The Packo Award-Dr. Kirk Packo
The American Society of Retina Specialists presented Kirk H. Packo, MD with its inaugural service award, named in his honor. The Packo Award, which recognizes exceptional service to the Society, was presented during the 37th Annual Scientific Meeting, July 26-30 in Chicago.
“Kirk Packo’s dynamic leadership and strategic innovations over the past 30 years have been instrumental in shaping the ASRS into an internationally recognized medical organization that encompasses all things retina,” said ASRS President John S. Pollack, MD.
He served as president of the Society from 2001-2002, has made numerous transformational contributions and has been a driving force behind many of the Society’s cornerstone initiatives, including the Preferences and Trends Survey and Film Festival.
He has received awards, not only for his visionary work as a clinician and surgeon, but also as an educator.
In 2009, he became one of only a few American surgeons to receive the Relja Živojnovic Award by the European Vitreoretinal Society for lifetime contributions to European retinal surgery. Dr. Packo received a Lifetime Achievement in Retina Award from the Mediterranean Retina Society in 2010.
In recognition of his work as an educator and mentor, he has also received the ASRS Early Career Section’s Crystal Apple Award, a Senior Honor Awards from ASRS and the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Chicago Ophthalmology Curriculum Series Teacher of the Year Award, and Gold Apple Awards from Rush University and the University of Illinois. In 2000 he was elected to Rush University’s Mark Leeper Society of Teachers.
He has participated in over 500 meetings, spoken in 20 countries and delivered over 20 name lectures, including the Braley Lecture of the University of Iowa, the Pilkerton Lecture of Georgetown University, the McPherson Lecture of the University of Wisconsin, the Smiddy Lecture at Johns Hopkins University, the Leopold Lecture at Wills Eye Institute, and honored alumni presentations at the University of Illinois and St. Louis University.
