Dr. Fletcher Wins Secretariat Award

FORT MYERS, FLA., October 17, 2013
The American Academy of Ophthalmology has presented Dr. Donald C. Fletcher of Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida with one of its highest honors, the Secretariat Award, for volunteer service in helping others learn techniques to live with low vision.

“The Secretariat Award was created to provide a mechanism for Academy Secretaries to be able to recognize colleagues for their special contributions and service to the Academy and to ophthalmology,” said Dr. David W. Parke II, AAO Executive Vice President and CEO, in his letter of commendation.

Dr. Fletcher, who is the Director of the Low Vision Rehabilitation Center at Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida, is one of the world’s leading authorities on Low Vision Rehabilitation. The AAO honored Dr. Fletcher for his volunteer work helping individuals with severe vision loss in Manila, Philippines, and for organizing low vision programs in China, Brazil and Zimbabwe.

Dr. Fletcher routinely sees patients who have given up on life. Yet, after a few months of rehabilitation, they are doing things they had thought were impossible. For example, a woman who had stopped cooking prepared Thanksgiving dinner for 25 family members. Some patients also are able to move out of nursing homes.

“Most doctors are motivated to see positive results in people’s lives. Low vision rehabilitation gives you so many positive strokes,” he said.

Dr. Fletcher launched the Low Vision Rehabilitation Center at Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida in 1994 and is an Adjunct Associate Clinical Scientist at The Schepens Eye Research Institute│Massachusetts Eye and Ear, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, a Senior Clinical Research Scientist at the National Ophthalmic Research Institute (NORI), the Director of the Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation at the California Pacific Medical Center, and is the past Helen Keller Research Chair at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Dr. Fletcher also is the past chairman of the AAO’s Low Vision Committee and recipient of its 1995 Honor Award for outstanding contributions to ophthalmology.

Dr. Fletcher received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Alberta (Canada) and completed a residency in ophthalmology at the University Hospital in Saskatchewan, Canada. After residency, he completed fellowships at Presbyterian Medical Center in Denver, Colo., and Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Calif.

Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida is the most experienced team of retina specialists in Southwest Florida with combined experience of more than 100 years. Offices are conveniently located in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Naples and Port Charlotte.

Doctors with Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida are Fellows of the American College of Surgeons, members of the American Society of Retina Specialists, American Academy of Ophthalmology, The Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and the American Medical Association.

Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida offers all FDA-approved therapies for retina eye disease and is a leader in clinical research through the National Ophthalmic Research Institute (NORI), including clinical trials funded by the National Eye Institute, The Schepens Eye Research Institute│Massachusetts Eye and Ear, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and other public and private medical research foundations.