Annual Institute of Ophthalmology Staff-Alumni Meeting

{Brief biographies of some of the attendees of the April 1940 Annual Meeting, beginning at lower left of the table, and proceeding clockwise:} 

Phinizy Calhoun, Jr. (1910-1995). MD Hopkins (1936), Medicine Residency Mass Gen (1937-38), E.I. Residency (1938-41), US Army stationed in France, as an ophthalmologist with the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital Military Unit, called the Second General US Army Hospital (1941-45). Professor & Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, Emory University (1946-78). (Both his father and grandfather preceded him as Chair). 

John Hughes Dunnington (1894-1977). MD University of Virginia (1915), Ophthalmology residency Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, before entering the Army Medical Corps in WWI. After the war, Dr. Dunnington entered private practice in New York City, while working and teaching at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and Bellevue Medical College. When the Institute of Ophthalmology was founded in 1929 under Dr. John Wheeler, Dr. Dunnington joined him, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the College of Physicians and Surgeons (1933), and became Chief of the Vanderbilt Eye Clinic. In 1940 he became professor of ophthalmology; after Dr. Wheeler's death he became Director of the Institute of Ophthalmology (1944), a post he held until 1959 (upon reaching the age of compulsory retirement). Drs Ellen Regan and Francis L’Esperance joined his practice, and after stepping down as Director, he continued working until his death. One of the pre-eminent ophthalmologists of his time, Dr Dunnington was chairman of the Board of Ophthalmology (1951-1952) and president of the American Ophthalmological Society and the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology (1959). Dr. Dunnington’s main area of interest was in motility problems, and he published numerous articles on strabismus, and later became interested in cataract surgery and wound healing. Renowned as a superb clinician and teacher he had a tremendous influence on American ophthalmology throughout his career and for many years thereafter. (Summarized in part from Campbell: Am J Ophthalmol, 1978 Feb;85(2):267-8. Obituary. John H. Dunnington, M.D. 1894-1977).

Algernon Beverly Reese (1896-1981). MD Harvard Medical School 1921, ophthalmology residency HMS (1924-25). He subsequently studied with Verhoeff in Boston, and then Fuchs in Vienna. He became the Chief of Clinic and pathologist at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and spent one year at Vanderbilt Eye Clinic before moving to become Chief of the Eye Clinic at Cornell. He left NYEE and Cornell in 1931 to move to Presbyterian Hospital and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, eventually becoming clinical professor. As a pathologist, he established the Eye Institute pathology department, specializing in tumors in and around the eye, particularly retinoblastoma and melanoma. He also had a major interest in retrolental fibroplasia (now known as retinopathy of prematurity). He was made chair of the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1950. After compulsory retirement in 1962, he remained at the Eye Institute to complete the third edition of his classic text, “Tumors of the Eye.” 

LeGrand Haven Hardy (1894-1954). MD Columbia P&S (1921), ophthalmology residency at Bellevue (1922-23) under Dr J. Wheeler. As head of the Fifth Avenue Hospital Eye Department, he founded the first orthoptics clinic in the United States in 1932, founded the Orthoptic Council in 1938 and was its President for 10 years. Hardy became Director of the Knapp Memorial Laboratory of Physiological Optics at the Eye Institute, and Mrs Edward Harkness and Malcolm Aldrich (close friend of E.S. Harkness, executor of his estate, second president {succeeding Harkness upon his death} and chairman of the board of the Commonwealth Fund) both contributed to a new laboratory for him in the Eye Institute basement. (Mrs Harkness and Mr Aldrich would later go on to fund the Research Wing in the 1960’s). At the Knapp Laboratory Dr Hardy collaborated with Gertrude Rand and Catherine Rittler on work that would lead to the development of the Hardy-Rand-Rittler pseudoisochromatic plates (H-R-R Polychrome Plates) for testing color vision. These plates were the gold standard for clinical assessment of color vision defects for many years. 

Arthur Gerard DeVoe (1909-2007). MD Cornell (1935), residency at The Eye Institute (1937-1940). After residency, he joined Drs Dunnington and Wheeler in practice, as well as the staff at PH and Columbia P&S. He became interested in oculoplastics during WWII, while stationed as a Major in the Medical Corps at a military hospital on Staten Island. After the war, he worked part-time at Bellevue as Director of the Eye Service, and Chair of Ophthalmology at NYU. Upon Dunnington’s retirement from the Eye Institute, he became the first Edward S. Harkness Professor of Ophthalmology and served as chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Edward Harkness Eye Institute from 1959 to 1974. DeVoe was renowned for his expertise in oculoplastic, corneal and cataract surgeries. He and Dr Hernando Cardona pioneered the development of the keratoprosthesis device (1965) for advanced corneal diseases, and he worked with Dr Troncoso on development and use of the gonioscope. DeVoe was Chair of the American Board of Ophthalmology from 1964-66, and held many other leadership positions and journal editorships. It was his vision and work (along with funding from Hospital Trustees and the Commonwealth Fund) that led to the building of the Eye Research wing in the late 1960’s. 

Ludwig J.K. von Sallmann (1892-1975). MD University of Vienna (1919), Residency University of Vienna. He came to P&S in 1939 to become head of the laboratory at the Herman Knapp Eye Hospital, and in 1940 he was appointed Research Associate in the Department of Ophthalmology at College of Physicians and Surgeons. He eventually became Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Research, remaining at Columbia for 15 years. In 1955, he was recruited to the National Institute of Neurological Diseases of Blindness as director of the Ophthalmology Branch, where he remained until his retirement in 1970. His research interests included glaucoma, working on influences of the central nervous system on intraocular pressure control, chemistry of the vitreous, radiation-induced cataracts and ocular antibiotics. 

Manuel Uribe Troncoso (1867-1959). MD, University of Mexico ((1890), and founder of the “Anales de Oftalmologie” in 1898, prior to relocating to New York in 1916, where he was made Professor of Ophthalmology at the Post Graduate Medical School. In 1932 he became a research professor at P&S to work on the gonioscope. He subsequently also joined the clinical staff and remained at the Institute until his retirement in 1948. His “Anales” was one of the founding journals of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, of which he became a senior member of the editorial board. His texts (as well as numerous papers) include “Internal Diseases of the Eye and Atlas of Ophthalmoscopy” and “Treatise on Gonioscopy.” Troncoso’s many contributions included development of a self-illuminating monocular gonioscope, improved on the Koeppe lens, and created a handheld stereoscopic gonioscope in 1942. 

Frank D. Carroll (1907-2002). MD Yale (1932), ophthalmology residency Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary (1933-35). Brought to Columbia by Dr Wheeler in 1935 as a Research Fellow, eventually advancing to full professor. His research interests concentrated on the optic nerve, originally focusing on “tobacco-alcohol amblyopia” and his ground-breaking research showed the beneficial effect of improved diet and Vitamin B complex on this condition, proving that the amblyopia occurred on a nutritional basis. He wrote numerous papers on optic nerve functioning, and his work spurred interest in the optic nerve, and he established an Optic Nerve Clinic at Columbia in 1961, and regularly lectured on “Diseases of the Optic Nerve” at Academy meetings.

Raymond Louis Pfeiffer (1901- 2002). MD Ohio State University (1928). First resident to graduate from the Eye Institute (1930-33, with the last 6 months served in the new Medical Center building at 165^th Street). He also received a D.Med.Sci. from Columbia in 1934. Upon completion of his residency, he became an Assistant in Ophthalmology at P&S and a Research Fellow at the Eye Institute, concentrating on ophthalmic radiology. Upon Pfeiffer’s return to the Institute, he was made director of a new ophthalmic X-Ray unit in the Eye Institute basement, and produced a voluminous amount of ground-breaking research on the radiology of the normal and diseased globe and orbit, including the development of a device which produced standard optic canal images, the use of a contact lens to localize foreign bodies, and extensive work on the radiologic appearance of orbital fractures. In addition to the obvious contributions made towards disease diagnosis, his X-Ray studies also proved invaluable in the planning of complex orbital and ocular surgical cases. After completing his residency, Pfeiffer spent an additional year studying in Berlin, and subsequently brought back many historical ophthalmic objects; among his findings are items seen here, including Donders’ desk and the von Graefe marble bust. A museum was originally installed in the first floor of the Institute on the Ft. Washington side to house his collection, where a large amount of “Donderiana” and other items were on display. The museum was closed in the 1960’s to provide space for clinical offices. Today, in addition to the items seen here, much of his collection, including letters of Herman Knapp, Franciscus Donders and other material, is housed at the Columbia University Health Sciences Library Archives and Special Collections at the Hammer Library Building.

Gordon M. Bruce(1901-1992). MD Dalhousie University (1925), residency at the Herman Knapp Memorial Eye Hospital (1926-27). He then studied in the UK at Oxford (where he earned a Doctor of Science) and Moorfields Eye Hospital, before becoming an Assistant Ophthalmologist at the Vanderbilt Clinic, and one of the original staff members to have an office at the new Eye Institute. He was on active duty as a lieutenant commander when World War II began and eventually retired as a rear admiral. Dr Bruce became known for treating the popular author and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber in the mid-1930s (Thurber had suffered a severe, blinding injury to his left eye as a child, and in later years, his right eye developed the secondary autoimmune condition sympathetic ophthalmia. Thurber also consulted with Institute Drs Dunnington and Arnold Knapp). 1n 1975, Dr Bruce wrote a remarkable historical memoir, “The Herman Knapp Memorial Eye Hospital,” which was published in the Survey of Ophthalmology.

George Keiser Smelser (1908-1973). PhD, University of Chicago (1932), in Anatomy and Zoology. Dr Smelser joined the Columbia University Anatomy Department in 1934, and then acquired a joint appointment in ophthalmology, specializing in thyroid embryology, anatomy and basic aspects of exophthalmos in Graves’ disease, eventually adding cornea to his areas of interest. In 1956 he was made Director of Research at the Eye Institute and was awarded the prestigious Proctor Medal (ARVO) in 1961. Also in 1961, he edited the classic text “The Structure of the Eye”, which concentrated on ocular embryology, and he was one of the first to use electron microscopy to elucidate ocular anatomy. He was made the Malcolm P. Aldrich (See: LeGrand Hardy entry above) research chair at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1969. Smelser played a significant role in the production of the educational film, “Embryology of the Eye” and was an early and prolific contributor to the Harkness Eye Institute Basic Science Course in Ophthalmology (teaching anatomy, histology and embryology), which began in 1941, and will present its 83^rd (continuous) year of teaching in 2024. In his Investigative Ophthalmology obituary in 1974, Drs Alfred Coulombre and Ludwig von Sallmann note that Smelser “was held in the highest esteem and was loved by many close co-workers and friends throughout the world who remember his devotion to excellence in his work, his infectious enthusiasm, and his genuine concern for the welfare of others. In a rare manner, he combined modesty, simplicity of life style, and a limitless drive to help others with a deep-rooted and absorbing fascination with biological research…His role as interdisciplinary catalyst went beyond laboratory activities, for he gave continuously of his talent and energy to the several fields and societies which he had espoused.” The Eye Institute George K. Smelser Lectureship was endowed by a generous bequest from the Estate of Victoria Ozanics (Dr Smelser’s Assistant for many years).

Charles Allen Perera (1905-1998). MD Columbia (1930), residency at the Institute (1932-35), D.Med.Sci. 1936. After finishing his studies, he joined the staff, and became partner to his uncle, Charles H. May², author of the universally acclaimed text “Manual of Diseases of the Eye,” which Dr Perera assumed editorship of in 1937 (15^th Edition). He continued as editor until 1959 (the 22^nd edition). Upon John Wheeler’s death, he edited “John Martin Wheeler’s Collected Papers.” Perera eventually assumed the role of Chairman of the Section on Ophthalmology of the NY Academy of Medicine. He also co-founded the Toscanini Archives at New York Public Library.

Maynard Cattron Wheeler (1903 -1976). MD Columbia P&S (1929), residency at the Eye Institute (his last year spent at the new building, 1933). He helped set up an Orthoptics Department (based on Hardy’s work) and Muscle Clinic, and from this work he earned a D.Med.Sci. degree in 1938. Wheeler (no relation to John) remained at the Medical Center for his entire career, becoming Attending Ophthalmologist in 1951 and Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Columbia in 1952. He was Chief of the Eye Clinic at the Eye Institute, 1946-62. He authored “The American Ophthalmological Society: The First Hundred Years (1964)” and “Ocular Motility” (1970). His exhaustive book, “The Eye Institute in New York: An Intimate History” (1969) contains a wealth of historical information about the Eye Institute and provided much of the faculty biographical information presented here. Wheeler served as President of the AOS in 1964, and Chair of the Section on Ophthalmology of the NY Academy of Medicine, 1955-56. Wheeler served as ophthalmologist to President Herbert Hoover, and papers concerning Hoover’s care are housed at the Archives and Special Collections (ASC), Columbia University Health Sciences Library at the Hammer Library Building.

Phillips Thygeson (1903-2002). MD (1928) from Stanford University. He received a Doctor of Ophthalmology degree in 1930 and a Master of Science degree in bacteriology in 1933 from the University of Colorado. From 1933 to 1936 he was affiliated with the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Iowa, and in 1936 he joined the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia, where he later he became Co-Chairman of the Department and Director of the Institute of Ophthalmology, upon the death of Dr Wheeler. After serving in the Army in WWI, Dr. Thygeson moved to the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine where, as Professor of Ophthalmology, he specialized in external diseases of the eye. He convinced Mrs. Elizabeth C. Proctor, widow of the late Dr. Proctor, to set up a foundation in honor of her husband at UCSF, and The Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology was established in 1947. Thygeson is credited with establishing the viral etiology of trachoma, and was the co-discoverer of both the agent responsible for (chlamydia) and the first cure of(sulfonamides, 1939) trachoma, then one of the world’s leading causes of blindness.

Ramon Castroviejo (1904-1987). MD University of Madrid Medical School (1927), ophthalmology residency at Hospital San Carlos (1922-27; the Spanish medical education system differed from that in the US). He then emigrated to the US, becoming an Assistant Physician at the Chicago Eye and Ear Hospital, relocating as a research fellow to Columbia University in 1931, where he remained until 1952. Previously, Elschnig in Prague, and Filatov in Odessa had reported on attempts to transplant corneas (keratoplasties) and new corneal donor tissue preservation techniques. While at Columbia, Castroviejo developed techniques for transplanting cadaveric corneal tissue to eyes with scarred, or opaque corneas, by inserting a rectangular-shaped donor ''window'' into the cornea, and performed what is believed to be the first corneal transplantation a human in the US in February, 1933 (assisted by Maynard Wheeler). He presented his technique in 1937 to the American College of Surgeons. Much of the ophthalmic community was skeptical of Dr. Castroviejo’s reported success in corneal transplantation (he stated high rates of clear grafts with functional vision using his techniques). It is reported that in 1950, to coincide with a talk at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Chicago, Castroviejo hired a rail car to transport 200 corneal transplant patients from New York to Chicago. Each patient held a penlight so attendants at the meeting could examine the surgical results first-hand. In 1938 he urged people throughout the United States to will their eyes to science to restore the eyesight of others, resulting in the creation of present-day eye banks. Until his retirement, Dr. Castroviejo had his home, office and a small hospital in a mansion on 91st Street. He became chief of ophthalmology at St. Vincent's Hospital in 1953, and served as consultant director of corneal surgery at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and attending surgeon at multiple New York Hospitals. Castroviejo returned to Spain in 1973 and is estimated to have performed 10,000 cornea transplants during his 60-year career. His book “Atlas of Keratectomy and Keratoplasty” was published in 1966.

Karl Meyer (1899-1990). Meyer was born in Germany and received his MD from the University of Cologne (1924), followed by a PhD in chemistry from Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute (1928). He began research work at the University of California in 1930 and transferred to Columbia in 1933, working first in Ophthalmology, then Biochemistry, and Medicine. His research, a result of his studies on the cornea and vitreous, focused on acid mucopolysaccharides, a major component of connective tissue. It was this work which established the molecular structure of hyaluronic acid (the name was derived from the “hyaloid body,” another name for the vitreous). He also extracted chondroitin sulfate from cartilage (1937). At the time of his mandatory retirement (1967), he transferred to Yeshiva University. He returned to the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia as an emeritus professor in 1976, at the invitation of Dr Endre Balazs* (1920-2015), and continued to work until his retirement, the late 1980’s. The Society for Complex Carbohydrates, the forerunner of the Society for Glycobiology, initiated the Karl Meyer Award for Glycoconjugate Research in 1991, a year after the death of Dr. Meyer. 

{*Dr Balazs, who began his research in Budapest, was the Malcolm P. Aldrich Research Professor at Columbia from 1975 to 1982. He continued Meyer’s hyaluronic acid research, and in the 1970’s, Balazs applied for a patent for a hyaluronan derivative called Healon, which today is a major therapeutic agent used in eye surgery, the treatment of arthritis, dermatologic products, and in other applications.}

¹ Samuel Randall Detweiler (1890-1957). The honoree of the 40^th annual meeting, was not a physician or ophthalmologist, but rather, an anatomist and embryologist. He earned his PhD from Yale (1918), where he taught until 1920. He held various positions before becoming Professor of Anatomy at Columbia in 1927 and was highly regarded for his teaching and research, and his team “soon put Columbia anatomy at the top in anatomical teaching and research**”. His main area of interest was neuroembryology and development of the vertebrate eye; many of his seminal papers were illustrated by Dr Detweiler.

{** See: Samuel Randall Detweiler: 1890 — 1957: A Biographical Memoir by J. S. Nicholas. P. 83 –111. Copyright 1961, National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C.}

²Charles Henry May (1861-1943). Received a degree from the New York College of Pharmacy (1879), and his MD from Columbia P&S (1883).  From 1887-1888, May studied in Europe under, among other leading European ophthalmologists and otolaryngologists, Albrecht von Graefe. Dr. May was instructor and Chief of the P&S Ophthalmology Clinic from 1890-1903; he wrote extensively, often illustrating his own and others’ works.  In 1914, he introduced an improved illumination system for ophthalmoscopes which became universally adopted. May is best known for his “Manual of Diseases of the Eye”, a classic textbook and atlas of ophthalmology. From 1900-63, the book went through 23 American editions and 10 translations. As mentioned above, Dr Perera, Dr May’s nephew and partner in practice, took over the editorship of May’s text in 1937. {The “May” in the photograph is James W. May, not Charles H. May). 

A recent photograph of Eye Institute Faculty and Staff, in the CUIMC Gardens: