Eyeworld

Another thing Dr. Masket said Dr. Crandall should be remembered for is a winter meeting that was held in Park City, Utah. Though its name changed over the years, Dr. Masket said many referred to it as "Alan's meeting." A few years ago, a lecture at this meeting was estab- lished in his honor. Outside of ophthalmology, Dr. Masket said his family and Dr. Crandall's enjoyed skiing and fishing together. He viewed Dr. Crandall as the brother he never had. "I'm sure I'm not alone in that because Alan was easy to be with and he always treated peo- ple with respect." 'Alan held so many of our hands' Legendary surgical skills. Devoted. The em- bodiment of the word "kind." One of the nicest people in ophthalmology … and one of the craziest. These are just a few words Geoff Tabin, MD, used to describe Dr. Crandall. While on humanitarian missions, Dr. Tabin, who worked with Dr. Crandall in developing countries and at Moran, said Dr. Crandall would "He had several sayings: 'It's physics" and "The video doesn't lie.' … I think Alan was responsible for training an entire generation of residents and fellows to be outstanding sur- geons. That's one of his main legacies." This emphasis on teaching extended to his humanitarian work, too. "He wasn't just going to places in need and doing surgery on these humanitarian trips. … He really was involved in the training of ophthalmologists in the developing world, and I think that's going to be another of his legacies," Dr. Mamalis said. On a personal note, Dr. Mamalis described how he and Dr. Crandall had offices two doors away from each other at Moran, but their sched- ules rarely aligned and they saw little of each other there. "But when we would travel internationally, Alan and I really hit it off. We became travel partners around the world," he said. "I'm not only going to miss Alan professionally. I'm going to miss his teaching and innovation, but I'm also going to miss being with him at meetings all over the world." 'He was a bit of a maverick' There's a picture of Dr. Crandall going down a dirt path in his scrubs holding hands with a Sudanese boy as they walk away through the village. "This is an iconic photo that says everything you need to know about Alan Crandall," said Samuel Masket, MD. Not having the chance to do humanitarian work with him, Dr. Masket said, is his one mis- giving from their 35-year friendship. However, they did get to publish a textbook together in 1999. Dr. Masket began his friendship with Dr. Crandall in the 1980s when they were brought together to teach phacoemulsification courses around the country. Dr. Crandall was "a bit of a maverick in the glaucoma community," Dr. Masket said, because he was the first to recog- nize that phacoemulsification and its small inci- sion were integral in glaucoma management. "Traditional large incision cataract surgery interfered with what was glaucoma surgery at that time … filtering surgery was all we had," Dr. Masket explained, adding later "Alan revolu- tionized the relationship between glaucoma and cataract surgery." continued on page 24 Dr. Crandall on a mission trip a couple of years ago in Tanzania Source: Moran Eye Center/Flickr

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