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Incoming AAO president invites members to embrace service
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CHICAGO — Ophthalmologists have collectively faced various challenges for more than a century, Russell N. Van Gelder, MD, PhD, incoming president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting’s opening ceremony.
“As we convene this week for our annual meeting, I know we each reflect on how fortunate we are to be ophthalmologists — to be able to each day use the deep knowledge and skills that we collectively share to help so many people so profoundly,” Van Gelder said. “We’ve come very far in this profession.”
Russell N. Van Gelder
Van Gelder noted that when the AAO first met in Kansas City in 1896, most people expected to be blinded by cataract. In 2013, American ophthalmologists performed 3 million cataract surgeries, Van Gelder said.
“That’s over 2,000 every workday, one every 2 or 3 seconds,” he said. “We’ve safely and quickly restored vision to millions.”
In 1896, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration, along with many other diseases, were poorly understood, utterly untreatable and universally blinding, according to Van Gelder.
“We now have effective therapies for all of them and have averted millions of cases of blindness through our work,” Van Gelder said. “We did not get there by accident.”
Gains in eye care have resulted from the collective efforts of thousands of AAO members, “a community that has always risen to the challenges that have been placed before them,” Van Gelder said.
Subspecialists have also tackled challenges to save millions of patients from blindness and eye disease, Van Gelder said.
Future challenges include meeting the rising demand for eye care and complying with regulatory requirements.
“We will probably not turn out any more ophthalmologists each year, but we will almost certainly have nearly twice the number of patients in this country in the next 2 decades as the Baby Boomers reach their Medicare years,” Van Gelder said.
Other challenges include fostering innovation and ensuring that only MDs provide medical and surgical management of eye disease, he said.
Disclosure: Van Gelder has received grant support from the National Eye Instiute, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Theravance.