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ASCRS opening general session ushers in new era

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Doug Koch, MD, addresses the ASCRS general opening session.

SAN DIEGO – The 2001 Opening Session of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery ushered out the presidency of well-liked Douglas Koch, MD, who will stay on as Editor of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Stepping into well-used shoes will be I. Howard Fine, MD, who ASCRS Program Director Manus C. Kraff, MD, called the "new coach" of ASCRS, relating him to Zen-master and head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers Phil Jackson.

Dr. Fine, who attended his first ASCRS meeting 20 years ago, spoke of the constant battle of maintaining fee schedules for cataract surgery. Unfortunately, the U.S. government continues to devalue cataract surgery and has cut the fee schedule to half of what it was a few years ago. As Dr. Fine put it to the audience of eye care professionals, “We are victims of our own success.”

I. Howard Fine, MD, incoming ASCRS president, addresses the opening session.

The Opening Session also said a formal and touching goodbye to well-loved and well-known innovator Svyatoslav N. Fyodorov, MD. Arguably the best known Russian ophthalmologist ever, Dr. Fyodorov was killed in a helicopter accident in 2000. A touching film and his visibly moved daughter, Irina Fyodorov, MD, offered an impressive tribute for Dr. Fyodorov.

On behalf of ASCRS Dr. Kraff presented Irina with a portrait of her father that will hang in the hospital Dr. Fyodorov founded in Moscow.

Next, John C. Cooksey, MD, the only ophthalmologist in Congress, addressed the importance of all eye care professionals becoming actively involved in health care reform. Dr. Cooksey, who is now serving his third term as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana’s 5^th District, is striving for various reforms, including a good patient protection legislation, anti-trust legislation, and others. He advises that ophthalmologists get in touch with Nancy McCann, who leads effective lobbying efforts for health care reform, in addition to contacting their local congressman.