Dr. William (Bill) Good is this year's recipient of the 2023 Parks Lecture Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), cosponsored by the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS). On Sunday, November 5, Dr. Good will deliver the Marshall Parks Lecture at the annual meeting of the AAO, one of the Academy's highest honors.
Bill's talk draws from his extensive and storied career in pediatric ophthalmology and will focus on how "child development informs pediatric eye disease". Dr. Good argues that the stage of brain development at which an injury may occur (starting in the first trimester all the way to after the brain reaches maturity - long after birth) can determine the presentation of the symptoms - both anatomically and functionally - through the life of a child. In Bill's own words, "Understanding the timing of disease occurrence may have ramifications for diagnosis, clinical significance, and management of various diseases."
Along with SKERI's co-founder, Dr. Arthur Jampolsky, Dr. Marshall Parks was one of the founding members of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and a pioneer in the field, along with SKERI's own, Drs Jampolsky and Alan Scott.
Dr. Good receiving this prestigious honor marks the second consecutive year that a SKERI-affiliated clinician delivers the Parks lecture. Last year, it was Dr. Susan Day - also a Smith-Kettlewell board member. These achievements demonstrate the value of SKERI's unique independent research philosophy that has nurtured so many brilliant people in an intimate, research-oriented setting.
This award is a major honor for Bill and for Smith-Kettlewell. Dr. Good
is widely known for "thinking outside the box", one reason why he has been so successful throughout his career. Among countless other achievements, Bill led a huge national study of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) treatment that radically improved outcomes for all patients, and has completed a many-year term as Editor for the Journal of AAPOS, the main international publication covering pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus. Dr. Good's recent work has led to significant discoveries involving genes that will affect our understanding and treatment of many retinal diseases in the upcoming years.