In my Navy years and in academic medicine, the changes of command, saying goodbye to departing members and hello to newly arriving students, residents and fellows, were always bittersweet occasions.
We have recently experienced another time of sadness and of joy with the change of leadership in the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Senior Ophthalmologist Committee.
For the past five years, the committee has been under the leadership of Susan Day, MD. With her outstanding record of service to the Academy, as president and as a “mover and shaker” in so many Academy affairs, not to mention her great sense of humor, it was no surprise that she took the reins from outgoing chair, Dr. Harry Zink, and continued to advance the cause of our senior ophthalmologists with many new and improved programs.
Those of us who were fortunate to serve on the committee with Dr. Day as our chair, will miss her leadership abilities and her relaxed, humorous style that made working on the Committee with her such a pleasure. I know that I speak for all of us in thanking Dr. Day for yet another excellent contribution to our Academy. She will surely be missed.
Although these “hail and farewells” have their melancholy side, there is also the pleasure of welcoming new blood into an organization. Samuel Masket, MD, has been a valued member of the SO Committee for the past several years and now takes the baton from Dr. Day as its new chair. Like Dr. Day, Dr. Masket comes into this role with a distinguished record of service to the Academy.
Samuel Masket, MD
Dr. Masket has served as a member of the Board of Trustees (1998-2001), the Bylaws and Rules Committee (2003-07), the EyeNet® Editorial Advisory Board (1998-2008) and the Membership Advisory Committee (1998-2001). He has served as chair of the Preferred Practice Pattern panel for Cataract and Anterior Segment and as Academy councilor representing the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). He also served as president of ASCRS in 2006-07.
In addition to his excellent credentials in the Academy and ASCRS, Dr. Masket brings a proven leadership ability, as well as a style of warmth and good humor to his new position. He follows in the footsteps of a short and highly distinguished list of past chairs.
Along with Drs. Zink and Day, the SO Committee has been led since its beginning in 1996 by George Garcia, MD, Stanley Truhlsen, MD, and Bruce Spivey, MD. We have no doubt that Dr. Masket will carry on the quality of leadership that these five individuals have provided, and we congratulate him on this latest appointment and look forward to the continued support of our senior ophthalmologists under his guidance.