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For
Immediate Release
Media
Contact:
Ron Harris
Director of Communications
Office of University
Communications
202.683.0182
rjharris@howard.edu |
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Health
Sciences Sr. V.P.
Receives Prestigious
Heed Award |
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The
Society of Heed
Fellows is a charitable
and educational
foundation that
provides funding
for post-graduate
studies in ophthalmology
and the ophthalmic
sciences and annually
awards a former
fellow for outstanding
performance.
Recipients
are awarded for
major contributions
to ophthalmology
as an educator,
clinician, and/or
as investigator;
outstanding original
discoveries or
investigations
that have produced
major advancements
in the field of
ophthalmology
and long-term
extraordinary
and distinguished
leadership service
on behalf of ophthalmology.
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Higginbotham,
an internationally recognized
expert in glaucoma and a Heed
Fellow in 1983, is the 46th
recipient of the award
since its establishment in
1965.
Higginbotham
thanked the society and said
the fellowship was an integral
part of her professional growth.
It allowed her, she said,
to work at the renowned Howe
Laboratory of Ophthalmology
at the Massachusetts Eye and
Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical
School under the tutelage
of Dr. Tom Richardson, and
to spend time working with
Dr. Dick Simmons, who was
affiliated with the laboratory.
“So,
I was well prepared to join
the faculty in the Department
of Ophthalmology at the University
of Illinois College of Medicine,
then led by professor and
chair Dr. Mort Goldberg,”
she told the society last
month upon receiving her award.
She
also acknowledged the influence
of a previous Heed Award honoree,
Dr. Thom Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, who died last year,
was Dr. Higginbotham’s
first glaucoma teacher at
Louisiana State University.
At
Howard, Higginbotham oversees
Howard University Hospital,
the College of Medicine, the
College of Dentistry, the
College of Pharmacy, Nursing
and Allied Health and the
Health Sciences Library.
Howard
University Health Sciences’
colleges and programs have
awarded over 25,000 degrees
and sent thousands of dedicated
health professionals into
communities across the United
States and the world.
“Taking on this new
leadership role, in my view,
is a chance to grow vision
research and ensure a secure
place in the broader portfolio
of current science and scholarship,”
Higginbotham said.
Higginbotham
has held several prestigious
positions during her academic
career, in addition to maintaining
an active glaucoma practice.
Prior to Howard, she served
as dean and senior vice president
for Academic Affairs at the
Morehouse School of Medicine,
professor of Ophthalmology
at the Emory Eye Center, chair
of the Department of Ophthalmology
and Visual Sciences at the
University of Maryland, associate
professor and assistant dean
Faculty Affairs University
of Michigan and the chief
of the Glaucoma Clinic at
the University of Illinois.
She
has served as a Board Member
Advisory Council of the National
Eye Institute, Board of Trustees
of the American Academy of
Ophthalmology, Board of Women
in Ophthalmology, and the
Helen Keller Foundation.
She
is the past president Maryland
Society Eye Physicians, Alumni
Council Harvard Medical School
and current member of the
Board of Overseers Harvard
University. She is a
member of the Editorial Board
of the Archives of Ophthalmology,
the Institute of Medicine,
and the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences.
She
received her undergraduate
and graduate degrees in chemical
engineering from MIT and her
medical degree from Harvard
Medical School.
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