It’s late April in Boston. People in business attire are pouring out of cabs, over the cobblestone pavement, and rushing through the revolving doors of the Renaissance Waterfront hotel to get out of the rain. They ignore the reception desk and its display of colored glass orbs to their left, and continue onwards at a pace, following the signs that lead to the Brewster Room. The smartly-dressed but slightly damp people are ophthalmologists and they‘ve come to the annual ASCRS meeting in part to see the main attraction: Robert Langer.
Langer is no ophthalmologist – he is a chemical engineer – but his work may transform the discipline – and many other areas of medicine. In 2001, Time Magazine and CNN named Langer as one of the 100 most important people in America and Forbes Magazine selected him as one of the 15 innovators worldwide who will “reinvent our future”. Why? He’s a pioneer of nanotechnology and its application in healthcare. Some of the technologies commercialized by companies he founded are beginning to transform medical diagnostics, vaccine design, cancer therapy and (appropriately for us), ophthalmology – something that Bob and his colleagues outline in this month’s feature article
It’s been a year since we published the first issue of The Ophthalmologist. For me, Langer’s cover story epitomizes the type of content that we want to deliver to you: informative and important. In September 2013, we promised to tell the stories of ophthalmology – stories that inform, educate and bring a fresh perspective. We wanted to offer insight: useful information that is pertinent to your practice; industry and trend analyses that highlight where ophthalmology has been, and where it is going. In addition to nanotechnology, this current issue covers everything from the ophthalmic consequences of interplanetary space travel to ensuring that you give the best consultation you can. I hope that we are living up to our pledge to bring you engaging, informative stories – and I trust that you will let us know if we aren’t. After all, it’s your publication.
