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Crowell Beard, MD

by: Joe Arterberry
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
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Mar
26

Crowell Beard, MD

Crowell Beard is renowned as one of the three major founders of Oculoplastic Surgery. His career accomplishments include helping found ASOPRS, developing Oculoplastics as a specialty, authoring the first definitive textbook on ptosis, training many of the second generation of Oculoplastics preceptors, and developing the eponymously named Cutler-Beard staged bridge flap. 

Beard was one of three sons of J. Edgar Beard and Mabel Crowell Beard. The Beards were an early pioneer family in the Napa Valley and co-owners of the Thompson, Beard & Sons mercantile store in Napa.  Crowell was born in Napa, California, on May 23, 1912.   He attended the local schools in Napa for his early education and, as a member of a musically talented family, learned to play the violin.  Following his father’s pathway, he attended the University of California at Berkeley, initially studying Chinese, economics, and statistics before changing his major to pre-medicine. At UC-Berkeley Crowell transitioned from playing violin to playing the banjo on a weekly half-hour radio show in Berkeley.

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Byron Smith and His Fellowship Prior to ASOPRS

by: John Burns
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
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Mar
21

Byron Capleese Smith was a renowned pioneer in Oculoplastic Surgery. Born in Tonganoxie, Kansas, in August of 1908, he received his B.A. and M.D. from the University of Kansas in 1931. Early in his career, he trained in psychiatry at Topeka State Hospital from 1931-34.  Knowing his personality, I suspect that he quickly realized psychiatry was not his calling. Byron continued on to New Haven Hospital, completing a residency in general surgery in 1938. Finally, he completed a two-year residency in ophthalmology at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1940.

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pecial Guest SASOPRS Member: Richard Angrist, MD Interviewed

by: John Woog
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
Mar
21

 For the Love of the Game...

SASOPRS: I understand that you’re a big baseball fan. When did your interest in baseball begin?

Richard: My interest in baseball began when I was about seven years old.  My first baseball game I attended was in 1963 at the old Polo Grounds. The Mets were playing the Cardinals that day, and, of course, lost. I began collecting baseball cards.  In those days, we would put the cards in the spokes of our bicycles, use them to "color", trade, etc. I remember attending about 20-25 NY Met games a year at Shea Stadium with my father who was a Deputy Chief Inspector in the NYPD.  My father commanded half the precincts in Brooklyn.  We would go on "rounds" after the game and officers in the precinct stood up and saluted him when he entered.  We would then go to either Peter Luger Steak House or Crisci's restaurant for dinner. I remember car rides with my dad. We would talk about current events and other topics and really "bond." 

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Special Guest SASOPRS Member: Richard Angrist, MD Interviewed

by: John Woog
Category: SASOPRS Article Blogs
Tags
Mar
21

 For the Love of the Game...

SASOPRS: I understand that you’re a big baseball fan. When did your interest in baseball begin?

Richard: My interest in baseball began when I was about seven years old.  My first baseball game I attended was in 1963 at the old Polo Grounds. The Mets were playing the Cardinals that day, and, of course, lost. I began collecting baseball cards.  In those days, we would put the cards in the spokes of our bicycles, use them to "color", trade, etc. I remember attending about 20-25 NY Met games a year at Shea Stadium with my father who was a Deputy Chief Inspector in the NYPD.  My father commanded half the precincts in Brooklyn.  We would go on "rounds" after the game and officers in the precinct stood up and saluted him when he entered.  We would then go to either Peter Luger Steak House or Crisci's restaurant for dinner. I remember car rides with my dad. We would talk about current events and other topics and really "bond." 

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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.