James Aquavella, MD, a pioneering ophthalmic surgeon and longtime faculty member at University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medicine, died May 14 at age 94.
Dr. Aquavella retired in 2024 after a nearly 70-year career in ophthalmology, according to a University of Rochester Medicine news release. He was the first fellowship-trained corneal surgeon in the U.S. and among the first nationwide to offer ambulatory surgeries. He also was the first in New York to offer ambulatory surgeries and the first in the U.S. to perform artificial cornea transplants for infants.
Dr. Aquavella joined the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1977 as a clinical associate professor of Ophthalmology after practicing at several Rochester-area hospitals. He served as director of SMD’s Corneal Research Laboratory from 1982 to 1999 and became a professor of ophthalmology in 2003.
Since 2015, he had held the Catherine E. Aquavella Distinguished Professorship in Ophthalmology at University of Rochester Medicine, a professorship he endowed in honor of his late wife.
Dr. Aquavella was a founder and past president of the Cornea Society and published more than 350 research papers during his career.
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