Roberto Zaldivar (born May 27, 1957) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

doctor of

ophthalmology Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

and a refractive

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

. He is credited with several breakthroughs in the use of

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

to correct

visual impairments Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

. Zaldivar is credited for a technique called bioptics, a term he introduced. He is the president of the Instituto Zaldivar in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and the founder and first president of the Argentine Society of Cataract and Refractive and Corneal Surgery. He also introduced

excimer laser An excimer laser, sometimes more correctly called an exciplex laser, is a form of ultraviolet laser which is commonly used in the production of microelectronic devices, semiconductor based integrated circuits or "chips", eye surgery, and micro ...

technology to Latin America, and was the first in the world to implant the first collamer implantable lens in a patient, for which he has been considered a pioneer of phakic intraocular lenses (ICL).

Career

His father was Roger Eleazar Zaldivar, an ophthalmologist who founded the first cornea bank in Argentina and in 1959 inaugurated the Zaldivar Institute in the city of Mendoza, where the first corneal transplants in that country were performed. He was the first to bring and operate with a

ruby laser A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium. The first working laser was a ruby laser made by Theodore H. "Ted" Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories on May 16, 1960. Ruby lasers produce pulses of ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

in 1961 and was president of the Argentine Council of Ophthalmology between 1972 and 1974. Roberto was born in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, while his father was pursuing a master's degree at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

. Roger Eleazar Zaldivar was the dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the

National University of Cuyo The National University of Cuyo (, UNCuyo) is the largest center of higher education in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. As of 2005, the university had 12 academic schools in the city of Mendoza and a delegation in the city of San Rafael (pr ...

based in Mendoza, where Roberto studied Medicine between the ages of 16 and 22. In 1983, he obtained

Research to Prevent Blindness Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) is a nonprofit organization created in 1960 by Jules Stein, the founder of Music Corporation of America, to stimulate research to eliminate blinding diseases. It supports eye research directed at the preventio ...

Scholarship, and that same year he completed a subspecialty in the

anterior segment of eyeball The anterior segment or anterior cavity is the front third of the eye that includes the structures in front of the vitreous humour: the cornea, iris, ciliary body, and lens.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesvill ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. There, he attended to the

Kennedy family The Kennedy family () is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P ...

, Arab sheikhs, and the presidents of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

, and his opponent,

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

. In 1985, he returned to Mendoza to work with his father at the Instituto Zaldivar in the anterior segment, including

refractive surgery Refractive surgery is an optional eye surgery used to improve the refractive state of the eye and decrease or eliminate dependency on glasses or contact lenses. This can include various methods of surgical remodeling of the cornea ( keratomi ...

and

cataract surgery Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens (anatomy), lens of the human eye, eye that has developed a cataract, an opaque or cloudy area. The eye's natural lens is usually replaced with an artific ...

. In 1992, he became the second surgeon in the world to install and use the combined Excimer-Holmium laser equipment for

myopia Myopia, also known as near-sightedness and short-sightedness, is an eye condition where light from distant objects focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry, while close objects appear normal. ...

and

hyperopia Far-sightedness, also known as long-sightedness, hypermetropia, and hyperopia, is a condition of the eye where distant objects are seen clearly but near objects appear blurred. This blur is due to incoming light being focused behind, instead o ...

operations. On September 22, 1993, he was the first ophthalmologist in the world to perform surgery with phakic intraocular lenses (ICL), which correct refractive errors such as myopia, hyperopia, and

astigmatism Astigmatism is a type of refractive error due to rotational asymmetry in the eye's refractive power. The lens and cornea of an eye without astigmatism are nearly spherical, with only a single radius of curvature, and any refractive errors ...

. In 1996, he created a technique called "bioptics" which consists of combining the use of phakic intraocular lenses with laser surgery. This development earned him the Innovators Lecture award in 2007, and he was the first Spanish-speaking physician to receive it. Bioptics was considered by the International Society of Refractive Surgery, the German Ophthalmological Society, and the

American 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 ...

as one of the 17 innovations that marked a milestone in ophthalmology worldwide. Roberto Zaldivar was the first president of the Argentine Association of Refractive and Corneal Surgeons and of the International Intra-Ocular Implant Club (IIIC), the

, the International Society of Keratorefractive Surgery, and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Throughout his career, Zaldivar has attended to renowned figures, such as the actresses

Susana Giménez María Susana Giménez Aubert (born 29 January 1944), known as Susana Giménez (), is an Argentine TV host, actress, model and businesswoman. In 2012, she was considered the biggest celebrity in Argentine television by the media firm that pub ...

and

Graciela Borges Graciela Borges (; born Graciela Noemí Zabala; June 10, 1941) is an Argentine television and film actress. Borges was born in Dolores. Having made her film debut at 14, she has acted in over fifty films and was featured in 2006 in '' Vogue ...

; the former president of Argentina,

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...

; the journalist

Bernardo Neustadt Bernardo Neustadt (, ; January 9, 1925 – June 7, 2008) was a Romanian-born Argentine journalist. For 30 years he was the TV host of the famous () news program. Neustadt was the first to make political opinion journalism on television in Argent ...

; the film director

Juan José Campanella Juan José Campanella (born 19 July 1959) is an Argentine television and film director, writer and producer. He achieved worldwide attention with the release of '' The Secret in Their Eyes'' (2009), for which he was awarded the Academy Award for ...

; the soccer players

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" (), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of Ur ...

, and

Enzo Fernández Enzo Jeremías Fernández (born 17 January 2001) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Chelsea and the Argentina national team. Primarily a central midfielder, he is also capable of playing as a defensive ...

; and the actors

Ricardo Darín Ricardo Alberto Darín (born 16 January 1957) is an Argentine actor, film director and film producer, considered one of the best and most prolific actors of Argentine cinema. Considered one of the greatest and most acclaimed movie stars of his ...

Guillermo Francella Guillermo Héctor Francella (born 14 February 1955) is an Argentine actor and comedian. Besides a long history of working as a Television in Argentina, television leading man, he also has a varied Argentine culture#Cinema and theatre, theatrical ...

, and

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

. In 1996, he opened a branch of the Instituto Zaldivar in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and in 2002 in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. In 1990, he formed the Zaldivar Foundation, which provides support to patients without resources.

Prizes and awards

In 1998, he was the first non-resident specialist in the United States to receive the Lans Lecture award, granted by the International Society of Refractive Surgery. In 1999, he was distinguished by the Ophthalmological Society of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

with the Epstein Lecture Award. In 2002, he was recognized for his contributions to refractive surgery with the Robert Coles Memorial Lecture from the

New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health r ...

, while in 2007, the International Congress of German Ophthalmic Surgeons awarded him the Innovators Lecture. In 2005, the

Argentine Senate The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation () is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 1854, pursuant to Articles 46 to 54 of the 185 ...

awarded him the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Honorary Mention, which distinguishes entrepreneurs who stand out for their work for the good of the community. In 2010, he received the

Jan Worst Jan Worst (ca.1635, Amsterdam? – ca.1686, Amsterdam), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. The Dutch artist and art historian Arnold Houbraken described Worst as a painter of Italianate landscapes that were quite good, but he spent most of his t ...

Medal Lecture from the International Intra-Ocular Implant Club (IIIC) of the United States. Between 2016 and 2018, Zaldivar was president of that institution. In 2012, he obtained the Rayner Medal Lecture from the United Kingdom and Ireland Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. In 2014, he won a Gold Medal from the Spanish Society of Implant-Refractive Ocular Surgery. In 2017, he received the Benedetto Strampelli Medal from the Italian Ophthalmological Society and the Gold Medal from the Indian Intra-ocular Implant and Refractive Surgery. In 2021, the Executive Committee of the Argentine Council of Ophthalmology awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Medal. The following year, he was the first foreigner to be recognized by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery with the Steinert Refractive Lecture. Also, the Italian Ophthalmological Society awarded him the Innovator Medal Lecture. In 2024, he was recognized for the third time as one of the 100 most influential ophthalmologists in the world by the English magazine ''The Ophthalmologist''. He had already been included in that list in 2019 and 2020. In July 2024, he and his son Roger Zaldivar received the Visionary Award from the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery (AECOS) for their work in the development of ICL.

Personal life

Roberto Zaldivar is married to Stella Gaibazzi. His daughter, Mercedes Zaldivar, is a lawyer, while his son Roger Zaldivar is also an ophthalmologist and is the medical director of the Instituto Zaldivar.

References

External links

Instituto Zaldivar

Fundación Zaldivar

Meet the Zadivar family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaldivar, Roberto People from Mendoza, Argentina Living people 1957 births Ophthalmologists Surgeons