The American Academy of Ophthalmology is proud of the accomplishments of Harvey A Lincoff MD and is delighted to welcome him as a 2007 Guest of Honor. His dedication to patient care, education, and research has made him an outstanding role model in the field of ophthalmology.

Harvey Lincoff is professor of Ophthalmology and Newhouse Clinical Scholar at the NY Presbyterian Hospital–Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. A native of Pittsburgh, he received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1948. He did a residency in neurology and ophthalmology at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and subsequently completed a Heed Fellowship at the Wilmer Institute with Frank Walsh and at Harvard with David Cogan.

In 1961, Dr. Lincoff joined the faculty of the New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center, where he developed techniques for retinal detachment that have been adopted by ophthalmologists throughout the world. Most noteworthy, he pioneered the use of cryopexy for retinal detachment to eliminate scleral abscess, which he related to the scleral necrosis caused by diathermy. He later noted that excessive cryopexy would damage retinal tissue but could be used to destroy retinoblastoma. He was the first in the United States to treat melanoma with radioactive (Colbalt) plaques. He developed a soft silicone sponge to buckle retinal tears. The sponge that bears his name serves to close retinal breaks and reattach the retina without draining subretinal fluid, as proposed by Ernst Custodis. He designed spatula-shaped needles to sew the sponge to the wall of the eye; the needle reduced the incidence of accidental perforation. His classic paper “Finding the Retinal Hole”, published in 1971, is universally taught to ophthalmologists in training and continues to retain its relevance. He pioneered the use of the straight chain perfluorocarbon gases for the treatment of complicated detachments. Subsequently, he demonstrated that intraocular gas was not entirely benign and could be the precursor of preretinal proliferation. In 1988 he became interested in retinoschisis; he defined its presence in optic pit maculopathy and currently is proposing a new method for treating retinal detachment emanating from retinoschisis.

Dr. Lincoff is the author of more than 200 scientific papers and chapters in ophthalmology textbooks on retinal disorders. His research has been awarded most of the prestigious prizes in the field of ophthalmology, including the American Academy First Prize for his exhibition of a cryosurgical instrument in 1965 for repairing retinal detachment. He received the Heed Foundation Award, a much coveted prize voted by his peers in 1967, the Schepens Prize in 1981, and the Prize of Club Gonin the next year. In 1984 he received the John McLean Medal from Cornell University. In 1993 he was “The Helen Keller Man of the Year” and received the Humanitarian Award. Three years later the German Retinal Society awarded him the prestigious Ernst Custodis Prize. In 2000 the Newhouse Foundation named him the first Newhouse Clinical Scholar, and the following year he received the Gass Medal for his work on macular disease. That same year a permanent named lecture was established in his honor, supported by the Edward and Lois Grayson Retinal Research Fund at Cornell. In 2005 the Macula Society awarded him the Arnall Patz Medal.

Harvey Lincoff continues to combine his clinical practice with research. Currently he is (1) testing a new position of gaze based on geometric calculations for pneumatic displacement of subretinal hemorrhage in the macula, (2) studying eyes with optic pit maculopathy for the source of the subretinal fluid, and (3) proving the efficacy of ambulatory binocular occlusion and laser for the treatment of retinal detachment emanating from retinoschisis.

The Academy expresses its admiration and gratitude for his years of leadership by welcoming Dr. Lincoff as a Guest of Honor in 2007.