Visions Newsletter Summer 2003

Director's Message: The Youth Movement

Creig S. Hoyt, MD Director & Chairman

Residents have always been considered our Department's most important asset. For that reason, Residents' Day (Alex Irvine Day) is one of the most important academic events of our year. It celebrates the academic growth of current residents who present their work to the faculty and community physicians as well as the preeminent teacher of our department, Dr. Alex Irvine.

This is just one of the ways we are reaching out to young scientists who will build upon the work of our well-established and renowned faculty members, and reach out into new fields of endeavor. We plan to initiate a structured mentoring program for our junior faculty, as they move forward in their careers. We also expect to be recruiting a number of new clinicians and research scientists to the Beckman Vision Center in the very near future, to expand our already outstanding group of young faculty.

We are placing special emphasis on providing resources for our current junior faculty members as they expand their academic careers. A new laboratory space in the Beckman Vision Center has been established for junior investigators, which we hope will facilitate innovative research on the part of our young clinician scientists.

I am excited about my new appointment to succeed Dr. Steven Kramer as Director of the Beckman Vision Center and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, and I look forward to building on the strong foundation that he has established. I look forward to working with our outstanding faculty, and with our community of donors, to make an already excellent ophthalmic center even better.