“
Elizabeth Parrish, COA, Bernadete Ayres, M.D., and Tanya McClendon-Hubbard, COA
WE NEED TO THINK BROADLY AND USE EVIDENCE MINDFULLY. WE NEED TO SEE OUR PATIENTS AS FAR MORE THAN THE SYMPTOMS THEY PRESENT. WE NEED TO UNPACK THE HIDDEN FACTORS DRIVING NOT JUST OUR PATIENTS, BUT OUR COLLEAGUES, OUR COMMUNITIES AND OURSELVES.” — Eve Higginbotham, SM, MD
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Guest Lectureship: Eve Higginbotham, SM, MD
Eye Center when she was a faculty member at Michigan.
“Dr. Higginbotham is a true leader in combining clinical
and public health research to improve the health of individuals and communities, “ says Kellogg Director Paul P. Lee, MD, JD. “It’s wonderful to welcome her back to share her insights and wisdom.”
Using the backdrop of a patient case, Dr. Higginbotham’s
In April, Kellogg’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) commit-
presentation, Unpacking the Hidden Factors Shaping the Care
tee sponsored a grand rounds presentation by guest lecturer and
of Our Patients, challenged residents and medical students to
Kellogg faculty alumna Eve Higginbotham, SM, MD.
see the practice of ophthalmology from multiple perspectives:
A glaucoma specialist, Dr. Higginbotham is the inaugural
the patient, the physician, the medical practice and the commu-
Vice Dean for Inclusion and Diversity of the Perelman School
nity. Through an evidence-based lens, she examined each, citing
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Senior Fellow at
research into factors as wide-ranging as patient perceptions, the
the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics and Professor
impact of comorbidities, physician bias, motivators and barriers
of Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania. Recently
in practices, and the moral imperatives and economic disparities
adding to her impressive list of career milestones, she was elect-
of communities.
ed President of the AΩA Medical Honor Society in 2017 and
was elected to the Council of the National Academy of Medicine
need to think broadly and use evidence mindfully. We need to
in 2018. She is also a Vice Chair of the Ocular Hypertension
see our patients as far more than the symptoms they present.
Treatment Study, which is completing 20 years of follow-up of
We need to unpack the hidden factors driving not just our
enrolled patients. Dr. Higginbotham led the study at the Kellogg
patients, but our colleagues, our communities and ourselves.”
The 2018 Farjo Lecturer: Roy W. Beck, MD, PhD
“To deliver the best care,” says Dr. Higginbotham, “we
In 1993, Dr. Beck founded the JAEB Center for Health
Research in Tampa, Florida, a freestanding nonprofit center for clinical and epidemiological research in eye diseases.
In his presentation, “My Journey through Clinical Trials in
A highlight of Kellogg’s 24th alumni weekend
Ophthalmology,” Dr. Beck highlighted a few of the significant
was the fourth annual Qais A. Farjo, MD,
research projects coordinated by the JAEB Center under his
Memorial Lecture, endowed to honor the
leadership—a body of work that has resulted in transformation-
memory of a talented and revered alumnus
al advances in neuro ophthalmology, pediatric eye diseases, and
who lost his battle with cancer in 2014.
diseases of the cornea and retina.
This year’s lecturer was Roy Beck, MD,
Reflecting on Dr. Beck’s remarks, Professor Jonathan Trobe,
PhD. Dr. Beck came to U-M in 1982 as the first director of Kel-
MD, summarized the lecture as “an exercise in modesty” from
logg’s neuro ophthalmology service. Between 1982 and 1986, he
a leader he described as “without exaggeration, the most
also served as the resident education coordinator and directed the
celebrated ophthalmic epidemiologist on the face of the earth.”
ophthalmology inpatient consultation service. 19
