SPEAKERS

Dr. David Misch,
Founder, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. David Misch, Founder, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL. He received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin and his doctorate degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. After completing his residency at the Mayo Clinic, he was granted a Medical Retina Fellowship at the LSU-Lions Eye Center in New Orleans and a Surgical Retina Fellowship at Retina and Vitreous Consultants of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Dr. Misch is recognized as a leader in his field and has been a board certified ophthalmologist since 1988. He is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Florida Society of Ophthalmology, the American College of Physician Executives, and the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Dr. Adam Berger,
Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Adam Berger received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brooklyn College, and his doctorate degree from the State University of New York Medical School. After completing his residency at Washington University and serving as Chief Resident and Instructor, he was granted a Retina/Vitreous Research Fellowship and Retina/Vitreous Surgical Fellowship at Duke University. He then served for 3 years as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University.

Dr. Berger is an accomplished teacher and lecturer and has been a board certified ophthalmologist since 1994. He is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Dr. Sonya Braudway,
Director of Low Visions Services, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Sonya Braudway received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the Corpus Christi State University and her doctorate from the University Of Houston College Of Optometry. She was granted a fellowship in low vision rehabilitation at John Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Braudway is a board certified optometric physician in Florida and Texas and is highly active in several professional organizations including the American Academy of Optometry, the American Optometric Association, the Florida Optometric Association, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and the Division of Blind Services.

Dr. Robert M. Easton, Jr.,
President, Easton Eye Care, Oakland Park, Florida.

Dr. Easton, graduated from the University of Houston, College of Optometry, where he served as AOSA Trustee and AOSA Vice-President. He completed his externship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

Dr. Easton’s career has been based on service to the profession. He was elected Trustee of the Florida Optometric Association and eventually served as FOA’s President. During his tenure with the FOA, he began the Vision Care Section for the Florida Public Health Association.

His tenures include appointments to the State Board of Optometry; AOA Professional Relations Committee; AOA-PAC Representative of Florida for 10 years; AOA-PAC Board (Chair in 2000); National Board Examination Review Committee (Chair in 2003); ARBO Board (President 2006-2007); ARBO Representative where he worked with other members of the Board to add COPE as one of the clearinghouses for continuing medical education for Florida Licensees.

Dr. Easton is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and an AOSA 1982 Ray Myers Award winner.

Dr. Barry J. Frauens,
Associate Professor, The Eye Care Institute, Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, N. Miami Beach, Florida.

Dr. Barry J. Frauens graduated from Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry in 1996 and completed his residency in Primary Care optometry at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry.

Dr. Frauens returned to Nova Southeastern College of Optometry as a full-time faculty member. As the Associate Professor, Dr. Frauens also serves as the Chief of the Primary Care Service at the N. Miami Beach Clinic.

Dr. Frauens is a past president of the Broward County Optometric Association. During his career, he has received many awards including the 2006 Florida Optometric Association Optometrist of the Year Award. He is currently a Trustee on the Board of Directors for the Florida Optometric Association and chairman of the FOA Education Committee.

Dr Frauens is an accomplished lecturer and a medical abstract writer for Optometry and the Journal of the American Optometric Association. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and the Optometric Glaucoma Society. His current research interests include glaucoma.

Dr. Karen Gehrs,
Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Upon completing her internship at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, Dr. Gehrs finished her post graduate education by completing her residency and fellowship (vitreoretina) at Duke University Eye Center prior to becoming Chief Resident in 1993.

Dr. Gehrs specializes in retina/vitreous and focuses her research in diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. She is certified in both the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Ophthalmology. Dr. Gehrs is an accomplished teacher, frequent lecturer and is very active in several professional associations.

After more than a dozen years as a vitreoretinal faculty member at the University of Iowa, Dr. Gehrs joined the Center for Retina and Macular Disease in 2009. Most recently, Dr. Gehrs was awarded the Achievement Award by the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2004 and has been distinguished as Best Doctors in America for the past four years in a row.

Dr. Richard Hamilton,
Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Hamilton received his Bachelor of Science Degree in chemistry from Harvard University and his doctorate degree from the Harvard University Medical School. His extensive and varied training includes completion of a fellowship in anatomic and clinical pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hamilton embarked upon general surgical residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, but soon realized his true calling was in ophthalmology. After completing his residency in ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute, he was granted a fellowship in retinal and vitreous diseases at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. Hamilton is board certified in ophthalmology since 2005 and is an active member of several professional organizations such as the American Academy of ophthalmology, the American Society of Retinal Specialists, the American Medical Association, and the Florida Medical Association.

Dr. Benjamin Kim,
Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Kim grew up in South Carolina, and he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology as well as a Music Minor in Piano Performance from Vanderbilt University. He received his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. His training then took him to Boston where he completed the Harvard Medical School Residency Program in Ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Kim’s vitreoretinal fellowship training was at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Kim was an Instructor in Ophthalmology at Wilmer. During his last year of fellowship training, he also served as the chief resident at Wilmer.

Dr. Kim has been a recipient of the Heed Fellowship Award. He has published articles and book chapters on a variety of ophthalmic topics, ranging from genetics to new treatments of diabetic macular edema.

Dr. Jin Moon,
Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Moon received his Bachelor of Science form the Duke University Medical School. He continued his post-doctoral studies with an internship at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center in Reading, Pennsylvania and completed his residency at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. After completing his residency, he was granted a Vitreoretinal fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin where he served as the clinical instructor of ophthalmology at The Eye Institute Department of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Moon has become recognized as an expert in new therapies for retinal and macular diseases. He also has numerous publications in the field of ophthalmology and retina and is a frequent lecturer. He has been board certified in ophthalmology since 2004 and is an active member of several professional organizations including the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Medical Association, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

Dr. Joseph Sowka,
Professor of Optometry, Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, Ft. Lauderdale-Davie, Florida.

Dr. Sowka completed a Residency in Primary Care at PCO in 1990. Dr. Sowka is a Professor of Optometry at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry where he serves as Chief of The Advanced Care Service and Director of the Glaucoma Service at the College’s Eye Institute.

Dr. Sowka has authored numerous refereed journal publications and textbook chapters. Dr. Sowka is a founding member of both the Optometric Glaucoma Society and Optometric Retina Society and is an executive board member for both societies. Dr. Sowka is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Optometry – Disease Section, Glaucoma Subsection.

Dr. Michael Tolentino,
Director of Clinical Research, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Tolentino received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Brown University and his doctorate degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. During medical school he worked in the Bermann-Gund retinal degenerations laboratory at Harvard Medical School. After medical school, Dr. Tolentino continued his training at Harvard Medical School and interned at the Mount Auburn Hospital and completed his post-doctoral Angiogenesis research fellowship at the Childrens Hospital of Boston and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. It was there that he helped develop anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapies used today for macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. After completing his residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, he joined the ophthalmology and molecular biology faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and headed the program vitreo-retinal training.

Dr. Tolentino earned numerous awards and received several prestigious grants while at the University of Pennsylvania, and developed a new class of therapeutic molecules called siRNA. He has 2 issued and 4 pending patents on the use of these molecules for treating eye diseases, cancers, and arthritis. The technology that Dr.Tolentino’s inventions utilize for therapeutic purposes received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2006. Based on his patents, Dr. Tolentino co-founded Acuity Pharmaceuticals which was merged to form OPKO health (Amex: OPK) a publically traded biopharmaceutical company.

With the team at the Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Dr. Tolentino has helped to establish one of the largest retinal clinical trial centers in the country which has been involved in over 45 clinical trials in the last 3 years. Dr. Tolentino is a frequent international lecturer on new treatments for macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. He is on several scientific advisory panels and is a consultant for several pharmaceutical companies. He is also serving as the CEO and co-founder of Acuity Dynamics a privately held ophthalmic company.