Honors
Faculty Honored With AAO Secretariat Awards
Three Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (DOVS) faculty were granted the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s (AAO) Secretariat Award: Cat Burkat, MD, FACS, professor and oculoplastics specialist; Justin Gottlieb, MD, professor and retina specialist, and Daniel Knoch, MD, associate professor and director of medical student education. The Secretariat Award recognizes special contributions to the Academy and to ophthalmology.

Dr. Burkat was recognized for four years of service as the lead editor for the oculoplastics section of EyeWiki. During Dr. Burkat’s tenure, she oversaw the most regularly updated and meticulously maintained section in EyeWiki, and in 2018 Dr. Burkat contributed edits to more than 90 articles, three times greater than any other editor. Concurrently, Dr. Burkat was, and still is, an active member of Basic Clinical and Science Course Section 7, Oculofacial Plastic and Orbital Surgery, which underwent a major revision for 2019.

Dr. Gottlieb was acknowledged for his leadership, contributions, and dedication to the Practicing Ophthalmologist Curriculum (POC). Dr. Gottlieb has served on the POC panel, reviewing and contributing content to the retina/vitreous practice emphasis area from 2009 to the present. The award also recognizes his service as an instructor for the Maintenance of Certification Exam Review course in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Dr. Knoch was recognized for his efforts in leading a team of physician medical student educators in the development and maintenance of interactive online cases on the Academy’s medical student website. Dr. Knoch’s advice on new features and content formats added value and helped increase usage across the board.
Hoon Lab Secures UW2020 Funding
The Hoon Research Laboratory, led by Mrinalini Hoon, PhD, assistant professor, has been awarded $500,000 by the UW2020: WARF Discovery Initiative Cohort for the project, “Imaging the Third Dimension at the Nanometer Resolution.”
The award will be used to acquire a 3View serial block face scanning electron microscope that will allow for large-scale 3D reconstructions of cellular structures and connectivity measures at the finest resolution.
