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ASCRS founding member Brooks J Poley dies at 78
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Brooks J. Poley, MD, one of the founding members of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, died on April 21 in McAllen, Texas. He was 78 years old.
“Brooks Poley was a friend and colleague,” OSN Chief Medical Editor Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, told Ocular Surgery News. “For 3 decades he was an outstanding anterior segment surgeon in Minneapolis.”
Dr. Poley began his career with Ophthalmology, P.A., in Minneapolis and later opened Brooks Poley Eye Associates. He served as president of the Minneapolis Society of Medicine and was chief of staff at Eitel Hospital, as well as an assistant clinical professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, according to his obituary.
After 30 years, Dr. Poley retired from surgery in the mid-1990s to practice as a medical ophthalmologist, according to Dr. Lindstrom. In the late 2000s, Dr. Poley collaborated with Dr. Lindstrom and colleagues to study phacoemulsification and IOL implantation and their effect on IOP in eyes with ocular hypertension and glaucoma.
“Over the past 5 years, between the ages of 73 and 78, his ever inquisitive mind led him to collaborate with Tom Samuelson and I to publish two papers in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery that showed the power of phacoemulsification to lower IOP when elevated. This work has influenced the way we practice, reducing significantly the indications for combined procedures,” Dr. Lindstrom said.
Dr. Poley also volunteered for the Hope Ship and the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. He helped establish the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital and worked with Volunteers in Medicine in Hilton Head, S.C.
Dr. Poley attended Princeton University and the University of Nebraska Medical School and completed his residency in ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Poley, an ASCRS member since 1974, according to the organization, is survived by his wife, Liz, four children, 10 grandchildren and a brother.
“Brooks was a loyal and devoted husband, father and friend. He will be missed but remembered,” Dr. Lindstrom said. – by Ashley Biro