Richard L. Abbott, MD
Dr. Abbott is a member of the Academy's Committee of Secretaries, holding the position of Secretary for Quality Care and Knowledge Base Development since 2002. He has served in several leadership positions since 1981, including Secretary for Quality of Care (1994) and Senior Secretary for Ophthalmic Practice (1996-2001).
Dr. Abbott is the Thomas W. Boyden Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California San Francisco and Research Associate at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation. He received his medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine in 1971. After completing his internship at Los Angeles County Hospital, he spent two years in the Indian Public Health Service teaching medics and running a community health clinic on the Navajo reservation. He then pursued his ophthalmology training with a residency at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and a Fellowship in corneal and external diseases at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami where he was awarded both a Heed and Fight for Sight Fellowship grant. In 1978, upon completion of his training, Dr. Abbott returned to San Francisco where he practiced for 17 years as a consultant and then Director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Service at California Pacific Medical Center. He joined the full-time faculty at UCSF as Professor and Co-Director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Service in 1995.
Dr. Abbott received the Academy's Honor Award in 1984 and its Senior Honor Award in 1994. In 2006, he was awarded the Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Abbott is past chair of the Academy's Strategic Planning Committee and currently serves as a member of the Global Alliances Task Force. In 1995, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Lecturer Scholarship from the Ministry of Health, Singapore. He has authored or co-authored over 80 publications and 28 book chapters and has delivered over 500 invited lectures and 16 Named lectures.
Dr Abbott is currently involved in several leadership positions for many organizations. These include: Board of Directors and Chair of the Underwriting Committee for OMIC, president of the Pan American Association of Ophthalmology, past president of the Pan American Ophthalmological Foundation, Board of Directors for the Society of Heed Fellows, Board of Directors for That Man May See Ophthalmic Foundation, Executive Committee and member of the Board of Directors for ORBIS Telemedicine Cyber Sight Advisory Board and International Program Advisory Council and chair for Guidelines Development and Board member of the International Council of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Abbott is an emeritus director of both the American Board of Ophthalmology and the Castroviejo Cornea Society, and has also served as a member of the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel and the National eye Institute Coordinating Committee for the Development of a patient assessment instrument for refractive error correction.
