UA Physician Honored by U.S. President

University Communications
Jan. 15, 2013

LASIK eye surgery inventor Dr. Gholam A. Peyman, a UA College of Medicine – Phoenix faculty member, has been honored by U.S. President Barack Obama as one of the nation's leading inventors.

Peyman, also a UA professor of optical sciences and engineering, is among the recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest medal to be granted in the U.S. for exemplary and eminent achievement in advancing technology.

Along with the National Medal of Science honors – for which 12 recipients were also named – the award is among the highest honors the U.S. grants to scientists, engineers and inventors.

“I am proud to honor these inspiring American innovators,” President Obama said in a statement. “They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this Nation great – and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment.”

Peyman and other medal recipients will be honored during a ceremoney to be held at the White House.

An ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon, Peyman has more than 135 patents. His most widely-known invention is LASIK eye surgery, a vision correction procedure designed to allow people to see clearly without glasses.

Read the full article, "UA College of Medicine – Phoenix Physician among those Honored by President," at the UA College of Medicine site.

Contacts: Al Bravo, associate professor of public affairs at the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix, at 602-827-2022 or bravoal@email.arizona.edu; Becky Fried communications analyst for The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, at 202-456-6045, 202-503-7122 or rfried@ostp.eop.gov.

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