| Dr. Robert Machemer, born Muenster, Germany in 1933--died in Durham, NC in 2009. He attended medical school in Freiburg and trained in Ophthalmology at the University of Goettingen. In 1966 he received a 2-year NATO fellowship, to pursue research training and worked at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as a Research Fellow under the leadership of Dr. Ed Norton followed by a faculty position in Miami. Dr. Machemer made new discoveries that changed the world of retinal surgery, especially with his introduction the new surgical technique, pars plana vitrectomy. He was a great educator and innovator and published on retinal detachment, vitreoretinal proliferative diseases, novel microsurgical instrumentation and techniques addressing the management of simple and complex vitreoretinal diseases. As Chairman of the Duke University Eye Center from 1978-1992, he advanced the department from a clinical center into a first-class clinical and research department. He loved equally surgery, research, instrument development, and teaching. Many of those who trained with Robert Machemer subsequently moved on to establish their own successful careers, to pursue research to advance the treatment of vitreoretinal diseases and to train others in the US and around the world. |
