Dr. Rand Spencer, Past-President of the Retina Foundation Board of Directors, Receives Visionary Award

Dallas, Texas – (December 2009) – Dr. Rand Spencer received the 2009 Visionary Award at our Annual Dinner held Tuesday, November 17 at the Cooper Aerobics Center. The Retina Foundation of the Southwest (RFSW) presented Dr. Spencer with the honor for his 18 years of service as Chairman of the RFSW Board of Directors. Dr. Spencer is one of three individuals in the 34-year history of the Retina Foundation to receive this most esteemed honor.

In addition to the award presentation, the Foundation paid tribute to Dr. Spencer by way of a video production that included friends and family sharing memories and expressing their appreciation for Spencer’s longtime commitment to the Retina Foundation of the Southwest.

“They say that your heart is where you put your time, and I am very proud of Rand.  I feel that he has genuinely given time, heart and intellect to the Retina Foundation,” said Sherry Spencer.

Although Dr. Spencer is resigning from his role as Chairman, he will continue serving the Retina Foundation as a Board member. Dr. Spencer is followed by Dr. Bill Snyder, who assumed the Chairman position in November 2009. Dr. Snyder is one of the Founders of the Retina Foundation and hopes to take on the role of Chairman with the same sensibility and spirit as his predecessor.

Dr. Spencer has a number of other roles in the Dallas community. He is a retinal surgeon at Texas Retina Associates.

“Rand is incredibly loved by his patients,” said Dr. David Birch, Chief Scientific & Executive Officer of the Retina Foundation.  “I’ve seen it over and over again. His devotion and commitment to the patient is paramount…a tremendous amount of our growth has been due to the efforts of Rand.”

“What amazes me is how he finds the time to do all that he does,” said Dr. Al Vaiser, a Founder of the Retina Foundation. “He has a busy clinical practice. He runs the fellowship program at Texas Retina. He goes to all of the premature nurseries in North Texas, and on top of that he has to take care of the Foundation.  It must be a labor of love.” 

Dr. Spencer is notable for the countless retinal surgical implants he has performed that are used to directly deliver drug therapies to the eye for patients with retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. Dr. Spencer’s eye surgeries are critical for RFSW researchers to discover whether or not the new treatments provide any visual benefit for individuals with these very debilitating retinal diseases.

“He’s always an enthusiastic collaborator and has lots of great ideas that he brings to the table,” said Dr. Eileen Birch, Senior Scientist and Director of the Pediatric Lab at the Retina Foundation.

Click here to read more about Dr. Spencer’s many roles and accomplishments.