ROBERT H. OSHER, MD
Cincinnati Eye Institute | Cincinnati, OH

Robert H. Osher, M.D. is Professor of Ophthalmology at the College of Medicine of the University of Cincinnati and Medical Director Emeritus of the Cincinnati Eye Institute. After completing his residency at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and fellowships at Bascom Palmer and Wills Eye Hospital, he returned to Cincinnati to establish the Cincinnati Eye Institute where he has limited his practice to cataract surgery for over four decades.

Dr. Osher has prioritized teaching throughout his career beginning with the Video Symposium format which he introduced in 1982. His unique approach using video to demonstrate innovative techniques for managing challenging cases and complications has resulted in “standing room” crowds at perennial courses at the AAO, ASCRS, and ESCRS Congresses. Dr. Osher realized that he could reach larger audiences when he founded the Audiovisual Journal of Cataract & Implant Surgery in 1984. Serving as Editor for the past 42 years, the Video Journal evolved into the Video Journal of Cataract, Refractive, and Glaucoma Surgery and became a free member benefit of nearly every cataract society in the world.

Years later, he founded another educational forum, Cataract Surgery: Telling It Like It Is! which he organized for 13 years. Dr. Osher has delivered nearly 50 named lectures, won 40 awards at the ASCRS Film Festival and ESCRS Video Competition, and has co-authored 5 books, numerous chapters and peer-reviewed articles in the field of cataract surgery. In addition, he was invited to write 17 consecutive Guest Editorials for the JCRS. The instruments he has designed and the surgical techniques he has pioneered have aided surgeons worldwide.

Dr. Osher has received the Binkhorst and Innovator’s Awards from ASCRS; the Teaching, Kelman, Heritage, and Lifetime Achievement Award from ESCRS; and the Kelman and Lifetime Achievement Award from AAO. He recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Society of Eye Physicians. Additional international awards include the Rayner, Optic, and Arnott Awards from England, the Canon Award from Japan, the Kelman Award from Brazil, the Lim Award from China, the Gold Medal Award from Australia, the Honor Award from Chile, the Mooney Award from Ireland, and the Excellence and Watson Awards from Canada.

Besides his interest in cataract surgery, Dr. Osher has been a proud coach of more than 70 youth baseball and basketball teams, reaching the National Championships in each sport. He has also published 17 children’s stories, donating the proceeds to local and national charitable organizations.

PHOEBE DEAN LENHART, MD
Emory University School of Medicine | Atlanta, GA

Phoebe Lenhart, MD is currently an associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine. She joined the section of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus in August 2009. Her clinical interests include pediatric cornea and keratoplasty pediatric cataracts, pediatric and adult strabismus, and global pediatric eye care outreach and education. She currently sees patients at Emory Eye Center, the Center for Advanced Pediatrics, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Arthur M. Blank Hospital

Dr. Lenhart received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude with high honors in English at Davidson College in North Carolina. After college, she lived in Japan for 2 years while teaching English as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme. She attended medical school at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga., and also completed her internship, residency and fellowship at Emory. Following her fellowship, she apprenticed with Gerald Zaidman, MD, president of the Pediatric Keratoplasty Association at Westchester Medical Center in New York. She has published articles in peer-reviewed publications and presented at national ophthalmology meetings. Dr. Lenhart serves as the Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Fellowship Director at Emory.

MATTHEW GIEGENGACK, MD
Wake Forest University School of Medicine | Winston-Salem, NC

Matthew Giegengack, MD, is an Associate Professor at Wake Forest University Eye Center and the co-director of the Wake Forest cornea fellowship program. Dr. Giegengack received his undergraduate degrees in physics and philosophy from Yale University and completed medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, followed by an ophthalmology residency and fellowship at the Casey Eye Institute. Dr. Giegengack has been a medical director for SightLife Eye Bank, and has been involved in SightLife’s global outreach, teaching and performing cornea surgery in India, Nepal, Honduras, and Ethiopia.

ELLIOTT H. SOHN, MD, FASRS, FARVO
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine | Iowa City, IA

Elliott H. Sohn, MD, FASRS, FARVO is the Endowed Chair of Diabetic Retinopathy Research and Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa. His translational research centers on the use of artificial intelligence, genetics and immunology to study neovascular ‘wet’ age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinal disease (particularly neuronal degeneration) and inherited retinal diseases. His surgical expertise is in complex macular holes, epiretinal membranes and retinal detachments. He is a key opinion leader in gene and stem cell therapies, having served as an investigator for numerous gene therapy trials in humans, and develops novel instruments for scaffold-based photoreceptor cell restoration treatment. He was a co-investigator and surgeon for the first FDA approved gene therapy in humans, voretigene neparvovec (Luxturna) for biallelic RPE65 gene mutation causing childhood onset inherited blindness. His collaborative research has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), for whom he regularly serves as grant reviewer.

He serves on the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Ophthalmology, is the American Board of Ophthalmology liaison to the Macula Society, and committees for Retina Society, American Society of Retina Specialists, and the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Macula Society’s Young Investigator Award. He has served as Chair of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Retina section of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, Vice Chair for the ACGME RC for Ophthalmology, the University of Iowa Physicians Board as member-at-large, committee member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and Director of Retina Fellowships at the University of Iowa.

He has written or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 10 book chapters. He is on the editorial board of Nature Scientific Reports and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology.