May 7, 2009

FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS VISIONARY AWARD

I am delighted to have this opportunity to introduce my dear friend and colleague, Dr. George Florakis, for this visionary award. I am a great fan of Dr. George, and will tell you why he is so well suited for this honor.

I first met George Florakis in 1982 when he was a medical student and I was a young ophthalmology attending physician at Columbia. He has accomplished an amazing feat! Grown up in Westchester County, very bright and hardworking, step by step he progressed trough the first rate Columbia System – college, medical school and then the highly competitive ophthalmology residency. He then went on to a cornea fellowship in a most prestigious program at the University of Iowa, then to return to the staff at Columbia where he quickly rose to the position of Director of the Cornea Clinic, and Professor of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Florakis is the ultimate academic physician – he loves to teach, has trained close to 100 residents, probably 20 or more fellows nationally and internationally, written as many as 75 peer reviewed articles and publications, and lectured all over the world. He has been on the cutting edge of surgical innovations, pioneering such techniques as DSAEK – a minimalist corneal transplant operation that is revolutionizing corneal surgery. He is also actively involved in corneal tissue research, all for the sake of vision restoration and preservation.

But it is not only academics, and frankly I am even more impressed with his clinical accomplishments. Working day and night for his patients, completely devoted to their needs, tenacious in his treatments. He is a brilliant diagnostician coupled with extraordinary surgical expertise combined with compassion, kindness, humility, and overall thoughtful ethical approaches. All this makes him a role model for all physicians.

And so I consider you, Dr. George, to be the perfect recipient of this honor and I proudly present you, Dr. George Florakis, with this highly impressive award from Foundation Fighting Blindness.

 Arthur M. Cotliar, M.D.