The Greek Glaucoma Society (GGS) recently honored Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson with its highest accolade for glaucoma specialists.

Wilson, whose research has focused on glaucoma and blindness in populations from the Caribbean to West Africa, accepted the Gold Medal of Merit and Honor of A. Anagnostakis and A. Trantas during the 25th Glaucoma Congress, held April 11-13 in Athens.

Since 1994, the GGS has bestowed Greece’s top honor for glaucoma specialists upon distinguished ophthalmologists from around the world, with Wilson becoming just the ninth American to earn the distinction. In addition to accepting the award, Wilson also presented at the conference.

“It has been a great privilege to have contributed to the field of glaucoma during most of my career,” Wilson said. “I’m grateful and humbled by this recognition from the Greek Glaucoma Society, which magnifies this privilege even further.”

The award is named after Andreas Anagnostakis and Alexios Trantas, two 19th century Greek researchers who made significant contributions to ophthalmology. The term “glaucoma” comes from the Greek word “glaukos,” which means “watery blue.”

The three-day conference focuses on everyday clinical practice and features reputable foreign and Greek speakers, who, through lectures, clinical tutorials, banquets, dry labs and roundtables, discuss the latest developments in the field of glaucoma.

In addition to serving as the 12th president of Wayne State, Wilson is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a past board chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges. He also serves on numerous other medical and civic boards, both locally and nationally. Wilson received his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College, an M.S. in epidemiology from UCLA and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.