by Jessica Pasley
During the recent Macula Society annual meeting, Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, G. W. Hale Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, received the organization’s highest honor, the Gass Medal for outstanding contributions in the study of macular diseases.
The award was created to honor the legacy of J. Donald M. Gass, MD, one of the world’s most respected experts on the diseases of the retina, macula and uvea.
“It is deeply meaningful to receive this honor,” said Sternberg. “Don Gass was a hero and an inspiration — and he did it all with an almost reality-defying sense of humility. It was a privilege to know and work with Dr. Gass, and an extraordinary tribute to receive the Gass Medal.”
Gass, who died in 2005, was a native of Nashville and a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
He joined Vanderbilt at the end of his career on a part-time basis.
Sternberg said during that time, he saw patients, wrote papers and updated what is known as the premier medical textbook on macular diseases — the “Stereoscopic Atlas of Macular Diseases: Diagnosis and Treatment,” or the Gass Atlas.
Sternberg was presented the award by previous recipient Anita Agarwal, MD, adjoint professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt.
