Robert Machemer (16 March 1933 in
Münster
Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...
– 23 December 2009 in
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
) was a German-American ophthalmologist, ophthalmic surgeon, and inventor. He is sometimes called the "father of modern retinal surgery."
Helmut Machemer, Robert's father, was an ophthalmologist who died in Ukraine on 18 May 1942, leaving a widow and three small sons. In 1953, when Robert Machemer completed his
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
, he worked for six months in a steel mill to partially finance his medical school education. He studied medicine at the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...
, where he received his MD,
[Robert Machemer, MD , ASCRS]
(with video) and the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...
, where he received his
Promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
in 1959. From 1962 to 1966 he was an assistant in the University Eye Clinic of Göttingen. In 1966 he received a two-year NATO fellowship and moved, with his wife and three-year-old daughter, to Miami to work at the
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is the University of Miami School of Medicine's ophthalmic care, research, and education center. The institute is based in the Health District of Miami, Florida, and has been ranked consistently as the best eye hospi ...
. He remained at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute until 1978, when he became the chair of Duke University Medical School's Department of Ophthalmology, serving in that capacity until 1991 and had his retirement as professor emeritus in 1998.
Machemer and Helmut Buettner created the vitreous infusion suction cutter (VISC), an instrument that made possible
endoillumination and safe removal of the
vitreous through extremely small cuts in the
pars plana
The ''pars plana'' (also known as ''orbicularis ciliaris'' ) (Latin: flat portion) is part of the ciliary body in the uvea (or vascular tunic, the middle layer of the three layers that comprise the eye).
It is about 4 mm long, located near th ...
.
pars plana vitrectomy
Vitrectomy is a surgery to remove some or all of the vitreous humor from the eye.
Anterior vitrectomy entails removing small portions of the vitreous humor from the front structures of the eye—often because these are tangled in an intraocular ...
.[ (Who performed the first pars plana vitrectomy might be in dispute due to claims of priority by Japanese ophthalmologists.)
He established an animal model of retinal detachment and used this model to study ]proliferative vitreoretinopathy
Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is a disease that develops as a complication of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. PVR occurs in about 8–10% of patients undergoing primary retinal detachment surgery and prevents the successful surgical re ...
(PVR), which Machemer originally called ''massive periretinal proliferation''.
Awards and honors
*1981 — Albrecht von Graefe Albrecht von Graefe may refer to:
* Albrecht von Graefe (ophthalmologist) (1828-1870), Prussian ophthalmologist
* Albrecht von Graefe (politician) (1868-1933), German politician and landowner
{{hndis, Graefe, Albrecht von ...
Prize of the Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft (German Ophthalmological Society)
*1993 — Ernst Jung Prize
The Ernst Jung Prize is a prize awarded annually for excellence in biomedical sciences. The Ernst Jung Foundation, funded by Hamburg merchant Ernst Jung in 1967, has awarded the Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine, now €300,000, since 1976, and the lif ...
*1996 — Howe Medal of the American Ophthalmological Society
The American Ophthalmological Society (AOS) is a medical society of ophthalmologists and the second oldest specialty medical society in the United States, after the New York Ophthalmological Society (founded on March 7, 1864). It was founded on J ...
*1997 — Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research of the Helen Keller FoundationAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is a professional association, professional medical association of ophthalmologists. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its membership of 32,000 medical doctors includes more than 90 percent ...
*2010 â€
Robert Machemer Foundation
established
2016- Retina Hall of Fame--posthumously
Selected publications
*
**
References
External links
Robert Machemer's Early Vitrectomy with VISC, 1972
on Vimeo
Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machemer, Robert
1933 births
2009 deaths
German ophthalmologists
American ophthalmologists
People from Münster
Emigrants from West Germany to the United States