Biography

George L. Spaeth, MD is a world-renowned ophthalmologist and Director Emeritus of the Glaucoma Service at Wills Eye Hospital. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, completed his residency in ophthalmology at Wills Eye, followed by fellowship training in glaucoma at the National Institute of Neurological Disease & Blindness. He has held the Lewis J. Esposito Glaucoma Research Professorship since 2000 and is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He is the author of many hundreds of papers in the peer-reviewed literature, has written scores of book chapters, and has edited 21 books.  Dr. Spaeth also diagnosed one of the first patients with homocystinurias in 1962 through his focus on total patient care, established that pyridoxine, Vitamin B6, can significantly lower homocysteine levels in about half of patients, and he identified and broadly communicated that ophthalmic issues of displaced lenses and severe near-sightedness were often the presenting symptoms of classical homocystinurias.