Gerd U. Auffarth
Introduction
Prof. Dr. med. Gerd U. Auffarth (MD, FEBO) (born 28 July 1964) is a German eye surgeon and is Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Heidelberg and Head of the David J. Apple Center for Vision Research which includes the David J. Apple International Laboratory for Ocular Pathology.
Career
Auffarth graduated from Medical School Aachen, RWTA University, Aachen, Germany in 1990.
Prior to pursuing a research and training in ophthalmology, he was a general surgeon at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. In 1992, he was recipient of a Max Cade postdoctoral research grant and became a research fellow of Prof. David J Apple at his Center for Intraocular Lens Research, Storm Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA. Auffarth worked with Prof. Apple between August 1992 and September 1994 in the laboratory that Apple later renamed as David J. Apple International Laboratory for Ocular Pathology.
Returning to Germany, Auffarth continued his research with a study in “Genetic degenerative retinal diseases“ at the German Research Foundation (DFG) which was then located in the Heidelberg Department of Ophthalmology; he completed his Residency and board certification in Ophthalmology in Heidelberg in December 1996; and wrote his PhD/Venia Legendi in Ocular Pathology in 1999.
In 2004 he was appointed vice chairman and deputy director of the Heidelberg Department of Ophthalmology; he was awarded Extraordinary professorship in the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg in May 2005; and appointed as Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology in April 2011 (having been acting chairman since March 2009).
North Korea
Prof. Auffarth performed cataract surgery in North Korea in 2011 and reported on his visit in a video entitled, Ophthalmology Behind the Iron Curtain: Cataract Surgery in North Korea. He is one of the few Western surgeons permitted to visit the country and perform surgery. Of his experiences, he reported on how the economic conditions have led to improvisations in the nation's healthcare but that once a visiting surgeon adapts to these unique surroundings, one found that teaching and clinical work could be very effective and satisfying for both surgeon and patient.
The DGII Society
Prof. Auffarth became Secretary of the Deutschsprachige Gesellschaft für Intraokularlinsen-Implantation, interventionelle und refraktive Chirurgie (DGII) (the German-speaking Society of Intraocular Lens Implantation, Interventional and Refractive Surgery) from 2002 to 2010; and the society's President from March 2012 to February 2016.