William N. Offutt IV, MD
William N. Offutt IV, MD, advocacy giant for the Academy, died at 83
Dr. Offutt was on the Academy’s Board of Trustees in the early 1990s as Council Chair and as Council Vice Chair and served on the State Affairs Committee (now called the Secretariat for State Affairs), and as a Councilor representing Kentucky in the 1980s.
Dr. Offutt went to medical school at the University of Kentucky and did his Ophthalmic Residency at the Wills Eye Hospital and Research Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He interned at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, LA. Bill was awarded a Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Fellowship Award for postgraduate work in Corneal Transplant and Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery 1972-1973. He was past president of the Lexington Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, and the Wills Eye Hospital Society in Philadelphia. Dr. Offutt was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Heed Ophthalmic Society, and past chairman of Humana Hospital-Lexington's Center for Advanced Eye Surgery. In addition to his private practice, Dr. Offutt was a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology and past Director of Ophthalmic Plastic Service in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Kentucky.
He pioneered the use of the carbon dioxide laser in cosmetic blepharoplasty and facial skin resurfacing in Kentucky and was honored to perform international outreach on the Orbis Eye Jet for patients in need.