User:Elfalem/Maurice Rabb
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Maurice Rabb was an African-American ophthalmologist.
Maurice Rabb was born on 1932in Shelbyville, Kentucky. He was the only child of an anesthesiologist and a math teacher. He was interested in traveling and taking pictures in his early ages. He and another member of the boy scout represented their region at the Boy Scout World Jamboree in paris. At 14, Rabb was thinking about a career in Photography which led him to the field of ophthalmology.
After attending Indiana University for two years, Rabb transferred to the University of Louisville in 1951. He graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1958. He attended kings County Hospital for postgraduate training. He studied ophthalmology at New York University and became the first African American resident of the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary.
When he completed his residency, Dr. Rabb started a private practice in downtown Chicago which focused on retinal disease.
Dr. Rabb became the medical director of the Illinois Eye Bank at the University of Illinois. In 1977, he was a full professor of clinical ophthalmology.
Dr. Rabb founded the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at the University of Illinois with a colleage after obtaining a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The center was the only one in the country to diagnose and treat sickle cell eye disease. Dr. Rabb also led a research that helped prevent retinal detachment and blindness in sickle cell patients.
Dr. Rabb was recognized for his efforts to expand opportunities for doctors from underrepresented communities through the National Medical Association. Anually, the NMA awards the Rabb Venable Ophthalmology Award for Outstanding Research to students and residents for the best research presentations. Dr. Rabb also was a member of the Roman Barnes Society of the American Academy of Opthalmology.
Dr. Rabb died on June 6, 2005.
