"Robert Machemer became involved in the most vexing problems that confronted retinal surgeons. The work that he did has earned the gratitude of thousands of people throughout the world, not only patients, but the physicians who followed him who now take care of these patients."  -Glenn Jaffe

Youth, Training and Career

Dr. Robert Machemer, (1933-2009) was born in Muenster, Germany. He attended medical school in Freiburg and trained in Ophthalmology at the University of Goettingen.  In 1966 he received a 2-year NATO fellowship, to pursue research training and worked at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as a Research Fellow under the leadership of Dr. Ed Norton. Dr. Machemer's first faculty position was at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. He accepted the Chairmanship of the Department of Ophthalmology at Duke University in 1978 and as Chairman, he advanced the department from a clinical center into a first-class clinical and research department. He made new discoveries that changed the world of retinal surgery, especially with his introduction the new surgical technique, pars plana vitrectomy.