Dr. Bradley R. Straatsma, a professor emeritus of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, will receive the Bernardo Streiff Medal at the World Congress of Ophthalmology in Tokyo, Japan, in April of 2014. The Streiff Medal is presented every four years to an ophthalmologist who has contributed the most through history, ethics and education to advance ophthalmology.
The announcement of his selection was made last January at the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis Congress held in Hyperabad, India. It was cosponsored by the International Council of Ophthalmology, the All India Opthalmological Society and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Straatsma attended the University of Michigan and Yale University School of Medicine before completing his residency at the Harkness Institute of Columbia University and fellowships at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the Wilmer Institute of Johns Hopkins University. In 1959, he joined UCLA as the first full-time chief of the division of ophthalmology. In 1961, he worked alongside Jules Stein and others to found the Jules Stein Eye Institute, becoming the first director of the institute. He also held the position of chairman of the department of ophthalmology until stepping down from both positions in 1994. In 2002, Straatsma received a degree in law from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.
