Latest News ASCRS Announces 2017 Ophthalmology Hall of Fame Inductees By Staff Friday, February 24, 2017 12:27 AM Dr. Rao (l) and Dr. Koller. FAIRFAX, Va.—The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) announced that it will induct Gullapalli N. Rao, MD, and the late Karl Koller, MD, into the ASCRS Ophthalmology Hall of Fame. The ASCRS Ophthalmology Hall of Fame was created in 1999 to honor pioneers in the field who have laid the foundation for the modern practice of ophthalmology—and to celebrate their contributions and distinguished careers, the organization stated.Dr. Rao—who specializes in cornea, eye banking and corneal transplantation—founded the LV Prasad Eye Institute in 1986 and serves as its chairman and director. The Institute is considered to be among the top eye institutes in the world and is renowned for its innovative models of eyecare delivery, ASCRS stated. The not-for-profit hospital treats patients regardless of their ability to pay and has served as a new model for health care.Dr. Koller (1857-1944) was an Austrian ophthalmologist whose name appears in histories of surgery and anesthesiology. His greatest accomplishment was bringing cocaine and local anesthesia into the collection of resources of the eye surgeon, an innovation that was adopted by all other surgical specialties. Dr. Koller began his medical career as a colleague of Freud’s at the Vienna General Hospital. He introduced cocaine as a local anesthetic for eye surgery. Freud was aware of the pain-killing properties of cocaine, but Koller recognized its tissue numbing capabilities and in 1884, demonstrated its potential as a local anesthetic to the medical community. Cocaine was later used as a local anesthetic in other medical fields such as dentistry. The induction ceremony will be held on May 6 at 10:30 a.m. in West Hall A of the Los Angeles Convention Center during the Opening General Session of the ASCRS/ASOA Annual Symposium & Congress taking place May 5 to 9. Registration for the symposium is now open.