Internationally esteemed ophthalmologist Benjamin F. Boyd, MD, FACS, dies

Author, educator and internationally esteemed ophthalmologist Benjamin F. Boyd, MD, FACS, of Panama died Feb. 5.

The announcement was posted to the Facebook page of the Boyd Clinic in Panama City, the practice Boyd founded in 1954 and which currently includes his son Samuel Boyd, MD.

Among his many accomplishments and long career, Benjamin Boyd was well known for his authorship of Highlights of Ophthalmology, a trilogy of ophthalmology textbooks that chronicle 60 years of progress in the field, from 1950 to 2010.

Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, OSN Chief Medical Editor and contributor to the trilogy, said this: “Benjamin Boyd, MD, of Panama was a global giant in ophthalmology. He led the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO) for decades and was an active participant in Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis and many World Ophthalmology Congresses. I came to know him primarily through his decades of writing and editing Highlights of Ophthalmology. These remarkable educational gifts to ophthalmologists worldwide continue today under the direction of his talented ophthalmologist son, Samuel Boyd, MD. I will remember Ben Boyd as the consummate gentleman physician leader and educator who was dedicated to his patients, his colleagues around the world, his family and his friends. I feel blessed to have been able to call this special man a friend.”

As recently as the 2015-2017 term, Benjamin and Samuel Boyd shared responsibility of representing Panama on the PAAO board of directors. The PAAO continues to award, since 1987, the Benjamin F. Boyd Humanitarian Medal for Services to the Americas, which acknowledges “individuals who have extended singular and significant service to the people of the Americas through ophthalmological service and blindness prevention activities, public services related to the advancement of ophthalmology or blindness prevention, or such other service.” – by Patricia Nale, ELS