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SASOPRS Member Interview of John J. Woog

by: Marna A Krot
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
Nov
28

SASOPRS: John, I understand that you and your family have faced a major medical challenge. Can you tell us a little about your story?
John: Sure. I was in my mid-40s with two young kids when I was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. Despite aggressive surgery and postop chemo, I developed liver metastases. I failed additional conventional chemo, RF ablation, Phase 2 and 1 clinical trials, and partial hepatectomy prior to responding to last-ditch experimental therapy. I’ve fortunately remained stable for the past 11 years. While, like many cancer patients, I have ongoing medical issues and concerns about recurrent or secondary malignancy, I’m profoundly grateful to be here.

SASOPRS: That’s remarkable. I heard that you and your wife recently published a book about your story. What motivated you to write about your experiences?
John: When I was diagnosed, and especially when my metastatic disease was progressing relentlessly, we wished that there was a step-by-step reference to help guide us. In addition, over the years we’ve shared advice with a soberingly large number of family members and friends (including dear ASOPRS colleagues) who have faced their own challenges with cancer. Several folks asked if we would consider sharing our lessons learned during this process.

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Marvin Harold “Marv” Quickert

by: John Harrington
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
Nov
28

I had the privilege of knowing Marv Quickert as a mentor and co-director of my ASOPRS fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as well as a friend and extraordinary human being. He tremendously influenced my life, and I am sure he did all those fortunate enough to know him.

Marv was President-Elect of ASOPRS in 1974 when his life ended unexpectedly while scuba diving at the age of 45. His death, after only thirteen years of practice, was a true loss to his family, friends, ASOPRS, and oculoplastics. One of the brightest minds in oculoplastics and a perfectionist, he constantly sought a better understanding of orbital anatomy and eyelid function, thus improving operative techniques and outcomes. The field of oculoplastic surgery has progressed significantly in the last fifty-plus years since his death. Still, man of his ideas were the basis for a better understanding of anatomy and function. Surgical procedures and techniques, especially with lacrimal and eyelid problems, are still influenced today by his understanding and development of knowledge. One can only imagine what additional contributions he would have made to oculoplastics had he lived a longer life.

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My Mentor, Albie Hornblass

by: David Reifler
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
Nov
28

Albie Hornblass
by David Reifler

My mentor, Albie Hornblass, is well remembered by many senior Society members as an ASOPRS past president, skillful surgeon, preceptor, author and textbook editor, decorated military veteran, volunteer leader, philanthropist, and beloved family man. Many details of Albie’s life and his several awards are to be found in the ASOPRS 50th Anniversary Book. I learned of Albie’s passing on January 17, 2007, while at work at a local Grand Rapids hospital. I remember pausing to say a traditional blessing acknowledging God as the Judge of Truth, just as Albie would have said it of another. I then returned to the operating room to lead a surgical team and employ techniques that I had learned by his side. What better tribute than to practice what I had been taught by a mensch who was a giant in our field and an exemplar of living an ethical and loving life of service? Among his military decorations, Albie had earned a Bronze Star as Chief of Ophthalmology at the Pleiku Evacuation Hospital in South Vietnam, but he was most fond of remembering his humanitarian service to Montagnard Highlanders.

My year in New York City with Albie was probably the most consequential year of my training. It was also of great importance in shaping my world view and my personal aspirations of continued self-improvement and service. In Albie’s memory, I have continued to support one of his favorite charities, the Keren-Or Jerusalem Center for Blind Children with Multiple Disabilities, whose board he led for many years. With neuro-ophthalmologist Ron Burde, Albie also co-organized the American Israeli Ophthalmological Society, which eventually outgrew its raison d’être as the resources and technological innovations of Israeli ophthalmology advanced to world-class levels. Over many years, I have likewise found meaningful involvement with other non-profit organizations, including pro bono work here and abroad. In retrospect, wittingly or unwittingly, I have attempted to emulate Albie’s finer qualities. I had apparently followed an ancient Jewish precept to “make for yourself a rav” (i.e., a mentor). 

Albie approached life seriously but with a sense of humor. His intense concentration on detail was imbued with a relaxed, Zen-like stoicism. During my fellowship, I sometimes felt the pressure of Albie’s high expectations. When I experienced some additional financial stresses at the mid-point of my fellowship, he carried me through that thankfully brief time. In great measure, he personally showed me the kindness and compassion that he quite naturally showed to patients and co-workers. Albie was good with people, whether one-on-one, in groups of all sizes, or in the service of broad causes and ideals. He had a profound sense of duty and leadership that came to him naturally. 

The lyrics of “New York, New York” maintain that if you can succeed in a tough city like NYC, you can succeed anywhere. Albie Hornblass succeeded in New York City and beyond, and he succeeded in the most meaningful of ways. His good works will continue to reverberate for many generations.

Friday Jerry Popham 2023 Bart Frueh Award Winner...What it means to me

by: Benyam Kinde, MD, PhD
Category: YASOPRS AWARDS
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Nov
21

The Friday Jerry Popham, MD winner was Benyam Kinde, MD, PhD for his “DNA Damage Checkpoint Kinases and Traumatic Optic Neuropathy” presentation.

To be selected for the Bart Frueh Award from a cohort of outstanding projects is a humbling experience. The groundbreaking research presented at the Fall 2023 meeting is inspiring, and I feel deeply honored to be a part of ASOPRS and to be selected for this award. This award underscores the shared commitment to advancing our understanding of complex conditions, such as traumatic optic neuropathy, and seeking innovative solutions to improve patient outcomes.

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ASOPRS Foundation 2023 Michael Hawes Lecture

by: Marna A Krot
Category: Sponsored Lectures
Nov
21

ASOPRS Foundation 2023 Michael Hawes Lecture - Patrick Bryne, MD

ASOPRS Foundation 2023 Michael J. Hawes lecture was presented by Patrick Bryne, MD, entitled Advances in Facial Reanimation 2023.  Dr. Patrick Byrne is a Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon and the Enterprise Chief of the Cleveland Clinic Surgical Specialties Institute, encompassing Cleveland Clinic’s surgical specialties worldwide. He also serves as the Chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Head & Neck Institute, which comprises the specialties of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Dentistry, Audiology, and Speech and Language Sciences.

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SASOPRS...What is it? What’s in a Name? Why is it Needed?

by: Michael Hawes, MD
Category: Sponsored Lectures
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Nov
20

Senior American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (SASOPRS) is two years old. It was started of a concern for the needs of ASOPRS members who have contributed much over the years to ASOPRS but who are sometimes forgotten as they age or feel they don’t fit in with the active clinicians.

“Senior” admittedly is a loaded word. While the dictionary says a senior is one who is “more experienced,” some may equate senior to “senile,” “retired,” or “old and out of touch.” But those of us who are more experienced beg to differ. We still have something to offer!



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Thursday Bart Frueh Winner...What it Means to Me

by: Charlotte L. Marous, MD
Category: YASOPRS AWARDS
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Nov
20

 

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International Outreach...Honduras

by: P. Gandhi and C Fleming
Category: International Outreach
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Sep
05

The ASOPRS Foundation is excited to support ACE Global’s Oculofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Committee to bring to fruition a first-of-its-kind fellowship training program in Honduras. This program will train Honduran oculofacial surgeons to serve as a steadily growing resource for the people of Honduras, where there is a demonstrated need for this specialty. The first-ever Fellow, Nicolle Andrea Ruiz Rodriguez, MD, is training now and is dedicated to improving patients' lives in Honduras.

Honduras faces a significant shortage of oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgery providers, which has a profound impact on the health of its citizens, especially the poor. According to the World Health Organization, there are only 0.2 oculofacial plastic surgeons per 1 million people in Honduras. This limited access to specialized care leads to delayed diagnoses, inadequate treatment, and increased rates of preventable blindness. Honduras has one of the highest poverty rates in Latin America, making it difficult for many patients to afford the medical care they desperately need.

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Meet the 2023 Dale Meyer Rising Star

by: Shanlee Stevens, MD
Category: YASOPRS AWARDS
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Sep
05

2023 Dale Meyer Rising Star, in my own words. 

                When I started my ophthalmology residency, I didn’t know much about the field of oculoplastic surgery. Working with Dr. David Tse in the clinic and operating room opened my eyes to a unique side of ophthalmology. I found myself drawn to complex cases requiring multidisciplinary care, and I felt inspired by the life-saving care we often provided. I was fortunate to care for a patient with lacrimal gland adenoid cystic carcinoma (LGACC) who had received trimodal therapy. This inspired my research into obtaining intraoperative margin clearance in tumor removal, which remains the highest risk factor for mortality.

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Why I Give...Patrick Flaharty's story

by: Patrick M. Flaharty, MD, FAACS
Category: Why I Give to the Foundation
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Mar
01

Why I Give...Patrick Flaharty's Story

When I attended the 50th anniversary of ASOPRS in San Francisco a few years back, it dawned on me that I had been a member of ASOPRS for more than half its existence. Over the years, I have built many great friendships with ASOPRS colleagues and watched the organization grow with the addition of many outstanding new members. As a cosmetically oriented physician, I’ve enjoyed and learned from my colleagues in the other core disciplines, but in the final analysis, I am most closely allied with my ASOPRS colleagues. We have the same core training, come from the same family tree, and need to nurture the continued growth of that tree for the next generation of ASOPRS physicians. Donating to the ASOPRS Foundation is one easy way to give back to the organization that has supported us over all these years and to help strengthen that organization to have an even greater impact on the world in the years to come. 

Why I Give...John Fezza, MD

by: John Fezza, MD
Category: Why I Give to the Foundation
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Feb
06

"I encourage you to donate to the foundation; it makes a difference!" ~ J. Fezza

ASOPRS and the Foundation have always been like a family to me. There are so many incredibly talented, smart, and inspirational members, and I truly enjoy my interactions. More importantly, ASOPRS has been a platform for meeting old friends and making new ones. ASOPRS has been the gold standard for oculofacial plastic surgery and most advances in our field have been championed by ASOPRS members. I feel ASOPRS and ASOPRS Foundation are truly one and strive to educate physicians, set excellence in patient care, and provide a space for innovation in our field.

The Foundation has grown in the past decades to emerge as an outstanding charitable organization. It supports mission work in foreign countries training of foreign physicians in places where care is difficult, and it creates a platform and support for new research. In the past 20 years, the Foundation has provided unyielding philanthropic assistance, and its impact can be felt globally.

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Bart Frueh Award Winner -  Dr. Michelle Ting

by: Michelle Ting
Category: YASOPRS AWARDS
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Nov
23
"A Comparison of Proptosis Reduction with Teprotumumab vs. Surgical Decompression Based fat-to-muscle Ratio in Thyroid Eye Disease." 
Michelle Tang, MD

Dr. Michelle Ting graduated this year from the international ASOPRS fellowship at UCSD. While at UCSD, she was under the excellent tutelage and mentorship of Dr. Don Kikkawa, Dr. Bobby Korn, and Dr. Catherine Liu. Before her fellowship, she trained in the United Kingdom; she attended college and medical school at Cambridge University and Imperial College London, then undertook her residency at Moorfields Eye Hospital, including a year as Chief Resident. Now she enjoys working as an attending oculoplastic surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in London, applying the skills and techniques she learned during fellowship and sharing ideas from across the pond with her residents and fellow.

We asked Dr. Ting to tell us about what inspired her and why she chose the topic that won her this year’s Bart Frueh Award.  

 “This year at the ASOPRS Fall Symposium, I was given the opportunity to present an exciting study that we conducted during my ASOPRS fellowship, “A comparison of proptosis reduction with teprotumumab versus surgical decompression based on the fat-to-muscle ratio in thyroid eye disease.” We chose to investigate this because teprotumumab is a new tool in our armamentarium of treatments for thyroid eye disease, but we had little idea of how it compared to the traditional treatment for proptosis, namely surgical decompression. Our idea was sparked by the clinical observation that not all patients were experiencing the same degree of response to teprotumumab, with some still going on to need surgical decompression but others responding very well to a course of the medicine alone. The idea for our study was also influenced by the findings of our previous work (for which we were also lucky to win the Bartley Frueh award in 2021!), “Differential effects of teprotumumab treatment based on the fat-to-muscle ratio in patients with thyroid eye disease” (Orbit 2002 Sep 12;1-8). We showed that the orbital fat-to-muscle ratio (FMR) in thyroid eye disease correlates with proptosis reduction in response to teprotumumab. Based on this, we wanted to explore whether FMR could be used to identify if surgical decompression or teprotumumab might lead to a greater reduction in proptosis. We looked at patients who had completed a course of teprotumumab and compared their level of proptosis reduction with patients who had undergone surgical decompression alone. We then stratified the patients into two groups, those with high FMR and those with low FMR, and found an interesting difference between the two. Patients with low FMR had similar levels of proptosis reduction with teprotumumab as compared to surgical decompression, but in patients with high FMR, orbital decompression was associated with a greater level of reduction in proptosis than teprotumumab. We concluded that FMR is a useful tool in predicting whether a patient will respond better to teprotumumab or surgery and that surgical decompression should still be considered as first-line treatment for patients with a high FMR. We hope our study helps to inform clinicians about how to counsel patients on the choice between teprotumumab and surgical decompression and to build a picture of where teprotumumab falls in the framework of treatments for thyroid eye disease.”

2022 Michael J Hawes Lecture

by: Marna A Krot
Category: Sponsored Lectures
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Nov
23

ASOPRS Foundation 2022 Michael J. Hawes Lecture was presented by John Siebert, MD, entitled Changes in Cutaneous Gene Expression after Microvascular Free Tissue Transfer in Parry-Romberg Syndrome.  

John Siebert, MD, Professor in the Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Division of Plastic Surgery, presented his work on Parry-Romberg Syndrome at the ASOPRS Fall Symposium. Dr. Siebert is world-renowned for work with Parry-Romberg patients, including his approach of early intervention with his microvascular free tissue transfer reconstruction technique. 
Dr Siebert graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1981. He went on to complete his  General Surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1981 to 1986, and then did his Plastic Surgery residency and a microsurgery fellowship at New York University from 1986 to 1989.  He was on faculty at NYU in Plastic Surgery and served as director of the Microsurgery Fellowship and Chief of Plastic Surgery at Bellevue Hospital while on staff at NYU; Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital; and with New York Eye and Ear Infirmary for 20 years.  He has been a Professor at UW since 2007 and has had an Endowed Chair since 2015.
Dr. Siebert has written over 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 20 chapters in plastic surgical textbooks.  He has delivered over 172 presentations as invited lectureships, visiting professorships, and at international and national plastic surgery meetings. He has received numerous awards in plastic surgery, including three James Barrett Brown awards by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons in 1991, 1998, and 2021 for the best contribution to the plastic surgery literature that year.

Bart Frueh Award Winner - Dr. Edith Reshef

by: Edith Reshef
Category: YASOPRS AWARDS
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Nov
23

Meet Edith Reshef, MD - 2022 Bart Frueh Award Winner for her presentation entitled “Reduction in Extraocular Muscle Cross-sectional Area Following Teprotumumab for Thyroid Eye Disease.” 

Dr. Reshef attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before receiving her medical degree from Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed her ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School, where she subsequently completed an ASOPRS fellowship in Orbit and Oculofacial Plastic and Reconstructive surgery. She received a Heed Fellowship Award from the Society of Heed Fellows during her fellowship training. Dr. Reshef is joining the Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School faculty to develop a pediatric oculoplastic surgery program.

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2022 Michael J. Hawes Lecture Honoree - Daniel P. Schafer

by: Kathleen F. Archer, MD
Category: Sponsored Lectures
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Nov
23

ASOPRS Foundation Michael J. Hawes Lecture Honoree
Daniel P. Schaefer, MD, FACS
by Kathleen F. Archer, MD

It was my distinct honor to present Dr. Daniel P. Schaefer as this year's honoree for the ASOPRS Foundation Michael J. Hawes Lecture. Dr. Schaefer has been a member of ASOPRS since 1988. He immediately became active within ASOPRS and has remained so.

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