Event Location:
Townsend Hotel Birmingham
100 Townsend Street
Birmingham, MI 48009

“Retina Symposium Featuring the Dr. Gary Abrams & Robert and Gerry Ligon Lectures”

Approved for 3 CME Credits.

The Dr. Gary Abrams Lecture

“Idiopathic Macular Holes”
Featuring: Ronald C. Gentile, M.D., F.A.C.S.,F.A.S.R.S.

Dr. Ronald C. Gentile is Professor of Ophthalmology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. After completing his ophthalmology residency at the Infirmary, Dr. Gentile became the first fellow to graduate the 2 Year Surgical Retina Fellowship at the Kresge Eye Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Abrams. Dr. Gentile dedicates his time to clinical ophthalmic care, surgery, research, teaching, and humanitarian work (operationrestoresight.org). He is a retinal surgeon with expertise in diabetic eye disease, macular diseases, retinal detachments, PVR, and ocular trauma. After completing his retina fellowship, Dr. Gentile was recruited back to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary to restart the Infirmary’s surgical Retina Fellowship. Dr. Gentile has been consistently listed as one of the New York’s Super Doctors® and one of Best Doctors in New York recommended by his peers. He has been and continues to be a principal investigator for many trials, devoted to scientific research. Dr. Gentile has over a hundred publications, with many published in peer-review journals describing pathophysiological concepts, novel surgical techniques, and diagnostic tests for ocular diseases, helping him remain on the cutting edge while advancing his field. Dr. Gentile serves as a reviewer for many scientific ophthalmic journals and is a member of the American Board of Ophthalmology, American Society of Retina Specialists, Macula Society, and the New York Ophthalmological Society. He is past president New York Academy of Medicine, Ophthalmology Section and continues to be active within organized medicine. He has been a mentor to hundreds of young doctors and ophthalmologists, who he has helped train on both the art and science of medicine.

The Robert and Gerry Ligon Lecture

“The cyborgs have arrived! – Patient experiences with bionic vision from around the world.”
Featuring: Daniel L. Rathbun,Ph.D.

Daniel Rathbun, Ph.D. is a research scientist at Henry Ford, heading the Bionics and Vision Laboratory. He studies the language that the eye speaks to the brain to improve prosthetic vision devices. Such devices restore sight to patients blinded by retinal degenerations such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. He received degrees in Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of California, Davis. He studied bionic vision for a decade in Germany under Professor Eberhart Zrenner, a legend in the field. There, he founded the Experimental Retinal Prosthetics Group at the University Eye Clinic of Tuebingen. In late 2018, Dr. Rathbun moved to Detroit to create the Bionics and Vision lab at Henry Ford. Dr. Rathbun’s research applies the study of neural coding in the visual system to: 1) understanding how images are processed in the healthy and degenerating retina; 2) understanding how the retina responds to electrical stimulation; and 3) using this knowledge to advance bionic vision. At Henry Ford, he is establishing the world’s first electrophysiology laboratory dedicated to working with human retinal tissue freshly donated by ophthalmology patients.

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