Emory Eye Center's director of ocular oncology and pathology services, Hans E. Grossniklaus, MD, MBA, has been appointed to the American Board of Ophthalmology’s (ABO) Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2021. He will serve a four-year term.
"Dr. Grossniklaus brings a remarkable portfolio to the Board of Directors," says ABO Chief Executive Officer George B. Bartley, MD. "A world-renowned ophthalmic pathologist with board certification in each specialty, Dr. Grossniklaus possesses MBA training and vast executive experience with the AOS. We look forward to learning from him."
The ABO is the nation's first medical specialty board and develops rigorous assessments for the certification of eye physicians and surgeons in the United States. Since 1916, more than 32,000 physicians have demonstrated their knowledge and skills in ophthalmology through ABO certification.
Members of the ABO Board of Directors are leaders in ophthalmology who possess specific clinical or subspecialty expertise and reflect the diversity of the ophthalmic community.
"I am honored to serve on the Board of Directors of the ABO. The Board will serve the public's interest in assuring that practitioners have met vigorous standards in their education and qualifying examinations," Grossniklaus says.
As a director, Grossniklaus will perform duties as a senior examiner for oral examinations. He'll also sit on the continuing certification committee and the finance committee.
Grossniklaus is the vice chair of Translational Research, founding director of the Ocular Oncology and Pathology service, and director of the L.F. Montgomery Laboratory at the Emory Eye Center. He also serves as the executive vice president of the American Ophthalmological Society (AOS).
Board certified in both ophthalmology and anatomic pathology, Grossniklaus has expertise in diagnostic ophthalmic pathology, ocular oncology and ophthalmic pathology research, including drug delivery. In 2017, under his directorship, the Montgomery Lab reached an accumulated 75,000 specimens evaluated since the 1940s, with Grossniklaus having signed out over 65,000 cases himself.
Grossniklaus has received multiple awards and honors including the Life Achievement Award, the Senior Achievement Award, two Secretariat Awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). In 2012, he was named one of Emory University's eight Distinguished Teaching Scholars, its only School of Medicine designee. He is also editor of the Pocket Guide to Ocular Oncology and Pathology and serves as the editor-in-chief of the World Health Organization book, Tumors of the Eye.
His research areas of interest are the treatment of primary ocular melanoma and retinoblastoma, molecular pathology of retinoblastoma, and control of metastatic melanoma from the eye to the liver.
Grossniklaus is the third Emory Eye Center faculty member appointed to ABO’s board. F. Phinizy Calhoun Sr., MD, and F. Phinizy Calhoun Jr., MD, former chairs of the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, were the only father and son duo to have ever served on the board of the ABO.
As a director, Calhoun Sr. served on the audit, finance, medical school, and requirements committees from 1924 to 1933. Calhoun Jr., who served as a director of ABO from 1961 to 1968, participated in the administration of Board examinations.