ASCRS News: ASCRS Annual Meeting preview
Spring 2025
by Ellen Stodola
Editorial Co-Director
This year, the Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Lecture will be given by Reza Dana, MD, during the Main Stage session on Sunday, April 27, at the ASCRS Annual Meeting. The Lindstrom Lecture was established in 2021 to recognize the exceptional contributions made by Dr. Lindstrom to ASCRS and ophthalmology, and honors individuals who have made significant contributions to anterior segment surgery.
Dr. Dana said the lecture will focus on his research in the field of cornea, stressing the expanding applications of corneal health in cataract and refractive surgery outcomes.
Most of refractive surgery is application of surgical techniques of the cornea, Dr. Dana said. “For a long time, only the structural aspects of the cornea were thought about by refractive surgeons,” he said. Starting around 20 years ago, he said it became obvious that the health of the corneal tissue—whether it’s dry or inflamed or if there’s nerve damage—can have an influence on the outcomes of corneal and refractive surgery. That changed the themes that were being discussed, he said, adding that a lot of topics covered today, especially at the ASCRS Annual Meeting, focus on corneal health, corneal physiology, and corneal regenerative medicine.
“The topics have become blended much more than they were before,” he said. “ASCRS has been at the forefront of emphasizing the need for optimizing corneal health for the best outcomes of refractive and cataract surgery.”
Dr. Dana has authored nearly 500 papers in the field of cornea over the years, and he said one area he’d like to cover in his lecture is the role of corneal nerves in the maintenance of health. “I’ll be talking about the interaction between nerves, the immune system, and the epithelial cells, and how approaching one can impact the others,” he said. This is an area that Dr. Dana thinks is at the forefront of corneal research, linking what used to be thought of as disparate areas of biology: the stroma vs. the endothelium vs. the surface. “Now we’re understanding that all of them are linked in a very intimate way, and you cannot approach one without thinking of the other.”
About the physician
Reza Dana, MD
C.H. Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology
Harvard Medical School
Senior Scientist and Director of Cornea
Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Boston, Massachusetts
