“We have a Division of Neuro-Ophthalmology that’s the envy of the rest of the world, and we are here today to celebrate it,” said Wilmer Director Peter J. McDonnell, M.D., the William Holland Wilmer Professor of Ophthalmology, on Dec. 11, 2023.

The occasion was the dedication of the new Neil R. Miller, M.D., Rising Professorship in Ophthalmology and the installation of its inaugural recipient — Andrew R. Carey, M.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology. At the same time, Division of Neuro-Ophthalmology supporters celebrated the reinstallation (meaning she is the second recipient) of the division’s chief — Amanda Dean Henderson, M.D. — as the Frank B. Walsh Professor of Neuro-Ophthalmology.

“Fun fact: Andrew and I started at Wilmer just one week apart eight years ago,” Henderson says, “so we have really had the pleasure of building our careers together.”

Rising professorships are an innovation established at Wilmer in 2021 under McDonnell’s leadership to develop future leaders in ophthalmology. “Of course Dr. Carey is already a leader,” Henderson says, “but this provides support for young faculty to more quickly achieve their professional goals. It’s an investment in the future.”

Henderson calls Carey “an incredible colleague and collaborator, and the perfect inaugural recipient for this honor.” He is dually trained as a neuro-ophthalmologist and retina specialist, “so that makes him unique.”

He is also an outstanding clinician, one of the first physicians at Johns Hopkins to be promoted along its recently established clinical excellence track, which rewards faculty members for their skill with and empathy for patients.

For his part, Carey says he feels a lot more comfortable talking about his mentor, Neil R. Miller, M.D., and the great honor of being appointed to a professorship bearing his name than talking about himself. “I still struggle to find the words,” he says. “Dr. Miller is such a luminary in the field, and his work over the last 30 years has been so extraordinary in helping to propel the field forward. He is lauded as a researcher and an educator and just a wonderful clinician. His patients can never stop saying enough how wonderful he is. So this professorship is just a huge honor.”

Miller recently retired, though Henderson says he has agreed to continue teaching and supervising research projects, “just out of the goodness of his heart — luckily for us and everyone at Hopkins.”

In fact, most of the donors to the Neil R. Miller, M.D., Rising Professorship in Ophthalmology are grateful physicians who trained under him at Wilmer. Among them is Jonathan Talamo, M.D., an ophthalmic surgeon in Massachusetts who serves on the Wilmer Board of Governors and who studied under Miller as a medical student and then as a resident in the 1980s.

At the December event, Talamo paid tribute to his mentor “on behalf of the hundreds of med students and fellows who have had the privilege of training with you over the last 40-plus years.” Miller, who is famous for his encyclopedic knowledge and engaging teaching style, inspired his students to think creatively “beyond their specialty,” Talamo said, “and his influence will guide us for decades to come.”