Eyeworld

37 EW NEWS & OPINION March 2018 ability to transform our group into an extended family. We are fortu- nate that he will remain connected to ASCRS as our patriarch. EW Contact information Donnenfeld: ericdonnenfeld@gmail.com been one constant: David Karcher has been the executive director of ASCRS. When David came to our organization in 1981, we were a group of a few hundred progressive ophthalmologists that supported the iconoclastic concept that placing an intraocular lens at the time of cataract surgery was a good idea, and we were called the American Intra-Ocular Implant Society. It wasn't until many years later that we morphed into the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Under David's leadership, ASCRS has become a safe haven for accepting and developing new con- cepts, technologies, and techniques with the enviable goal of improving patient care. The primary focus for ASCRS and David has always been education, including phacoemulsi- fication, presbyopic and toric IOLs, the excimer and femtosecond lasers, and MIGS, to name a few. With such discussions flourishing with David at the helm, ASCRS has transformed from a few hundred members into the world's largest and most rele- vant anterior segment ophthalmic surgical society for state-of-the-art information with more than 8,000 members. After 37 years of leadership, David remains as committed to our organization as when I first met him decades ago. He is a worldwide am- bassador for our professional society, building relationships around the world with the leadership of sister organizations in Europe, Asia, and South America that saw an unmet need for a cataract and refractive society following the blueprint laid out by ASCRS. One of David's greatest strengths is his ability to relate to and nurture the careers of the staff who accomplish so much on our behalf. The future of any successful society is also based on the progression of young, gifted, and hard-working individuals into positions of leadership. Indeed, one of David's greatest contributions has been in helping ASCRS nurture these exceptional young ophthalmologists and prepare them to assume the mantle of leadership in our field. As we look at 2018 as the year that David steps down as ASCRS executive director, we should take a moment to recognize that we are all the better for his 37 years of leadership. We will miss what has been perhaps his greatest talent—his ECP: A New Perspective on MIGS "Combining ECP with a variety of other MIGS procedures allows me to o er a balanced therapy that is tailored to each patient." — Nathan Radcliffe, MD Coney Island Hospital, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY USA *Khandan, Sarah; Siegel, Les., et.al. Long-term Follow-up of Combined Phaco and ECP in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Glaucoma. AGS 2017 "Combined Phaco-ECP effectively lowers or maintains IOP and results in ocular hypertensive medication reduction up to 72 months."* 1-866-906-8080 beaver-visitec.com ECP Surgical Course and Hands-On Wetlab Join us for breakfast at the ASCRS • ASOA Annual Meeting and learn the basic techniques of ECP and combining with MIGS. Date: Sunday, April 15 Time: 7:00am Breakfast 7:30am Registration For more clinical information and to register visit endooptiks.com Visit us at Booth 1231

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