Dimitri Azar

Dimitri Azar M.D. (born 1959) is an American ophthalmologist, professor, and businessman who leads Twenty Twenty Therapeutics, a joint venture established by Santen and Verily.[1][2] Dr. Azar has held roles at Novartis and Verily, Alphabet's Life sciences research organization. He served as dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) from 2011 to 2018.[3][4]

Dimitri Azar
Alma materAmerican University of Beirut, Lebanon; Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Medicine; Massachusetts eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School; University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Scientific career
FieldsOphthamology
InstitutionsUniversity of Illinois at Chicago; American Ophthalmological Society; Chicago Ophthalmological Society; Chicago Medical Society; Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology; Verily; Verb Surgical Inc; Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society; Novartis

Education

Azar received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.[3] Dr. Azar practiced at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Medicine,[5] and completed his fellowship and residency training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School,[6] where he was a tenured professor of ophthalmology (2003-2006) and senior scientist at the Schepens Eye Research Institute.[7]

Dr. Azar also holds an honorary master's degree from Harvard, as well as an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.[3]

Academic positions

Azar has taught as a professor of ophthalmology, bioengineering and pharmacology at UIC,[3] where he also served as head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and B.A. Field Endowed Chair of Ophthalmologic Research.[7] He is a member of the American Ophthalmological Society,[8] former president of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society,[3][9] president-elect of the Chicago Medical Society, and former Trustee of the Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).[10][3]

Commercial roles

Dr. Azar is the Chief Executive Officer of Twenty Twenty Therapeutics, a joint venture between Verily Life Sciences and Santen. [1][2]

Azar was a non-executive member of Novartis' Board of Directors from 2012 till 2019.[3][11] He was also a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee and the Research & Development Committee.

Dr. Azar was a senior director of ophthalmological innovation at Verily, where ophthalmological projects include the development of smart contact lenses, including lenses designed to assist those with presbyopia and an intraocular lens.[12][13][14] He was on the board of Verb Surgical Inc.[15] and sits on the board of the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society in the US.[16] He also sits on the board of the Himalayan Cataract Project.

Published books
  • Azar DT, Steinert R., Stark WJ, editors. Excimer Laser Therapy: Phototherapeutic Keratectomy Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins; 1997 ISBN 978-0683303469
  • Azar DT. Refractive Surgery. Stamford, CT: Appleton & Lange-Simon and Schuster; 1997 ISBN 978-0323035996
  • Difficult and Complicated Cases in Refractive Surgery, Jorge L. Alió and Dimitri T. Azar, Springer, 2015 ISBN 978-3642552373
  • Pharmacologic Therapy of Ocular Disease (Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology), Scott M. Whitcup and Dimitri T. Azar, Springer 2017 ISBN 978-3319582887
  • Albert DM, Jakobiec FA; (Azar DT, and Gragoudas ES associate editors to FAJ).  Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology Second Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders; 1999. ISBN 978-0721675008
  • Jakobiec FA, Azar DT, editors. Pediatric Ophthalmology; International Ophthalmology Clinics; Winter 1992.  ISBN 978-0316456524
  • Azar DT, editor.  (Stark WJ, Azar NF, Pineda R, Yoo SH, associate editors).  Intraocular Lenses in Cataract and Refractive Surgery.  Philadelphia PA; Saunders; May 2001. ISBN 9780721686998
  • Melki SA, Azar DT, editors.  101 Pearls in Refractive, Cataract, and Corneal Surgery.  Thorofare, NJ: Slack; June 2001. ISBN 978-1-55642-684-1
  • Azar DT, Koch DD, editors.  LASIK: Fundamentals, Surgical Techniques, and Complications.  New York, NY: Marcel Dekker; November 2002.  ISBN 978-0824745776
  • Tsubota K, Boxer-Wachler B, Azar DT, Koch DD, editors.  Hyperopia and Presbyopia.  New York, NY: Marcel Dekker; 2003.  ISBN 978-0824741075
  • Foster CS, Azar DT, Dohlman CH, editors.  Smolin and Thoft’s The Cornea: Scientific Foundations and Clinical Practice, 4th Edition. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005.  ISBN 978-0781742061
  • Azar DT, Camellin M, Yee R, editors.  LASEK, PRK, and Excimer Laser Stromal Surface Ablation.  New York, NY: Marcel Dekker; 2005.  ISBN 978-0824754341
  • Melki SA, Azar DT, editors.  101 Pearls in Refractive, Cataract, and Corneal Surgery, 2nd Edition. Thorofare, NJ: Slack; 2006. ISBN 978-1556426841
  • Azar DT, editor. (Gatinel D, Hoang-Xuan T, associate editors).  Refractive Surgery, 2nd Edition.  St. Louis, MO: Elsevier-Mosby, 2007. ISBN 978-0323035996
  • Albert DM, Miller JW, editors, Azar DT, Blodi BA, associate editors.  Albert and Jakobiec’s Principles and Practice in Ophthalmology, 3rd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, 2008. ISBN 978-1437721119
  • Alio JL, Azar DT editors. Management of Complications in Refractive Surgery. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2008. ISBN 978-3540375838
  • Azar DT, editor; BCSC 3. Clinical Optics, American Academy of Ophthalmology. San Francisco, CA; 2012. ISBN 978-1615255573
  • Alio JL, Azar DT, Abbouda A, Asward E, editors. Difficult and Complicated Cases in Refractive Surgery. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2015 ISBN 978-3642552373
  • Azar DT, Rosen E. Yanoff and Duke’s Cataract and Refractive Surgery e-book e-book searchable. ISBN 978-0323374941
  • Whitcup S, Azar DT, editors. Pharmacologic Therapy of Ocular Disease. Springer Heidelberg, 2017 ISBN 978-3-319-58290-0
  • Alio JL, Azar DT editors. Management of Complications in Refractive Surgery. Second Edition. Springer-verlap Berlin Heidelberg, 2018 ISBN 978-3-319-60561-6
  • Azar DT, editor.  Refractive Surgery, 3rd Edition.  St. Louis, MO: Elsevier-Mosby, 2019. ISBN 978-0323547697
  • Azar DT, Alio JL, Hallak J, Cortina SM, editors. Surgical management of Astigmatism, Jaypee Publishing, 2020 ISBN 978-9389188851

Awards and recognition

Azar's awards include being regularly named as one of The Best Doctors in America and recognized in Castle Connolly's Regional Top Doctors in America.[3] He has also received the 2009 Lans Distinguished Award from the International Society of Refractive Surgery, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Scholar Award.[3][17]

Other notable awards
Other notable awards and honors are as follows:
Year Award Awarded By
1991 Teacher of the Year Award Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
1993 Teacher of the Year Award The Wilmer Institute, Johns Hopkins University
1996 Resident Teaching Recognition Award The Wilmer Institute Johns Hopkins University
1994-1996 Top Doctor Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore, MD
1996 Voted among Top 10 U.S. Refractive Surgeons Ophthalmology Times
1998 American Academy of Ophthalmology Honor Award American Academy of Ophthalmology
1999, 2001 Top Doctor, Ophthalmology/ Refractive Surgery Boston Magazine (Castle Connolly regional database)
2003 Top Doctor, Ophthalmology Boston Magazine (Castle Connolly regional database)
2004 Senior Achievement Award American Academy of Ophthalmology
2005 Top 50 Opinion Leaders Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today
2005 Top 10 Ophthalmologists in Greater Boston area Boston Herald Supplement
2007 Alcon Research Institute Award Alcon Research Institute
2005-2010 Best Doctor in America® www.bestdoctors.com
2006-2016 America’s Top Doctor Castle Connolly national database
2008-2010 Top Doctor, Ophthalmology Chicago Magazine (Castle Connolly)
2008 Maurice F. Rabb, MD/Jose F. Pulido, MD Medical Student Award University of Illinois at Chicago
2009 Lans Distinguished Award International Society of Refractive Surgery, American Academy of Ophthalmology
2009 University Scholar Award University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
2010 Silver Fellow, Outstanding service to the eye and vision community Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
2011 Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society University of Chicago Booth School of Business
2012 Distinguished Professor, College of Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
2013 Jose Barraquer Award International Society of Refractive Surgery, American Academy of Ophthalmology
2014 Gold Fellow, Outstanding service to the eye and vision community Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
2015 Life Achievement Award American Academy of Ophthalmology
2016 Ramon Castroviejo Award Cornea Society
2016 John McLean Medal Weill Cornell Medical College
2016 Distinguished Service Award Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
2016 Castroviejo Award-recognition of exceptional contributions in support of the Society’s mission AAO American Academy of Ophthalmology
2018 Distinguished Research Achievement Awardee 2018 HMS Department of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion
2019 SAFIR Lecturer, “Intelligence artificielle en ophthalmology.” SFO, May 11, 2019
2019 Honorary Degree, Doctors. of Humane Letters University of Balamand. June 22, 2019.
2019 Guest of Honor New England Ophthalmological Society, September 6, 2019

References
  1. Yoshikawa, Akiko. "Corporate Communications Group" (PDF). Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  2. "Santen and Verily Establish Joint Venture to Develop and Commercialize Unique Ophthalmic Devices" (PDF). February 4, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  3. "Dimitri Azar - Profile". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-03. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  4. "Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (4/6/2018)". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 2018-04-01. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  5. Azar, Dimitri T.; Koch, Douglas (2002-11-26). LASIK (Laser in Situ Keratomileusis): Fundamentals, Surgical Techniques, and Complications. CRC Press. pp. xi. ISBN 9780824745776.
  6. "Drs. Nathalie & Dimitri Azar: THE INFIRMARY'S DYNAMIC DUO" (PDF). Contact: news from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Fall 2001. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  7. "Cornea Specialist Named Dean of UIC College of Medicine". www.newswise.com. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  8. "MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS; One Hundred and Forty-Second Annual Meeting" (PDF). Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society. 2006. p. 11. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  9. Paul, Richard. "Past-Presidents". www.chicagoeyenet.org. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  10. "Executive Committee — Chicago Medical Society". www.cmsdocs.org. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  11. AG, Novartis International (2019-01-30). "Novartis AGM Notes". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  12. Spitzer, Julie. "Google's 6 most recent hospital hires". www.beckershospitalreview.com. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  13. "Geisinger CEO Feinberg packs for Google months after shrugging off Amazon". Healthcare Dive. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  14. "Smart Lens Program - Verily Life Sciences". verily.com. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  15. "Arvo 2018 Moderator index" (PDF). Arvo.org. 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  16. "Board of Directors". Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  17. "UI Board of Trustees approves appointment of Dimitri Azar, MD, MBA as Dean of the College of Medicine". Chicago Medicine. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
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