CHARAMIS MEDAL HONOURS LASIK PIONEER IOANNIS PALLIKARIS

The European Society of Ophthalmolgy, (SOE) paid tribute to Greek ophthalmologist Ioannis Pallikaris in naming him the 2013 recipient of the Charamis Medal at its 2013 Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. Named after distinguished Greek ophthalmologist, John S Charamis, founder of the Hellenic Ophthalmological Society in 1931, and president of the International Council of Ophthalmology from 1966 to 1970, the medal is presented by the Hellenic Ophthalmological Society every four years to a European ophthalmologist for their accomplishments in the field of ophthalmic surgery. Prof Pallikaris joins a distinguished list of previous winners of the medal, including Richard Collin, Yves Pouliquen, Relija Zivojnovic, George P Theodossiadis, Gottfried Naumann and Cornelius Binkhorst. At the award ceremony, Stefan Seregard, president of SOE, said that Ioannis Pallikaris has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in ophthalmology.'I am confident that Prof Charamis would have been delighted with our choice for the 2013 medal winner, not only is he a fellow Greek, he is also a renowned entrepreneur, innovator and educator,' he said.Prof Pallikaris, founder and director of the Institute of Vision and Optics at the University of Crete, is probably best known as the refractive surgeon who performed the first LASIK procedure on a human eye in 1989.