John Keltner, MD - 2011 Distinguished Service Award Recipient

Shown here with Alfredo Sadun, MD, PhD

The NANOS Distinguished Service Award for 2011 was presented to John Keltner, MD at the NANOS annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The award is chosen by the NANOS Executive Board. Alfredo Sadun, MD, PhD made the presentation at the annual banquet on February 9, 2011.

Dr. Keltner’s contributions to NANOS, to neuro-ophthalmology and to ophthalmology in general are legion. He began his training in neurology and then did fellowships in neuro-ophthalmology and pediatric ophthalmology before and after his residency training in ophthalmology at Washington University in St. Louis. After a short stint at Yale, Dr. Keltner arrived at University of California at Davis and, within two years, became the chairman of the department. There he remained as chair for 26 years, outliving 5 deans and many changes in our field.

Dr. Keltner has made many fundamental contributions to neuro-ophthalmology in general and NANOS in particular. He has been a member of the NANOS Board of Directors, Certification and Accreditation Committee and Research at ARVO. He helped establish our Professional Standards, Practice Management and Finance and Audit committees. More recently, he created the AUPO Fellowship Compliance Committee (FCC) and it’s neuro-ophthalmology representation through NANOS. This will ensure that future neuro-ophthalmologists will receive standardized training from the best fellowship programs. Dr. Keltner was the inventor, founder and life force of this system for measuring and following fellowship training.

Dr. Keltner appreciated the fundamental dictum that science is measurement, and he brought this perspective to neuro-ophthalmology. Hence, he established the Visual Field Reading Center which has been the mainstay for the clinical trials in our field. More recently, he has done the same thing with an OCT Reading Center. Dr. Keltner also made the seminal studies in cancer associated retinopathy and gave us a better understanding of the immunological consequences to the eye that may be caused by remote cancers. Dr. Keltner’s nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters and numerous talks remind us that he is a tireless teacher and consummate academic.

Dr. Keltner has been a charter member of our society. His usual seat is front and center. He frequently comments on the just-delivered talk with grace, enthusiasm and encouragement. Dr. Keltner’s remarks always makes the speaker feel appreciated and further inspired to press on with the work energetically.