Executive Council
Executive Council
Prof. Akira Murakami MD, PhD
President
Present Status: Professor (Specially Appointed Professor, Professor Emeritus) Department of Ophthalmology
1981 – MD. Juntendo University School of Medicine, Resident, Department of Ophthalmology, Juntendo University Hospital
1982 – Assistant, Department of Ophthalmology, Juntendo University School of Medicine
1986 – Research fellow, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, National Institute of Neuroscience, Tokyo, Japan
1988 – Research fellow, National Eye Institute, USA. Ph.D. Juntendo University, Graduate School of Medicine
1989 – Research fellow, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Miami, Florida, USA
1992 – Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan
2000 – Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, School of Medicine
2003-2022 – Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
2022 – Specially Appointed Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Department of Digital Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine
Akira Murakami is a professor at Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine. He completed training of ophthalmology at Juntendo University Hospital and began research in molecular genetics at the National Institute of Neuroscience Japan.
He conducted research on inherited retinal degenerative diseases at National Eye Institute of the United States and Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.
He served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine from 2003 to 2022.
He is also active in ophthalmic public health research and has participated in research studies on contact lens-related eye disorders. He is currently the president of the Japan National Society for Prevention of Blindness.
He is currently the President of the International Medical Contact Lens Council (IMCLC).
Bruce Koffler, MD
Treasurer
Dr. Koffler grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Brooklyn College. He attended Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his Internship, Residency, as well as his Fellowship in Corneal Transplants and Infectious Eye Disease at the Georgetown Center for Sight. He began his academic career in 1979 as an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky where he taught for four years. During that time he established the University of Kentucky Lions Eye Bank.
In 1983, Dr. Koffler opened his private practice, the Koffler Vision Group. He continues to specialize in corneal diseases, corneal transplants, cataract surgery, LASIK, eye lesions, glaucoma, infectious diseases of the eye and numerous other problems. Koffler Vision Group also operates a Dry Eye Center and Clinical Research Institute.
Dr. Koffler serves as a Chair for IMCLC International Affairs. He also serves at the International Director for the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmology (ECLA & CLAO), and he is a board member for the American Association of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control. He travels nationally and internationally for various speaking engagements.
His hope for the future is to do charitable work nationally, internationally and in Third World countries. In his free time he enjoys playing golf and traveling with his wife, being with his four grandchildren, fishing with his son and two son-in-laws for trout out West and playing racket sports.
Prof. Penny Asbell, MD
Scientific Chair
Gudrun Bischoff, MD
Executive Secretary General
Dr. Gudrun Bischoff was born and schooled in Hamburg. After graduating from Sophie-Barat school, she went on to study medicine and received her diploma after passing the State exams in 1971 with flying colours. She then began specialized training at Saint Georg Hospital. In 1978, she set up a private practice as an ophthalmologist before creating the Medical Eye-Care Praxen & Klinik one year later with two associates. This practice now accounts for five production centers as well as a surgical clinic in northwest Hamburg. Acting chairperson for the German Contact Lens Society (Deutschen Augenärztlichen Kontaktlinsengesellschaft – DAKG), Dr. Bischoff has long been involved in the specialised and political-professional aspects of the ophthalmology field. With a mandate from the Professional Ophthalmology Association (Berufsverband der Augenheilkunde – BVA) from 1985 to 2002, Gudrun Bischoff was in charge of the contact lens working group. She forged ahead as a pioneer for ten years in the international ISO standards field. During this same period, she also founded, in partnership with colleagues, the German Contact Lens Society (Deutsche Augenärztliche Kontaktlinsengesellschaft – DAKG) in 1990. Today, she supervises the team working on medical contactology for the Cornea section of the German scientific association of Ophthalmology (Deutsche Opthalmologische Gesellschaft – DOG).
As part of her technical and political-professional activities, Gudrun Bischoff has organised countless conventions and conferences such as the Contact Lens Convention for the German Association of Ophthalmologists (Berufsverbands der Augenärzte BVA), meetings of experts for the DAKG, the Contact Lens morning meetings for the German Ophthalmology Academy (AAD) and the Contact Lens Symposium for the German Ophthalmic Surgeons (DOC).
In addition to speaking at various national and international conventions over the years, Gudrun Bischoff has published articles in both the general and trade press, while participating in numerous professional conferences and radio and television programmes. She is a member of the professional Ophthalmologists Association (BVA), the German scientific ophthalmology association (DOG), the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists (CLAO), the European Contact Lens and Ocular Surface Society (ECLSO) and American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the ARVO, Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology.
She is an active participant in Hamburg`s professional organisation KV as teacher for medical professional graduation, on the Ultrasound Commission for the Association of National Health Service doctors as well as a member and auditor for ophthalmology on the Hamburg Medical Council.
Dr. Gudrun Bischoff was elected to chair the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC), which was held from 5 to 9 February 2016 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Taking over the position from the Brazilian Doctor Paulo Ricardo de Olivera, Gudrun Bischoff will serve a two-year mandate, leading up to the next Word Congress in Barcelona, Spain in June 2018.
Prof. Tania Mara Cunha Schaefer – CRM 5416PR
President Elect
Holder of an M.D. from the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora; Residency in Ophthalmology from Serviço do Professor Paiva Gonçalves, Rio de Janeiro; Fellow in Ophthalmology from the Beneficência Portuguesa do Rio de Janeiro; MBA in Management in Ophthalmology from UNIFESP; and Ph.D. in Medicine from Universidade de São Paulo.
Clinical Director of CLÍNICA SCHAEFER, in Curitiba-PR; Marketing Director of CDOP Hospital; Associate Partner of the CDOP Group.
President of ABRACMO (Brazilian Academy of Myopia Control and Orthokeratology), Term 2022-2025; Member of the Technical Chamber in Ophthalmology at the Federal Council of Medicine, Member of SOBLEC, Brazilian Society of Contact Lens, Cornea and Refractometry.