(Atlanta) – Eight Emory Eye Center faculty members were recognized at the Emory University School of Medicine’s (SOM) Celebration of Faculty Excellence ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Each year, the School of Medicine honors faculty in a variety of categories for the excellence of their work, teaching, distinguished service, mentoring, and leadership.
Most of the Emory Eye Center honorees were noted for accomplishments during the past year including publishing awards, faculty promotions, research, professional society involvement, and more.
Leadership Positions and Promotions
Valérie Biousse, MD – elected President of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS)
Jeffrey Boatright, PhD – elected chair of the CET 1-Study Section Panel, Vision Research Program and chair of the Novel Medical Therapies, Early Translational Research Program Study Section, Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB).
Emily Graubart, MD – elected President, Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology, Medical Student Educators Council.
Purnima Patel, MD – elected Editor-in-Chief, American Academy of Ophthalmology's Online Educations (ONE) Network
Three faculty members were promoted to the ranking of associate professor in ophthalmology: Jeremy Jones, MD, H. Joon Kim, MD, Jason Peragallo, MD.
Hidden Gem Award
Another notable award is the Hidden Gem award. Faculty members who are noted as “Hidden Gems” were nominated by their departments in recognition of their outstanding, but often unnoticed or unrecognized, contributions to Emory or beyond.
Natalie Weil, MD, assistant professor in the pediatric ophthalmology section, is the recipient of the 2020 Hidden Gem Award. As Allen D. Beck, chair and director of Emory Eye Center, says, “Dr. Weil is a compassionate, generous, engaged physician who embodies the Emory mantra that ‘we are all in this together’. She is actively engaged in service
He adds, “She travels to Jordan every 6 months to provide Syrian refugees with eye care and established a vision screening program. Dr. Weil regularly volunteers at the Clarkston community clinic and organized a volunteer vision screening for World Sight Day in 2018 and 2019.”
“Dr. Weil uses her technical skills to advance the service, such as creating and maintaining a Google calendar for the service and starting a weekly zoom teaching conference for pediatric ophthalmology. She also put in place a strabismus surgery curriculum / wet lab for Emory residents and in Ethiopia and conducts the pediatric Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) review every year.”
Dr. Weil joined the Emory Eye Center in September 2015. Her clinical areas of interest are pediatric ophthalmologic issues and adult strabismus.
“I want to congratulate the faculty who were honored during the Emory Celebration of Faculty Excellence,” says Beck. “Our faculty serve as leaders in numerous national organizations related to vision care and research. It is a pleasure to work with such a distinguished group.”
Faculty are honored during Emory’s faculty recognition week, which runs from October 26-30, 2020. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, this year’s Faculty of Excellence ceremony was held virtually.
Learn more about this year’s honorees at Emory School of Medicine Faculty Recognitions Week.