The Packo Service Award
The American Society of Retina Specialists established the Packo Service Award in 2019 to recognize a member for exceptional service to the Society.
The award is named for its first recipient, Kirk H. Packo, MD, FACS, FASRS, professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Retina Section at Rush University Medical Center.
Dr. Packo’s dynamic leadership and strategic innovations over 30 years helped shape the ASRS into an internationally recognized medical organization that encompasses all things retina.
Dr. Packo, who served as president of the Society from 2001-2002, served as a driving force behind many of the Society’s cornerstone initiatives, including the Preferences and Trends Survey and Film Festival.
2021 Packo Service Award Recipient
The ASRS has chosen Reginald J. Sanders, MD, FASRS, partner at the Retina Group of Washington (RGW) in Chevy Chase, Maryland, as the winner of the 2021 Packo Award, in recognition of his exceptional service to the Society.
Dr. Sanders is a clinical professor at both Georgetown University School of Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine. He has served as chief of the retina service at MedStar Georgetown University/MedStar Washington Hospital Center since 2001. His lengthy career at RGW has focused on education and research.
Dr. Sanders has more than 50 papers, articles, and presentations to his credit, and has lectured throughout the United States and internationally. He has served as an investigator or sub-investigator in numerous studies of new retinal treatments, including being a principal investigator for the landmark Lucentis treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration.
Dr. Sanders has long been involved in the Society’s leadership, having served on the ASRS Board for over 15 years. He has distinguished himself in practice management policy, particularly the annual Business of Retina Meeting. Under Dr. Sanders’ stewardship, this meeting has grown in content and size to become a mainstay of the ASRS's educational offerings.
Dr. Sanders has also served in leadership roles for—and is still active in—many local and national professional societies and organizations. In 2017, he was chosen as a charter inductee to the Retina Hall of Fame.
He has been recognized consistently for his clinical skills, being chosen multiple times for top-doctor lists:
• Washingtonian Top Doctor
• Castle Connolly’s Best Doctors in America
• Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Ophthalmologists
Dr. Sanders joined RGW after completing his fellowship in vitreoretinal diseases and surgery at the Retina Associates/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School in Boston. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was named co-chief resident. Dr. Sanders completed his internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he also received his medical degree.
Past Recipients
2020 ASRS Founders, Jerald Bovino, MD, FASRS, Roy Levit, MD, FASRS, and Allen Verne, MD, FASRS
2019 Kirk H. Packo, MD, FACS, FASRS