The 44th Annual E.B. Spaeth Oration

Join us virtually for the 44th Annual E. B. Spaeth Oration!

The oration entitled "Screening for Eye Disease: From the Direct to Artificial Intelligence" will be given by Jeffrey D. Henderer, MD, Dr. Edward Hagop Bedrossian Chair and Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

About Edmund B. Spaeth & the Oration:

Edmund B. Spaeth was the 8th child fathered by a Lutheran Minister in Tonawanda, a poor suburb of Buffalo, New York. "Ned" started working various jobs when he was fourteen to pay the costs of living at home. His father told him he would become a minister, but he refused, which did not sit well. Ned went from high school directly to the University of Buffalo Medical School and from there to France as a field surgeon in WWI. He returned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he developed techniques for treating the massive burns common to soldiers in the tanks.

He published what may be the first book on plastic surgery and was one of the founders of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Many of the cases he treated involved the face and orbit. He went to Vienna to learn about ophthalmology and returned to found the American Board of Oculoplastic Surgery.

After starting the Department of Ophthalmology at Walter Reed, he moved to Philadelphia in 1929, where he became Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Temple, Chief at Wills Eye Hospital, and later Chief of the Graduate School of Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania. His book on Ophthalmic Surgery; Principles and Practice, became the standard text worldwide and went through four editions. But, he was not an academician.

Firstly, he was a courageous person and surgeon, a great surgical innovator, a beloved teacher, and a deeply committed family man to his wife and four sons. He was brutally honest and abhorred incompetence, laziness, and gossip. He was a passionate teacher and an almost fearless human of enormous vigor. 

The mission of the Spaeth Oration is to preserve his values, and to inspire others to live honestly, take risks, not be petty, and contribute positively--especially students, residents, and fellows.

For all questions please contact Erin Scheckenbach at .

Thank you to our generous sponsors:

For sponsorship opportunities and program ads, please contact Christine Williams at .

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