Remembering Emanuel Rosen

ESCRS PRESIDENT

Oliver Findl

MEDICAL EDITORS

Thomas Kohnen Chief Medical Editor

José Güell Paul Rosen

INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARD

Noel Alpins (Australia), Bekir Aslan (Turkey), Roberto Bellucci (Italy), Hiroko Bissen-Miyajima (Japan), John Chang (China), Béatrice Cochener-Lamard (France), Oliver Findl (Austria), Nino Hirnschall (Austria), Soosan Jacob (India), Vikentia Katsanevaki (Greece), Daniel Kook (Germany), Boris Malyugin (Russia), Marguerite McDonald (USA), Cyres Mehta (India), Sorcha Ní Dhubhghaill (Ireland), Rudy Nuijts (The Netherlands), Leigh Spielberg (The Netherlands), Sathish Srinivasan (UK), Robert Stegmann (South Africa), Ulf Stenevi (Sweden), Marie-José Tassignon (Belgium), Manfred Tetz (Germany), Carlo Enrico Traverso (Italy)

Remembering Emanuel Rosen

With the passing of Emanuel Rosen, we have lost a unifying force who represented the best values of the international ophthalmic surgery community. We must thank him for the three elements he introduced, the ESCRS, JCRS, and EuroTimes, which together continue to support and encourage the development of cataract and refractive surgery on a global scale.

With incredible drive and determination, he lit the spark that became the ESCRS. He was President of the ESCRS from its founding in 1987 until 1993. Continuing to serve in many capacities until 2017, he was instrumental in transforming the ESCRS into the fully fledged, highly successful, and important European ophthalmological organisation we have today.

In 1996 he launched, with Steve Obstbaum at the ASCRS, the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (JCRS). This coincided with the publication of the first issue of the Society’s news magazine, EuroTimes. Working with Carol Fitzpatrick and John Henahan, he saw EuroTimes grow from a first issue of only eight pages to the fully fledged multimedia news magazine it is now. Dr Rosen was a direct We have lost a unifying force link to surgical pioneers who introduced what are now standard ideas, who represented including intraocular the best values of lenses, phakic lenses, the international phacoemulsification, and ophthalmic surgery community corneal refractive laser surgery. This included implant pioneers Harold Ridley, Peter Choyce, Cornelius Binkhorst, and early proponents of phacoemulsification Eric Arnott and Charles Kelman.

It is worth remembering that intraocular implants, phacoemulsification, and corneal refractive surgery were all met with hostility and reluctance by the medical/surgical establishment of the time. Dr Rosen looked beyond this resistance, helping assemble a group of young, passionate surgeons from around the world who were eager to develop new methods of helping improve the vision of their patients.

Dr Rosen also maintained a busy surgical practice—first working with the National Health Service and then as head of the Rosen Eye Clinic. The first surgeon to perform LASIK in the United Kingdom, he used his business acumen to develop a national chain of LASIK clinics. He also was an expert on medical-legal disputes, assisting many colleagues in need of advice.

Emanuel Rosen was present and active during a period in history that saw remarkable progress in cataract and refractive surgery. Since the 1980s, refractive surgery has quickly evolved. Radial keratotomy gave way to photorefractive keratectomy, which led to the development of LASIK, and most recently to presbyopic IOLs, SMILE, and other refractive technologies.

It is probably also worth remembering that the ESCRS began before the European Union came about. One of Dr Rosen’s core beliefs was ophthalmology should be global and inclusive. It was a somewhat radical idea in the first days of the ESCRS to include members from across Europe, welcoming to all. Indeed, it went beyond the borders of Europe to include Turkey, Israel, and Egypt. This was part of his philosophy of breaking down barriers to include the exchange of information towards the betterment of all involved.