EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78710
May 2012 Chief medical editor's corner of the world Incoming president applauds past successes with an eye on ASCRS future by David F. Chang, M.D. Last month, I had the honor of addressing the ASCRS Annual Meeting attendees during the Opening General Session as the incoming president. I look forward to the privilege and responsibility of serving our member- ship during this next year. —David F. Chang, M.D., chief medical editor Dear colleagues and friends: I am deeply honored to be your president for the coming year, and fortunately, I could not have had a better role model than Edward Holland [M.D.]. Ed is one of the most effective leaders that I have ever worked with. He is creative, industrious, and able to bring out the best in others. He has initiated a number of forward thinking changes in the direction of our organization, and on behalf of the entire govern- ing board, I want to thank and com- mend Ed for his inspiring leadership throughout this past year. I also want to applaud and congratulate David Karcher, who recently cele- brated his 30th year as our executive director. ASCRS has been extremely fortunate to have the continuity of David's phenomenal leadership for over 3 decades. This month actually marks an- other 30th anniversary—that of my very first cataract operation as a first-year UCSF resident. I haven't forgotten that early anxiety and in- security and my desperate hope of somehow becoming a competent eye surgeon. As unlikely as my being on this podium today would have seemed to me back then, I also could never have foreseen all that we are able to do in cataract surgery today. We owe so much of that progress to members of ASCRS. Starting with Ken Hoffer [M.D.] in 1974, the 26 ASCRS presidents before me form a Who's Who of innovators, educa- tors, and opinion leaders in our field. That the list includes so many of my personal heroes makes this opportunity to stand upon their shoulders both humbling and inspir- ing. During the coming year, the physician leadership of ASCRS will continue to work diligently with our staff on many important educational and advocacy fronts. Approximately 150 of us work either on the govern- ing board or on various clinical, ad- an exciting new program for the Annual Meeting. In addition, the ASCRS Foundation is partnering with the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary to distribute Cataract Master—the first-ever cognitive cataract surgical simulation pro- gram, which was developed and completed by Bonnie Henderson [M.D.] and John Loewenstein [M.D.] in time for the meeting. Using novel approaches such as this, I believe that ASCRS needs to inno- vate and expand fundamental train- ing support for phaco—not only for our resident members, but for the thousands of new international cataract surgeons that must be trained to meet the exploding demand of our aging population worldwide. The second core value is charity. Outgoing ASCRS president Edward Holland, M.D. (left), and incoming president, David F. Chang, M.D. (right), at this year's ASCRS Annual Meeting Source: ASCRS/EyeWorld vocacy, program, or advisory committees. With the help of your crucial PAC contributions, we will continue to collaborate with the Academy on key legislative and regulatory priorities, such as optometric expansion, Medicare reimbursement, and healthcare reform measures. Although every year it gets in- creasingly harder to practice medi- cine, I am continually reminded that we still belong to one of the most stimulating and rewarding of all professions. I would like to highlight three core values of our profession that I hope we continue to embrace and foster. These values were passed down by the generation of physi- cians that trained and mentored us and have survived decades of ad- verse economic and political pres- sures. The first core value is our re- markable willingness to teach and help each other. As busy clinicians, our personal time is precious. And yet I know of no other profession where so many of its members regu- larly volunteer so much of their time to teach others the skills to become as good as the teacher. The expres- sion "pay it forward" describes the unselfish concept of having some- one repay your good deed not to you, but rather to a future stranger. We teach residents and colleagues not because of obligation or com- pensation, but out of appreciation for those who so generously taught and mentored us. Medicare is trying to define, measure, and incentivize "quality" care. But this teaching that we do is priceless and immeasurable in its value for bettering patient care. ASCRS has long provided the most advanced and cutting-edge in- formation for the anterior segment surgeon. However, I hope that we will continue to expand our efforts in education for residents and less experienced surgeons. This past year, Ed Holland spearheaded a rededica- tion to resident teaching through a special task force that has developed We can be proud that so many physicians worldwide provide care to the needy at reduced or little cost. However, as an organization, I would like to see ASCRS do more to raise the awareness and involvement of our membership in eradicating the leading cause of blindness in the developing world—cataracts. Who can better understand the impor- tance and challenge of reversing the global backlog of cataract blindness than cataract surgeons? ASCRS rep- resents nearly 10,000 of the best and busiest in the world—an incredibly powerful but untapped resource. There are probably many potential volunteer ophthalmologists in our organization who would like to know more, do more, and con- tribute more but don't know where to begin. Launching this month is Global Sight Alliance, a unique web portal funded by the ASCRS Foundation. Several years ago, American ophthal- mologist Stan Pletcher [M.D.], founder of Mission Eyes Network, pioneered this site that links volun- teer ophthalmologists with philan- thropic organizations who need their expertise. The ASCRS Founda- tion is collaborating in expanding this web portal into a "go-to" cen- tralized educational site that net- works and links to the most important international NGOs in- volved in humanitarian cataract sur- gery. These organizations are doing continued on page 14 EW NEWS & OPINION 13