Harvard Ophthalmology hosted its 2024 Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion on June 13 and 14. The two-day event featured faculty and alumni lectures; a reception for Evangelos S. Gragoudas, MD, in recognition of his 50 years with Harvard Ophthalmology and Mass Eye and Ear; four award presentations; a poster contest; gala dinner; and special lectures to celebrate Mass Eye and Ear’s 200th anniversary. The event was co-chaired by Harvard Ophthalmology Chair Joan W. Miller, MD, and faculty members Joseph B. Ciolino, MD; Eric Gaier, MD, PhD; Rachel Huckfeldt, MD, PhD, and Joseph F. Rizzo III, MD.
Mariana Dieste Mead Lecture
Alumna Deborah S. Jacobs, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Part-time, at Harvard Medical School (HMS), presented the Mariana Dieste Mead lecture. Dr. Jacobs, an expert in cornea and the ocular surface, particularly dry eye disease, lectured on the history of scleral lenses, including the Boston Scleral Lens, and how they can benefit patients in the future.
This lecture was established to honor the memory of Mariana Dieste Mead, MD, an accomplished ophthalmologist who trained and worked at Harvard Ophthalmology and Mass Eye and Ear before she passed away in 2002.
Faculty Presentations and Mentoring Awards
The Annual Meeting portion of the event featured 15 faculty lectures and presentations on a range of topics, including the future of the Boston Keratoprosthesis, causal genes and cell types for glaucoma, and access to vision screening and pediatric eye care in the US. There were also special lectures as part of Mass Eye and Ear’s 200th anniversary that highlighted some of our greatest clinical advances in the modern era, including The Paradigm Shift in the Approach to Retinal Disease: 25 Years After PDT, VEGF, and OCT from Dr. Joan Miller, The Founding of the Mass Eye and Ear Retina Service / 50 Years of Ocular Oncology and Proton Beam Therapy from Demetrios Vavvas, MD, PhD; Glaucoma Service Founding and Innovation from Janey Wiggs, MD, PhD; and The Berman Gund Laboratory to the Ocular Genomics Institute: A brief history of inherited retinal degeneration research at Mass Eye and Ear/HMS by Eric Pierce, MD, PhD.
Silas Wang, MD, Co-Director of the Harvard Ophthalmology Research Scholars Program, shared an overview of the summer program, now in its fourth year, which offers first-year medical students from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups an immersive eight-week experience in ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear. Brionna Bennett, a member of our 2023 Summer Scholars class, then shared her experience with the program and how it has benefitted her career. We were also excited to have several current and alumni Research Scholars join us at the Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion.
David Hunter, MD, PhD, Director of our award-winning Mentoring Program, shared an update on the program and presented the 2024 faculty mentoring award. Congratulations to our 2024 Excellence in Mentoring Award honoree, Tobias Elze, PhD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at HMS and a computational vision scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass Eye and Ear.
Celebrating Evangelos S. Gragoudas, MD, and Two New Endowed Chairs
On Thursday evening, we hosted a special reception to celebrate Dr. Gragoudas and his 50-year career at Harvard Ophthalmology and Mass Eye and Ear. Dr. Gragoudas is a world-renowned retina specialist who’s clinical and research achievements have led to sight-saving treatments for millions of people worldwide. At the reception, it was announced that Dr. Gragoudas has donated $1.9M to Mass Eye and Ear to endow the Evangelos S. Gragoudas Chair in Ophthalmology to celebrate his legacy in ocular melanoma research, teaching, and patient care. Ivana K. Kim, MD, MBA, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at HMS and an expert in ocular melanoma, will be the inaugural incumbent.
Dr. Joan Miller announced a second endowed chair at the Alumni Reunion portion of the event on Friday. Stephen Ayoub, President and Co-Founder of AHEAD, a computing solutions and AI integration company, has pledged $2M to Mass Eye and Ear to endow the Ayoub Chair in Ophthalmology. The Chair will be within the Ocular Genomics Institute and will support an individual and their research program, specifically for inherited retinal disorders. The inaugural incumbent will be Jason Comander, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at HMS and Director of the Retina Service at Mass Eye and Ear.
Alumni Reunion and Achievement Award Lectures
The Alumni Reunion program included several alumni presentations from representatives of ten graduating classes and three Achievement Award lectures.
Faculty member Reza Dana, MD, MSc, MPH, the Claes H. Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology at HMS and Vice Chair for Academic Programs at Harvard Ophthalmology, presented the 2024 Distinguished Research Achievement Award lecture. Dr. Dana is an internationally recognized clinician scientist who has made seminal contributions in the field of cornea, particularly in ocular immunology and transplantation biology. As a strong proponent of translational research, Dr. Dana has developed one of the leading corneal translational programs in the country.
Alumna Julia A. Haller, MD, Ophthalmologist-in-Chief and the William Tasman, MD Endowed Chair at Wills Eye Hospital and Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, presented the 2024 Distinguished Clinical Achievement Award lecture. Dr. Haller is a is a world-renowned retinal surgeon and innovator who has published more than 400 scientific articles and book chapters. She has made critical contributions to our understanding of a range of retinal disorders, including intravitreal dexamethasone for macular edema, vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema, and enzymatic vitreolysis.
Alumnus David Guyer, MD, the Co-founder, President, and CEO of EyeBio, presented the inaugural Distinguished Innovator Award lecture. He is also a retinal specialist and a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors. Dr. Guyer has founded three biotech companies, with all three having been successfully acquired, and two of the companies completing IPOs. He has expansive medical, drug development, and commercial experience in the field of ophthalmology, and has served on approximately 20 boards of both public and private companies.
Trainee Poster Contest
On Friday evening, attendees gathered at The Four Seasons hotel for our annual Trainee Poster Contest, reception, and gala dinner. Thank you to Poster Contest judges Magdalena Krzystolik, MD; Jennifer Sun, MD, MPH; Silas Wang, MD; Patricia D'Amore, PhD, MBA; Eric Pierce, MD, PhD; Menglu Yang, MD, PhD; and Lotfi Merabet, OD, PhD, MPH, and thank you to all our residents and fellows for your participation.
Drs. Eric Gaier and Rachel Huckfeldt announced the Poster Contest winners. Congratulations to:
- Francesco Romano, MD, a research fellow at Mass Eye and Ear, for his poster, Associations Between Contrast Sensitivity Function, Optical Coherence Tomography Features and Progression from Intermediate to Late age-related Macular Degeneration
- Madhura Shah, a research fellow at Mass Eye and Ear, for her poster, Sequential NAION: Associated Risks and Temporal Distribution of Events
- Jean Moon, PhD, a research fellow at Mass Eye and Ear, for her poster, Role of Endomucin in Angiogenesis and Cytoskeletal Organization
- Jonathan Doyon, PhD, a research fellow at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass Eye and Ear, for his poster, Spatio-temporal Collision Envelope in Virtual Reality Walking with Colliding Pedestrians
Save the Date for 2025
Thank you to all our event organizers, speakers, honorees, and attendees for such a terrific event. We will be hosting our 2025 Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion on Thursday and Friday, June 12 and 13, 2025. Please add the dates to your calendars.
