# Burkhard Dick

Burkhard Dick (born 1963 in Brake, Lower Saxony) is a German ophthalmologist who has specialized in refractive and cataract surgery. With his many contributions to the scientific literature on this topic, he is considered one of the pioneers of employing the femtosecond laser in cataract surgery. In the "Power List 2024" by the publication The Ophthalmologist, Burkhard Dick was listed among the world's most 100 most influential ophthalmologists.

## Biography

Dick attended high school in his hometown of Brake and graduated in 1983. After studying medicine at University of Giessen, he began his specialization as an eye surgeon. As a board certified ophthalmologist, Dick in 1996 joined the eye hospital of the University of Mainz where he became a full professor in 2003. In 2006, Dick was appointed chair of the department of ophthalmology at the University of Bochum and director of the University Eye Clinic. He turned the clinic into one of the surgical centers with the highest number of cataract patients treated with the femtosecond laser, a new technology which has the potential to improve the precision of cataract surgery which is the most frequent surgical intervention in North America and Europe. Burkhard Dick has been president of the German Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (DGII) from 2016 to 2020; currently he acts as the society's treasurer. Dick is an elected council member and the Secretary (since 2023) of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) and chairman of the society's Research Committee.

## Scientific contributions

Dick has published a large number of scientific articles and book chapters on various issues in eye surgery. He has informed the medical community about his experience with the femtosecond laser in special cases like patients with Marfan syndrome, with advanced cataracts, in pediatric cataracts and in individuals who had undergone corneal refractive surgery or are suffering from corneal disease. Dick is also considered a pioneer in Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) and has lectured widely on the advantages of this technique to treat glaucoma as well as on the limitations of some of these implants. He is the editor of two recent books that have become standard works for eye surgeons globally, on the femtosecond laser in ophthalmology and, published in 2022, on cataract surgery in difficult situations (see publication list).

## Entrepreneurship

Both as an innovator and as an investor, Burkhard Dick is involved in the development of new technologies like the miniaturized sensor to measure the intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients and methods to reduce potentially eye damaging blue light exposure of digital devices.

## Memberships

* American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS)
* European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS)
* American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery (AECOS)
* International Intra-Ocular Implant Club (IIIC)
* European Vision Institute Clinical Research Network (EVICR)
* German Ophthalmological Society (Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft, DOG)
* Professional Association of German Ophthalmologists (Berufsverband der Augenärzte Deutschlands, BVA)
* German Society for intraocular lens implantation (Deutschsprachige Gesellschaft für Intraokularlinsen-Implantation, interventionelle und refraktive Chirurgie, DGII)