Miguel Angelo Padilha, MD, FBCS, will be recognized as an Honored Guest at the 2009 ASCRS ASOA Symposium and Congress of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, April 4, 2009, in San Francisco, it was announced today.
Dr. Padilha will be recognized for his pioneering work in the area of cataract surgery, his efforts to encourage the acceptance of phacoemulsification and IOLs, and as a leader in the development of phacoemulsification surgical techniques.
Dr. Padilha was born in 1944 in Cambuci, a small town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1972, he received his medical degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He completed his residency at Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Oculistas Associados at Rio de Janeiro Red Cross Hospital in 1974 and in the same year was granted medical certification by the Brazilian Council of Ophthalmology and the Brazilian Medical Association.
Dr. Padilha learned phacoemulsification with Charles D. Kelman, MD, at the David Kelman Research Foundation, New York, and with Robert M. Sinskey, MD, at the Foundation for Ophthalmic Education, Santa Monica, California, in 1976-1977. He is one of the pioneers of phacoemulsification in Brazil and Latin America and he did the first implantation of a posterior flexible Shearing intraocular lens in August, 1978.
Dr. Padilha is regarded for his pioneering work in the area of cataract surgery and his to have phacoemulsification and IOLs accepted by a conservative ophthalmic community of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Dr. Padilha and his associates, Drs. Pedro Aguiar, Afonso Fatorelli, and Paulo Fontes, convinced that phacoemulsification and IOLs and the routine use of surgical microscopes were the foundation of modern cataract surgery, decided to openly share their innovating ideas and new techniques. They lectured extensively and organized regular courses for practicing ophthalmic surgeons who would come to their clinic to learn and discuss the new procedures and practice in animal labs. In the late 1970s, together with Dr. Robert Sinskey, they introduced live surgery demonstrations using closed-circuit TV in these courses, an avant-garde and major step in the teaching of ophthalmic surgery.
Dr. Padilha, a founding member (1981) of the SBCII, the Brazilian Society of Cataract and Intraocular Implants, organized and promoted its first four international symposia in Rio de Janeiro. He has actively participated in the SBCII since its foundation in 1981 and was president of the SBCII for two terms, 1985-1987 and 1998-2000. He chaired the 1987 and 2000 SBCII International Congress in Rio de Janeiro.
