2023 Presidential Medal of Honor Awardee: Henry Greene, OD ‘74, FAAO

When he was a kid, Henry Greene, OD ‘74, FAAO, had the dream of becoming a National Geographic photographer.

His father, an optometrist, thought taking pictures for living would be a fabulous job, although he asked young Henry an important question: “But what are you going to do for a day job?” The implication, of course, was that being a photographer, even for the prestigious National Geographic magazine, might not be the most lucrative career choice.

“I didn’t want to be a physician or a podiatrist or a dentist, and since I was exposed to the optometry profession by my father, I decided to try that, as it wasn’t so far from lenses and optics,” said Dr. Greene.

Turns out his father was right. Dr. Greene went on to become a leader in clinical low vision and in the development of telescopic low vision aids for the visually impaired.

And, for a career filled with distinguished achievements in the profession of optometry, Dr. Greene has recently been named a 2023 Presidential Medal of Honor recipient by Salus University.

“Dr. Mike Mittelman’s secretary called me and said I needed to schedule a phone call with Dr. Mittelman,” said Dr. Greene, who would be informed about the award by Salus president Michael H. Mittelman, OD ‘80, MBA, MPA, FAAO, FACHE. “At that point, I was kind of suspicious of what it might be about. I was quite pleased and honored when he told me that I had been selected to receive the award.”

Dr. Greene will be presented the award Sept. 18, 2023, at the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia.

He entered the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) in 1970, when the institution was getting a new president. Norman Wallis, OD, PhD, DSc (Hon.) ‘90, FAAO was PCO president from 1972 to 1979, and it was a tumultuous time at the University. “There was a fair amount of friction between the administration and the students in terms of high expectations. I was not particularly involved with that, although I did agree that changes needed to be made,” said Dr. Greene.

While at PCO, he was the junior member of SOSH - the Student Optometric Service to Humanity’s trip to Haiti, and learned how to run the program during his senior year. In addition to examining hundreds of patients he also found some for photography (some of the best photos he has ever taken, he added). The two trips made a lasting impression on him.

“That was very rewarding and it certainly had some impact on how I saw my role in eye care and all the different challenges that people face, not only in third world countries but even here at home,” said Dr. Greene.

After graduating from PCO in 1974, he initially practiced in New York City while his wife, Marilyn Telen, MD, attended medical school. He learned low vision at the Industrial Home for the Blind (later the Helen Keller Center) under the mentorship of Dr. George Hellinger. After that, the couple moved to Buffalo, New York, where his wife could complete her residency in internal medicine. While in Buffalo, Dr. Greene secured a job at Group Health and with the credentials he earned to provide low vision services in the state of New York through Medicaid, he was also recruited to join the low vision clinic at the Blind Association of Western New York.

From there the couple moved to North Carolina in 1980 where Marilyn could pursue a subspecialty in immunohematology (the study of red blood cell (RBG) antigens and antibodies associated with blood transfusions). She would eventually be offered a faculty position at Duke University and rose to be a chaired full professor, chief of the division of Hematology and an international expert on sickle cell disease.

“We were thinking we would be in North Carolina for three years, then go back north where we grew up and where we thought we belonged,” said Dr. Greene. “That was 43 years ago and we’re still in Durham.”

He passed the three-day licensing board examination for North Carolina and soon after opened a solo practice. Within a year, his practice was thriving and he had to expand his space in the same building twice. While practicing general eye care and contact lenses, Dr. Greene had a low vision patient, Russ Pekar, who had the idea to combine telescope and periscope instruments to create a novel optical bioptic that would offer advantages over traditional telescopic low vision aids. He told Dr. Greene he would really like to start a company, and that was the beginning of Ocutech Inc.

Dr. Greene, Pekar and attorney Michael Levine founded Ocutech in 1984 with the help of grants from the North Carolina Technology Development Agency, and subsequently with the National Eye Institute (NEI) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants that helped to fund the development of the research, design and prototyping of the devices. The company's first product hit the market in 1987. Dr. Greene, as principal investigator, ultimately received more than $1.5 million in NEI grant funding to help develop the company’s products.

“The company has expanded and our devices have gotten much more sophisticated. They are designed to make life easier for the patients and easier for the doctors,” said Dr. Greene. “We invented and created the first and only autofocusing bioptic telescope, now in its second iteration. And, our products are shipped all over the world.”

Because of his involvement in Ocutech and what he’s learned clinically, Dr. Greene has been invited to speak and teach low vision courses about telescopes and low vision care all over the world. He joined the faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of North Carolina to run its low vision program where he ultimately rose to clinical professor. He was also appointed to the Medical Board of the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles to help institute its bioptic driving program, where he helped revise and update its vision guidelines. 

He officially retired from clinical care and sold his practice in 2010, exactly 40 years to the month after he opened it. But he’s still active running Ocutech as its president, the only one of the three co-founders still with the company.

Oh, and remember his boyhood dream of becoming a National Geographic photographer? Dr. Greene never really lost his interest in photography. One of the byproducts of his optometry career and traveling the world for speaking engagements was that he has taken photographs in more than 50 countries. He has published two books of photography, “Studies in Geometry” and “Watching People.”
 

Dr. Greene said attending PCO was rewarding and he developed a number of classmates who remain optometric colleagues.
 
“My dream when I got out of school was to practice low vision, to teach, and to conduct product development, which is exactly what I’ve been doing. I’ve been quite blessed,” he said.