The American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) announced the appointment of directors Bhavna P. Sheth, MD, MBA, as chair, and Lanning B. Kline, MD, as vice chair, beginning January 1, 2019.
Dr. Sheth is a tenured professor of ophthalmology at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), chief of comprehensive ophthalmology at the Eye Institute, and chief of ophthalmology at Zablocki VA Medical Center, all located in Milwaukee. In 2019, she will begin the eighth and final year of her term as an ABO director, becoming the third woman in the organization’s 103-year history to lead the board of directors. Dr. Sheth was vice chair of the ABO in 2018.
Dr. Sheth enjoys a long history at MCW. After earning her medical degree there, she completed an internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Milwaukee before returning to MCW for residency training in ophthalmology, where she was named chief resident. Dr. Sheth went on to become an assistant professor in the department of ophthalmology and has held progressively responsible positions at MCW since that time, including the director of medical student education and residency program director.
She is currently a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Milwaukee Ophthalmological Society and sits on the ACGME’s Residency Review Committee and Ophthalmology Milestones Working Group. In the past, she has served on the AUPO Program Directors Council, the editorial board of EyeNet, and the Educational Resources Advisory Committee of the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. Later in her career, Dr. Sheth earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, IL.
Dr. Sheth is certified by the ABO and will begin her third cycle of the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program next year.
Dr. Kline, professor of ophthalmology (and former department chair) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will begin the seventh year of his eight-year term on the ABO as the organization’s vice chair. He currently leads the ABO’s committee on initial certification.
The author of Neuro-Ophthalmology Review Manual, Dr. Kline served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology from 2010-2018. He is a member of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Kline is also a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, which recently presented him with the association’s Life Achievement Honor Award.
He graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine, where he also did his internship. Dr. Kline’s residency training in ophthalmology was at McGill University in Montreal. He completed fellowships in neuro-ophthalmology at the Montreal Neurological Institute and at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami.
Dr. Kline is certified by the ABO and is completing his second cycle of the MOC program.