Thomas Aaberg, Sr., MD, MPH
From 1998 until 2007, Dr. Thomas Aaberg served as the Phinizy Calhoun, Sr. Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Emory University. Dr. Aaberg is credited with developing the department into a nationally-recognized center for academic, clinical, and research excellence. He did this while training more than 60 vitreoretinal fellows and methodically building the residency and fellowship programs. As a clinician and researcher, he focused on the management of complicated retinal detachment and diabetic retinopathy, as well as other medical retinal disorders. Dr. Aaberg has served as the senior editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, the president of the Macula Society, and the president of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO). A respected member of virtually every professional society in the field ophthalmology, Dr. Aaberg authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and published 19 book chapters. He earned his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his residency in ophthalmology from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Geoff Broocker, MD, FACS
During a clinically active 26-year tenure at the Emory School of Medicine, Dr. Geoff Broocker served as the chief (or co-chief) of Ophthalmology at Grady Memorial Hospital and as the head of the residency program for the Emory Eye Center (1988-2000). An energetic and engaged educator, he thrived as the mentor to countless medical students, non-ophthalmic residents, and healthcare paraprofessionals. His devotion to the residency program, in particular, set the bar high for all of his successors. The recipient of multiple clinical teaching awards, he was named the Walthour-DeLaPerriere Professor of Ophthalmology by the Emory School of Medicine in 1996. Dr. Broocker earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed his residency at the Wills Eye Hospital. Broocker retired in 2014, but, as this 2023 news story can attest, he remains an active participant in residency education.
Robert L. Church
From 1984 until his retirement in 2012, Robert L. Church, PhD, served on the Department of Ophthalmology faculty and was a dedicated senior editor for the award-winning web-based journal Molecular Vision. Dr. Church has more than 74 publications and more than 1,600 citations in cell biology and sequencing. He earned his degrees at the University of Pittsburg and Albany Medical College.
Henry F. Edelhauser, PhD
The late Dr. Henry F. Edelhauser played an integral role in the Emory Eye Center's rising prominence as a champion of translational research. Hired by then-chair Thomas Aaberg in 1989, Dr. Edelhauser served as the Sylvia Montag Ferst and Frank W. Ferst Professor of Ophthalmology and the director of Ophthalmic Research until his retirement in 2013. During his tenure he almost doubled the size of the Research Division while also greatly expanding the Center's network of research collabotators to include the VA’s Center for Visual & Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse College. Among his colleagues, he was revered as that rare researcher who could bring together the worlds of clinical care and basic scientistific discovery. Dr. Edelhaser won nearly every national award in vision research, including the prestigious Castroviejo and Proctor medals, the highest honors in his field. A past president of ARVO, he was a much-requested speaker at major conferences, including ASCRS where he presented the prestigious Charles D. Kelman Innovators lecture in 2010.
Dayle Henry Geroski
In collaboration with the legendary Henry Ededlhouser, PhD, Dayle Henry Geroski, PhD, studied new ways of delivering medication to the retina to treat macular degeneration. Over the course of his career, he had 63 research works with more than 3,000 citations.
Timothy Olsen, MD
Robert D. Stulting, Jr.
A renowned and oft-requested lecturer around the world, Robert Doyle Stulting is a leader in state and national ophthalmology organizations, including the Ophthalmic Devices Panel at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the Eyebank Association of America. As a clinician, he participated in the first physician-sponsored clinical investigation of LASIK (before FDA approval of the refractive laser), and has since performed more than 2000 LASIK procedures. Dr. Stulting is a prodigious author and the principal investigator for multiple NIH-supported grants. Notably, he was the co-director of the Collaborative Corneal Transplantation Studies. Dr. Stulting earned his undergraduate, medical, and doctoral degrees from from Duke University, and completed his internal medicine residency at Washington University’s Barnes Hospital. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute before coming to the Emory where he was a fellow in cornea diseases. Upon graduation, he joined the Emory Eye Center clinical faculty where he practiced, taught, and performed research for 22 years.
Morton B. Waitzman
A World War II veteran who fought at Normandy, Morton B. Waitzman attended college on the GI Bill and went on to earn a PhD in physiology at the University of Illinois. He was serving as a professor and the director of ophthalmology research at Case-Western Reserve University when he was recruited by the Emory Department of Ophthalmology to lay the foundation of the ophthalmology research program. Thus began his 29-year tenure, during which he recruited and mentored new research talent, helped to design the Clinic B facility, and held tenured academic appointments in ophthalmology and physiology. Waitzman's many accomplishments were fueled by a simple but deeply held coniction that serves to direct our efforts today: “Helping the blind became the most important thing in my life. I knew that I wanted to become involved with research and solve all the problems of blindness.”