Please join us in congratulating our colleagues on these many wonderful achievements!

Penny Asbell, MD: Dr. Asbell served as the 2023 ARVO SIG organizer, led the ARVO Symposium as both an organizer and speaker, and was a featured speaker at the ARVO Mini Symposium. Dr. Asbell also served as a NEI reviewer for PED 1 (Pathophysiology of Eye Disease). Additionally, she has been invited to speak at the 2025 Gordon Research Conference (GRC).

Jesse L. Berry, MD: Dr. Berry has been appointed as the Chief of Ophthalmology at the Children's Hospital, Los Angeles.

Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, MD: Dr. Hartnett was elected to the American Association of Physicians in March 2025. This society for clinician scientists is for all fields of medicine and requires nomination, vetting and election from the society members. 

David Huang, MD, PhD: Dr. Huang was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2024. He also received the 2024 American Academy of Ophthalmology Lifetime Achievement Award and the Oregon Historical Society's 2024 Oregon History Maker Award.

Carol L. Karp, MD: Dr. Karp was honored to give the Edward WD Norton Lecture in November 2024. This lecture honors the founder of the Basom Palmer Eye Institute, Dr. Norton (The Chief). The selected speaker embodies the qualities Dr. Norton sought in his faculty.

Gregg T. Kokame, MD: Dr. Kokame was awarded the prestigious Gass Medal by the Macula Society in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the study of macular diseases.

Christopher J. Rapuano, MD: Dr. Rapuano was elected to be the President-Elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology starting in January of 2025. He will assume the Presidency of the AAO in January 2026.

Karolinne M. Rocha, MD, PhD: Dr. Rocha was promoted to a Professor of Ophthalmology and the Arturo & Holly Melosi Endowed Chair at the Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina.

Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, FARVO, FASRS: Dr. Seddon received the 2024 Gold Medal Prize from the Spanish Vitreoretinal Society for her meritorious contributions to the field. She gave the keynote lecture about her pioneering achievements in ophthalmic epidemiology and discoveries related to nutrition, behavioral factors, heritability, genetics, biomarkers, predictive models, and nature-nurture interactions related to macular degeneration.