David Paton (ophthalmologist)

David Paton (ophthalmologist)
David Paton (born August 16, 1930) is a retired ophthalmologist best known as founder in 1970 of Project Orbis (now named Orbis International, Inc.) and thereafter as its first Medical Director helping to develop (1970–1982) and then deploy its teaching aircraft for ophthalmologists worldwide, especially in the developing nations. Paton resigned from Orbis in 1987 and focused on other aspects of academic ophthalmology, but in 2011 he returned in a voluntary capacity to assist in fund raising for a new annual appointment, the David Paton Orbis Fellowship in Global Ophthalmology.
Biography
Paton was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in August 1930. He is the son of a prominent ophthalmologist, Richard Townley Paton, founder in 1946 of the world's first eye bank. His paternal grandfather, Stewart Paton MD was a neurologist and psychiatrist, and his maternal grandfather, Frederic Hill Meserve was a self-made businessman, and the first great collector of photographs of Abraham Lincoln, Civil War leaders, and other notable persons of the nineteenth century.
Paton is a graduate of Princeton University and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he later served as a member of the faculty of the Wilmer Eye Institute. He is past Chairman of The American Board of Ophthalmology, past First Vice-President of The American Academy of Ophthalmology, and former Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine.
In 2011, one year after his granddaughter Cricket Paton was born, Paton self-published his memoir, Second Sight: Views from An Eye Doctor's Odyssey.
Education and work
1937–43 – The Buckley School, NY, George Lane Nichols Award
1943–48 – The Hill School, PA, School President ‘48
1948–52 – Princeton University, B.A., Senior Class, Vice President
1952–56 – Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, M.D.
1956–57 – Cornell University Medical College, NY, Internship
1957–59 – National Institutes of Health, MD, NINDB, Public Health Service
1959–64 – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wilmer Eye Institute, Residency
1964–71 – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wilmer Eye Institute, Faculty
1971–82 – Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, Cullen Eye Institute, Chairman & Director
1982–84 – King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Medical Director
1984–86 – OcuSystems, Inc., CT, Founder, Medical Director
1986–93 – Weill Cornell Medical College, NY, Professor, Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn & Queens, Department of Ophthalmology, Chairman
1998– – Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, Emeritus Professor
Awards and honors
Achievements
Markle Scholar, Academic Medicine, 1967–72
American College of Surgeons, Fellow, 1965–
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dean, Student Admissions, 1967–70
American Board of Ophthalmology, Chairman 1981-81
American Academy of Ophthalmology, Secretary, Continuing Education, 1977–82
American Academy of Ophthalmology, First Vice President, 1982
Project ORBIS, Founder, Medical Director, 1968–87
As teacher, surgeon and/or medical administrator: a cumulative four years in developing countries.
Honorary member or honored guest of ten South American medical societies
Over time, numerous international and domestic board memberships of domestic and international NGOs
DSc honorary degrees
Bridgeport University, 1984
Princeton University, 1985
Other honors
Legion of Honor, France, Chevalier, 1988
Presidential Citizens Medal, US, 1987
Princeton Class of ’52, Distinguished Classmate Award, 1992
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award, 2005
References
External links
Second Sight: Views from an Eye Doctor's Odyssey
American ophthalmologists
1930 births
Living people
The Hill School alumni
Buckley School (New York City) alumni
Princeton University alumni
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni
Baylor College of Medicine faculty
Cornell University faculty