Alumni Highlights
Optical Science (CUOS) at U-M, working on the femtosecond laser. Removing his safety goggles prematurely, Dr. Du suffered an eye injury. He had the eye examined Ron Kurtz, M.D., was part at Kellogg by Dr. Kurtz, who had just completed his first of a team that received year of residency. the Golden Goose Award Curious about a laser that etched such a precise from the American pattern on the retina, Dr. Kurtz visited the CUOS to learn Association for the more. A research collaboration developed, beginning Advancement of Science with Drs. Kurtz, Mourou and Du (who suffered no lasting in September 2022. effects from the injury), and eventually expanding to The award recognizes include Dr. Juhasz, who was concurrently researching scientists whose unsung, laser vision correction, and Dr. Strickland, co-developer federally-funded research of the femtosecond laser with Dr. Mourou (for which has led to breakthroughs they share the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics). of significant societal benefit. Dr. Kurtz is reluctant to take credit for a ‘lightbulb Dr. Kurtz, who completed his ophthalmology resimoment’ that led to Femtosecond LASIK. “As a residency at Kellogg in 1994 and returned as an assistant dent, one of my first thoughts was that laser safety professor from 1995 to 2000, shares the award with might make a good topic for a grand rounds presentafour other investigators: U-M engineering alum Detao tion,” he recalls. “The CUOS was already exploring mulDu, Ph.D.; Tibor Juhasz, Ph.D., a tiple uses for the laser, including KELLOGG HAS ALWAYS PROVIDED former U-M research associate medical applications. I helped professor in ophthalmology and them see the possibilities for eye THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CLINICAL biomedical engineering; Gérard surgery.” INSTRUCTION AND EXPERIENCE, Mourou, M.Sc., Ph.D., the A.D. The trajectory of Dr. Kurtz’s INCLUDING PRIORITIZING RESEARCH Moore Distinguished University Procareer has evolved since his time AS PART OF A WELL-ROUNDED fessor Emeritus at U-M; and Donna at Kellogg, where his faculty Strickland, Ph.D., a professor at the appointment was in vitreoretinal CLINICAL EDUCATION. University of Waterloo in Ontario, diseases. Today, he is President — Ron Kurtz, M.D. Canada. and C.E.O. of California-based Together, this team developed Femtosecond LASIK, RxSight®, an ophthalmic medical technology corporaa vision correction procedure that employs a femtosection that has commercialized the world’s first and only ond (quadrillionth of a second) pulsing laser, rather than adjustable intraocular lens (IOL) that is customizable a scalpel, to help reshape the cornea. Since its launch in after cataract surgery. 2001, Femtosecond LASIK has revolutionized refractive “Kellogg has always provided the highest level of surgery, improving the vision of more than 30 million clinical instruction and experience, including prioritizing people. research as part of a well-rounded clinical education,” Femtosecond LASIK’s origin story is as extraordihe says. “I am no longer a practicing clinician, but I connary as the technology itself. In the early 1990s, tinue to draw on what I learned as a resident. In fact, Dr. Du was a graduate student in Dr. Mourou’s lab in the most of the front-of-eye clinical experience so essential National Science Foundation-funded Center for Ultrafast to my work today I gained at Kellogg.”
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Lecture in Professionalism and Ethics Paul Lichter, M.D., M.S., past Chair and current Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, was invited to give the Allan and Claire Jensen, M.D., Lecture in Professionalism and Ethics at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The lecture was created in 2015 as a platform for a recognized ophthalmologist or member of the medical or bioethics community with demonstrated knowledge of ethical issues and professionalism to address these complex topics in an accessible and relevant format. 27
