Dean McGee Eye Institute President/CEO Dr. Gregory Skuta Named President-Elect of American Academy of Ophthalmology

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Gregory L. Skuta, President and Chief Executive Officer of the nationally recognized Dean McGee Eye Institute (DMEI) in Oklahoma City, has been elected as President-Elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). The AAO is the world’s largest association of ophthalmologists - medical doctors specializing in comprehensive medical and surgical eye care. Dr. Skuta will serve as President-Elect in 2013 and as President in 2014.

A respected ophthalmologist, clinical researcher, educator and administrator, Dr. Skuta has led the DMEI as President and CEO since 2009. Also the Edward L. Gaylord Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Dr. Skuta presided over the completion of the recent 78,000-square-foot $46 million expansion of the DMEI. The DMEI has more than 300 faculty and staff and consistently ranks among the top eye institutes in the nation for funding from the National Institutes of Health and Research to Prevent Blindness.

For the past six years, Dr. Skuta has served the AAO as Senior Secretary for Clinical Education and as a member of its Board of Trustees, Executive Committee and Committee of Secretaries. He also has served on the Nominating Committee and Awards Committee. Dr. Skuta is a past President of the American Glaucoma Society and a past Director and Senior Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. In addition, he is a past member of the Board of Governors of the World Glaucoma Association and past chair of the American Glaucoma Society’s Program Committee.

With research expertise in wound healing after glaucoma filtering surgery and glaucoma clinical trials, Dr. Skuta served as a principal investigator for such high-profile studies as the National Eye Institute-sponsored Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study and Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study and on the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study. He has contributed to more than 100 publications, book chapters and educational products and has delivered more than 200 lectures and presentations both nationally and internationally. Dr. Skuta also serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Glaucoma and appears in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World and among The Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Ophthalmologists, and Oklahoma Super Doctors.