Oskar Fehr Lecture – Ophthalmology through the Cornea: Lessons I have learned

For his groundbreaking work, Mark J. Mannis, M.D., F.A.C.S. (Sacramento, CA) will be honored with the Oskar Fehr Lecture. The renowned American ophthalmologist will demonstrate by way of examples how the cornea can serve as an important diagnostic tool for a range of diseases not limited to the field of ophthalmology.

The cornea is the first site of the transmission of visual images to the eye. As such, its various forms of pathology impact the range of subspecialties in ophthalmology. In this lecture, Professor Dr. med. Mannis will demonstrate examples of how the cornea becomes an important “diagnostic tool” in a range of diseases. This includes conditions managed by the pediatric ophthalmologist. In addition, the cornea, as a diagnostic tool, can be of importance to the neuro-ophthalmologist. It is now recognized that corneal anatomy plays a major role in our interpretation of pressure measurement in the eye and as such, it becomes of major importance to the glaucoma specialist. A clear cornea is mandatory for precision vitreoretinal surgery, and as such, the cornea specialist partners with the retina specialist in the management of combined anterior and posterior segment pathology. Maintenance of a healthy ocular surface is crucial for the oculoplastic surgeon. And the health of both the corneal epithelium and the endothelium are key to successful cataract surgery. Finally, the cornea may also be the key to the discovery and elucidation of a select group of systemic diseases. Mark Mannis will demonstrate examples of these crucial interfaces between the cornea specialist and other areas of ophthalmology.

Dr. Mark J. Mannis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Science, UC Davis Eye Center at the University of California, Davis. He also serves as Medical Director of Sierra Donor Services in Sacramento, California. Dr. Mannis is renowned worldwide as one of the most influential ophthalmologists of our time.

Dr. Mannis has published more than 200 articles in peer reviewed journals, focusing mainly on diagnostics and therapies for diseases of the external eye. He is the author of editorials and six books, including the two-volume work Cornea, which he co-edited with Edward Holland. Cornea was cited as one of the 100 most important texts in ophthalmology of the 20th century. Dr. Mannis served as President of the Cornea Society (2008-2010), President of the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (1990-1992), and as editor-in-chief of the journal Cornea (1996-2002) and Vision Pan-America (2002-2012). He is a member of 21 national and international ophthalmological societies and has received 18 awards and honors, including the Life Achievement Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, an honorary doctorate of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, the Cornea Society’s distinguished Claes Dollman Award, and the Castrovejo Medal, the highest honor awarded by the American Cornea Society.

Dr. Mannis has spent the last ten years of his career in efforts to contribute to vision care in Latin America, for which he awarded the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award by the Academic Senate of the University of California, Davis.

The Oskar Fehr lecture is given in honour of renowned ophthalmologist Professor Fehr, who was head physician of the Department of Eye Diseases at Rudolf Virchow Hospital in Berlin from 1906. Prof. Fehr practiced there until 1934, when the Nazi authorities banned him from setting foot in the clinic because he was Jewish. In 1939, Prof. Fehr fled with his family to Great Britain, where he practiced ophthalmology into his eighties. He was the first physician to distinguish between granular corneal dystrophy, lattice corneal dystrophy and macular corneal dystrophy.