JEDDAH: A Jeddah-based eye surgeon has become the first Arab Muslim to become head of a prestigious international body and win a world award.
Medical director and chief of refractive surgery units at Magrabi Hospitals & Centers, Dr. M. Alaa El-Danasoury, was elected president of the International Society of Refractive Surgeons (ISRS), part of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). He succeeds Dr. Marguertie MacDonald for the next two years.
The ISRS is an international organization of eye care professionals committed to providing scientific research, knowledge, and information to all individuals who are interested in refractive surgery.
“(Becoming president) means our work, including our advancement in laser technology in the Arab world, is not only being taken note of but also matches the highest standards set in the advanced West,” El-Danasoury said at a reception held in his honor on Tuesday night.
He was also honored with the 2009 Kritzinger Memorial Award at a ceremony in San Francisco last week. The award recognizes individuals who embody clinical, educational, and investigative qualities of Dr. Kritzinger to advance practice of refractive surgery.
San Francisco-based AAO is a medical association of ophthalmologists and medical doctors specializing in eye care and surgery. The academy, which has a membership of over 90 percent of practicing ophthalmologists in the United States and over 7,000 worldwide, has its origins in the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology.
It was founded in 1896 as a medical association of both ophthalmologists and otolaryngologists.
