viewpoint
Unforgettable

Ophthalmology's genius inventor, Charles Kelman, passed away recently after years of battling cancer. Always the optimist, right up until the end he evaluated new and innovative treatments for his disease. I am sure he was hoping to invent a cure for cancer, and I am confident that he would have, had he not run out of time.

Dr. Kelman was more than inventor/surgeon/musician/husband/father/ friend. To me and countless others, he was the man who taught us how to develop the skills to take on all these roles, always with a smile, a joke, and unlimited good nature and energy.

The first time I heard him speak, more than 25 years ago, his lecture was called "How Charlie Kelman became Charlie Kelman." In that lecture, he detailed failure after failure. Blunders and wrong turns followed dead ends and confusion, until a coincidence in the dentist's office made the light bulb go off, and the world was changed.

My favorite Kelman meeting was the ASCRS in Philadelphia three years ago. He taught a course on the subject of inventing things. He brought in several of the most important ophthalmologist inventors of our generation to share their stories about inspiration, their many failures, and finally their discoveries. They also told how they financed their research, submitted for patents, and found a way to commercialize.

Unfortunately, the course was held in a room far away from the main meeting and was scheduled for early afternoon right after a major symposium that was running late, so only a few dozen showed up to attend in a room that held a thousand. Afterwards, I urged him to give that same course again so that others could learn, but either he chose not to or else he ran out of time.

Phaco is Only Part of the Story

This May he was inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame, one of about a dozen in this year's selection, which included such luminaries as Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine. The introductory program listed Charlie as the inventor of cataract surgery, but that doesn't begin to tell his story. More than any physician in recent history, Charlie taught us how to dream. His influence on biomedical engineering, inspiring revolutions such as laparoscopy, made him the father of 20th century surgery and changed the world forever.

Rest in peace, teacher and friend.