Marvin Leo Kwitko, FACS, FICS,

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...

KStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

(March 3, 1931 – August 20, 2002) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

who pioneered in

cataract surgery Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens of the eye (also called "crystalline lens") that has developed an opacification, which is referred to as a cataract, and its replacement with an intraocu ...

and

laser eye surgery Eye surgery, also known as ophthalmic or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa, by an ophthalmologist or sometimes, an optometrist. Eye surgery is synonymous with ophthalmology. The eye is a very fragile organ, and requ ...

."Canadian recalls bringing cataract surgery home", ''Medical Post'', October 7, 1997, by Marvin Ross He is one of Canada’s most distinguished ophthalmologic writers and surgeons. Kwitko was the first doctor in Canada to insert

intraocular lens Intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens implanted in the eye as part of a treatment for cataracts or myopia. If the natural lens is left in the eye, the IOL is known as phakic, otherwise it is a pseudophakic, or false lens. Such a lens is typically i ...

implants during

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...

surgery (1967) and the first doctor in Canada to perform radial keratotomy surgery (1979). He was associate professor of ophthalmology at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Montreal as well as Chief of Ophthalmology at St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal. In 2002 he was made a knight, when The Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, on the recommendation of the Grand Prior, appointed him to the Most Venerable

Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

of Jerusalem. Kwitko also served on the Advisory Committee on the Eximer Laser for Health and Welfare Canada. Most notable, he was the founder and 20 year president of the Canadian Implant Society. Kwitko was born to Louis Kwitko and Rose Gomberg in

New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He had two sisters, Phyllis Kantor and Sandra Mula. A few years after his birth, the family moved to

Brantford, Ontario Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

. Kwitko went to Brantford Collegiate High School. After graduating, Kwitko attended the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

and received a B.A in English (1955), M.D. (1956) and his master's degree in

Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

(1958). While in university, he was an active member of the

Western Mustang Band The Western Mustang Band (WMB) is the marching band for the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. The band performs at every home football game for the Western Mustangs at TD Stadium in the fall term as well as other athletic ...

and served as the

bandmaster A bandmaster is the leader and conductor of a band, usually a concert band, military band, brass band or a marching band. British Armed Forces In the British Army, bandmasters of the Royal Corps of Army Music now hold the rank of staff s ...

in 1954 and 1955."Lots of People are Found Playing in Mustang Band", ''Western Gazette,'' October 29, 1954, 8. He was a resident and Fellow in ophthalmology at the Washington D.C. Hospital Center. In 2002 Kwitko died in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, Canada. He was survived by his wife Alicja Zakrzewski, four children, and four grandchildren.

Books

Kwitko was author of six books, including ''Glaucoma in Infants and Children''; ''Pseudophakia: Current Trends and Concepts''; ''Surgery of the Infant Eye''; ''Geriatric Ophthalmology''; ''Eyes'' and ''The History of Modern Cataract Surgery''. His textbook ''Pseudophakia: Current Trends and Concepts''; published in 1980, was one of the first formal textbooks on the technology of intraocular lens implantation in the cataract patient.

Other

He was Senior Lecturer at the

American Academy of Ophthalmology The American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) is a professional medical association of ophthalmologists. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its membership of 32,000 medical doctors includes more than 90 percent of practicing ...

, Secretary for the International College of Surgeons, President of the International Council on cataract and refractive surgery, served on the board of 10 ophthalmologic journals, Board of Directors of the National Association for Visually Handicapped and Past president of the Montreal Chapter of Canadian Associates of

Ben Gurion University Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

of the Negev. As Executive Secretary of the International Society of Geographic Ophthalmology, Kwitko organized scientific meetings in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, Cadiz,

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. In 1975 he helped co found the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He is the recipient of the University of Western Ontario Honor Award (1956), the Senior Honor Award of the

(1989), La Medaille d’Honneur, L’Association Francaise des Implants Intraculaires (1976), the Prof. Ignacio Barraguer Award (Spain 1970), the P. Siva Reddy Medal (India 1980) and the Agora trophy from Les Club des Ambassadeurs. Kwitko developed the "Rose and Louis Kwitko" Scholarship at Brantford Collegiate High School, the Dr. Marvin L. Kwitko Scholarship in Anatomy at the University of Western Ontario, and the "Dr. Marvin L. Kwitko" Scholarship at the University of Toronto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwitko, Marvin 1931 births 2002 deaths Canadian ophthalmologists Canadian humanitarians Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons