM Dominick Purpura, MD Award in addition to the SNIS Michael Brothers Memorial Award (Society for Interventional Radiology).

Dr. Abramson is committed to improving the diagnosis and management of retinoblastoma in emerging countries and has been on many missions to Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and China. In collaboration with physicians worldwide, he has created a working group to help understand and improve the present status of retinoblastoma management.