George Spaeth, 81, is a Chestnut Hill Resident and World-Reknown Glaucoma Specialist

George Spaeth, 81, has been a beloved Chestnut Hill resident for more than 50 years and is considered one of the world’s greatest ophthalmologists. He still dedicates 70 hours a week to Wills Eye Hospital where his medical accomplishments as well as humanistic values have earned him widespread acclaim.

Early Life and Education

Children’s early life experiences shape how they learn, develop and become successful adults. Additionally, these formative years set the stage for future economic productivity, responsible citizenship and healthy communities.

Early in life, children become dependent upon their parents or primary caregivers for everything from learning how to feed themselves to socializing with peers. These connections shape a child’s self-worth and sense of identity as well as providing them with moral guidance.

While school readiness is typically stressed in kindergarten, early childhood education encompasses a range of activities designed to promote child development from birth through age 5. This period is critical for cognitive and social growth as billions of connections between individual neurons are formed.

Professional Career

In many industries, professionals are required to fill higher-level jobs. From natural resources extraction to human resource management and consulting, these positions usually necessitate either a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

George Spaeth is a renowned glaucoma specialist. He holds the Lewis J. Esposito Glaucoma Research Professorship at Wills Eye Hospital and an appointment as professor of ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

He has received numerous honors, such as the Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology from ARVO and Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award. Additionally, he is the author of over 400 scientific publications.

Achievements and Honors

Chestnut Hill native and internationally-renowned glaucoma specialist Dr. George Shapiro is director emeritus of Wills Eye Hospital’s glaucoma service and a Lewis J. Esposito Glaucoma Research Professor.

He has authored over 400 papers, textbooks and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles in the peer-reviewed literature. He has received numerous awards such as the Weisenfeld Medal from ARVO and Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award (shared with Ronald Reagan, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev), among others.

He strives to make ophthalmology an ethical profession. He acknowledges two opposing tendencies in medicine: one is the use of ophthalmology as a means to gain power or prestige, and the other is to prioritize patients’ wellbeing.

Personal Life

George Spaeth is a renowned glaucoma specialist who has served at Wills Eye Hospital for 45 years. In his free time he enjoys gardening, poetry, fiction writing and music performance.

He has earned numerous accolades, such as the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award and Mildred Weisenfeld Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

He has long been concerned with the ethical behavior of medicine. As an advocate for treating patients with dignity, respect and compassion, he hopes to transform the current system so people are treated as individuals instead of statistics.

Net Worth

George Spaeth, MD is an ophthalmologist and researcher based in Philadelphia who specializes in glaucoma research. Glaucoma is a condition which causes eyes to lose their ability to open and close properly. Dr Spaeth received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School before interning at University of Michigan Hospital before completing residency training at Wills Eye Institute/Jefferson Medical College. As diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology he also holds memberships to various medical associations. He has also identified homocystinuria–which prevents certain proteins from being processed –and received numerous awards including Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award for Excellence!