Robert Machemer

Robert Machemer (born March 16, 1933 in Münster ; † December 23, 2009 ) was a German-American ophthalmologist and surgeon .

Machemer's father Helmut was also an ophthalmologist, who died on May 18, 1942 in the Ukraine. The mother raised the three children alone in cramped conditions, and after graduating from high school in 1953, Machemer hired himself as a steel worker for six months to finance his medical studies. Machemer studied medicine at the University of Münster and at the University of Freiburg , where he received his doctorate in 1959. From 1962 to 1966 he was an assistant at the University Eye Clinic in Göttingen. In 1966 he went on a NATO scholarship to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami , where he was instructor from 1968 and from 1969 to 1971 head of ophthalmology at the local Veterans' Administration Hospital . At the same time he became an assistant professor in 1970 and later professor of ophthalmology at the University of Miami . In 1978 he became professor at the School of Medicine at Duke University and head of the ophthalmology department. In 1998 he retired.

As a scientist, he developed experimental models for the study of retinal detachment, methods and instruments for vitreous surgery, studied the pathogenesis and treatment methods of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR, total retinal detachment) and surgical methods for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration .

In 1993 he received the Ernst Jung Prize , in 1997 the Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research , in 1998 the Jules Gonin Medal, in 1981 the Albrecht von Graefe Prize of the German Ophthalmological Society , and in 1993 the US Senior Scientist Award of the Alexander von -Humboldt Foundation and the Howe Medal of the American Ophthalmological Society in 1996 . In 2001 he was Guest of Honor of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and in 2000 he was inducted into the Ophthalmology Hall of Fame . He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Göttingen (1988), Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Münster (2002), with his achievements in vitreous surgery being emphasized in the laudation.

Web links

• English biography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Birth and career data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
2. ↑ Christoph Gunkel, family tragedy in the Second World War "Dad is not allowed to leave, not all Russians have been shot dead yet" , Spiegel Online, February 28, 2018.
3. ↑ Honorary doctorate from the University of Münster for Machemer  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.