FSO Honored Members at 2023 Annual Business Meeting
Awardees were recognized for leadership, community service, and innovation in the field of ophthalmology.

­­JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – (June 12, 2023) – On Saturday, June 10, the Florida Society of Ophthalmology (FSO) presented annual society awards to members during its Annual Business Meeting.

Darby D. Miller, MD, MPH Receives John R. Brayton, Jr., MD Leadership Award

At the Florida Society of Ophthalmology Annual Business Meeting on Saturday, June 10, Darby D. Miller, MD, MPH, received the John R. Brayton, Jr., MD Leadership Award, established in honor of John R. Brayton, MD, and recognizes a Florida-based ophthalmologist who exemplifies leadership and dedication to the profession.

Darby D. Miller, MD MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Jacksonville. Dr. Miller earned his medical degree from George Washington University, where he also completed his residency in ophthalmology. He earned his MPH at Harvard University and completed a cornea fellowship at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. Dr. Miller is an FSO Past-President and is actively involved in mentoring young ophthalmologists.

David B. Cano, MD Receives Shaler Richardson, MD, Service to Medicine Award

David B. Cano, MD received the Florida Society of Ophthalmology’s Shaler Richardson, MD, Service to Medicine Award, established in honor of Shaler Richardson, MD, and recognizes an ophthalmologist who has made the greatest personal contribution to quality patient care by coordinating, participating, collaborating, and integrating ophthalmology into the great body of the medical profession on a local, state, or national level. Dr. Cano was honored during the FSO Annual Business Meeting on Saturday, June 10.

Dr. Cano is the co-founder of the For Eye Care Foundation (FECF), which is the charitable arm of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology, an organization of ophthalmologists devoted to delivering the highest standard of eye care throughout the state of Florida. The FECF was formed in 2010, and it assists other eye care organizations with community outreach and delivers important public service messages regarding eye care and disease. He is the current Chairman of the FECF and current Vice Chair & Board Member of the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches. He has initiated these organizations to work together to provide ongoing vision screenings to pre-school children. These successful vision screening events not only helped to identify children at risk, but also to raise awareness of preventable vision loss in children due to amblyopia here in South Florida.

Dr. Cano has been a volunteer for the Caridad Center’s Vision Clinic in Boynton Beach for over 15 years. He continues to provide pro bono pterygium surgery to patients at the Caridad Center, which he helped to initiate over a decade ago with Dr. Louis Feldgoise. Dr. Cano started a cornea clinic and expanded surgeries at Caridad to teach residents from the Larkin Community Hospital Ophthalmology Residency Program in Miami in 2017. This has been a great opportunity for these ophthalmology residents to become involved with ocular surgery early in their training. He has also offered pro bono corneal transplant surgeries to Caridad’s patients over the past five years with help from local ACS’s and eye banks. These services have been a great help to the underserved patients who receive needed eye care through the Caridad Center, the largest free clinic in Florida.

Larkin Residents Receive James W. Clower, Jr., MD, Community Service Award

Residents of the Larkin Ophthalmology Residency Clinic received the James W. Clower, Jr., MD, Community Service Award, established in honor of James W. Clower, Jr., MD, and recognizes those who have made the greatest contribution of time and service to his or her community. The residents were honored during the FSO Annual Business Meeting on Saturday, June 10.

Caridad Center is the largest charity medical center in the state of Florida. Their mission and vision are “to upgrade the health, education, and living standards of underserved children and families; and to eliminate the cycle of poverty for the families we serve in South Florida.” Caridad Center in partnership with Larkin Ophthalmology Residency Clinic aims to fulfill this mission by providing patients with access to cataract surgery. Using funding from the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Operation Sight and the generosity from local private practice ophthalmologists to use their operating rooms, the model can serve as a paradigm for future residency programs to give back to their respective underserved communities.  

Since the implementation of the project in late February 2023, a total of 42 patients and 75 eyes from Caridad Center have received cataract surgery from Larkin Ophthalmology Residents. The initiative has thrived as roughly 2-3 patients per week are now being signed up for surgery. The turn-around process from identifying a patient with visually significant cataracts to surgery is on average 1 week, with no more than 2 weeks of maximum waiting time. The initiative has not only provided much-needed medical care to the Palm Beach County community it has also provided social media attention through private practice engagement by posting the successes of vision restoration for these patients on Facebook and Instagram.  

Robert Applebaum, MD Receives Michael R. Redmond, MD, Outstanding Young Ophthalmologist Award

Robert Applebaum, MD received the Michael R. Redmond, MD, Outstanding Young Ophthalmologist Award, established in honor of Michael R. Redmond, MD, and recognizes a Florida-based ophthalmologist younger than 40 years old, who has demonstrated organizational leadership, service, competence, and devotion to the high ethical and professional standards of the FSO. Dr. Applebaum was honored during the FSO Annual Business Meeting on Saturday, June 10.

Dr. Applebaum grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Tampa, FL. He attended high school at Berkeley Preparatory School. He then spent his freshman year at Georgetown University in Washington, DC before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in public policy with a specialization in Health Policy. He completed a combined MD and MBA program at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, graduated in the top 1/3 of his medical school class and received the award for highest business school GPA. After medical school, Dr. Applebaum completed a one-year Transitional internship at the Virginia Tech/Carilion School of Medicine. He spent three years at the University of South Florida, where he completed his Ophthalmology residency (in June 2015). He then completed an additional year of fellowship training in Oculofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the J. Justin Older Eyelid Institute.

As a native Floridian, Dr. Applebaum enjoys year-round golf and tennis, which he plays frequently with his father. During the winter months, he prefers to don his skis and hit the slopes as often as possible (which is never often enough). Dr. Applebaum enjoys collecting and tasting wines from around the world (ask him about his “dissertation email” on Napa Valley). He also enjoys cooking, eating, and listening to live music. He is susceptible to flattery and enjoys being called a renaissance man by both peers and complete strangers.

Dr. Applebaum specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the eyelids and face in both adults and children. These surgeries include upper and lower eyelid blepharoplasty, eyebrow lifts, and repair after skin cancer removal among many others. Dr. Applebaum also specializes in cosmetic injectables, such as Botox, Juvederm, Voluma, Restylane, and Kybella. Dr. Applebaum uses these and other aesthetic techniques to provide comprehensive patient care.

ABOUT THE FLORIDA SOCIETY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY (FSO)
The Florida Society of Ophthalmology (FSO) has a rich history of serving patients since its founding in 1939 as the Florida Society of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. Today, the organization represents more than 500 physician members throughout the state and is focused on advancing patient care and protecting the medical specialty of ophthalmology. For more information, please visit the FSO website at www.mdeye.org.
 

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