Keynote speakers

Dr. Sherwin Isenberg

Dr. Sherwin J. Isenberg serves as the Gerber Professor of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Vice Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Jules Stein Eye Institute at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is also Editor Emeritus of the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.

He has published extensively in three areas: neonatal ophthalmology and development of the eye, strabismus, and techniques to reduce pediatric blindness. Among his research accomplishments are the innovation and original testing of povidone-iodine for pre-operative and post-operative use as well as for ophthalmia neonatorum prophylaxis with Dr. Leonard Apt. He has written nearly 200 research papers and book chapters and also wrote and edited two editions of The Eye in Infancy, the only book actually dedicated to the eyes of infants.

Ongoing studies include the use of povidone-iodine to treat the major infectious causes of pediatric blindness worldwide and the development of the conjunctival tissue gas monitor to reduce blindness from retinopathy of prematurity and post-natal cerebral hypoxia.

Dr. Richard Hertle

Dr. Hertle is an investigator in the areas of nystagmus and eye movement disorder. His current titles include, Professor of Ophthalmology, Northeast Ohio Medical College, SUMMA Medical Center Department of Ophthalmology, Director, The Children's Vision Center and Chief of Ophthalmology, Akron Children's Hospital Medical Center, Akron, Ohio, USA.

Dr. Hertle received his bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University and his medical degree from Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine. During college and medical school, Dr. Hertle worked as a licensed/certified Optician. Following medical school, Dr. Hertle completed fellowships and residencies in Ocular Motility, Emergency Medicine, Ophthalmology, and Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at a variety of medical centers around the country. In 1989 he became a Pediatric Ophthalmology Fellow/Clinical Instructor of Ophthalmology at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This was the start of a 10-year tenure with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

From 1989-92, he was first clinical instructor, then lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology. He was assistant professor of ophthalmology at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine from 1992-98.

Dr. Hertle worked from 1998-2001 as medical officer/investigator and senior scientist in pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus and eye movement disorders in the Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research at the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. While at the NIH, he was a consultant in pediatric ophthalmology at the National Naval Medical Center and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He then was at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio, where he Professor of Ophthalmology at The Ohio State University from 2001 to 2004.

Dr. Hertle came to Akron in 2010 to grow the Pediatric Ophthalmology service after six years as Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Professor of Ophthalmology and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He has been principal investigator on a number of NIH-funded research projects, including ongoing studies on the treatment of strabismus, nystagmus and amblyopia. An avid researcher and publisher, Dr. Hertle has authored 2 books and over 170 refereed publications and almost as many abstracts, editorials, reviews and invited lectures. He currently serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and has been a recipient of over a million dollars of research funding.