Allen Beck

Affiliation

Emory University Department of Ophthalmology

Biography

Allen D. Beck, MD, has served as chair and director of Emory Eye Center since May 1, 2019. He was appointed the F. Phinizy Calhoun, Sr. Chair in Ophthalmology by Emory School of Medicine, effective June 1, 2020. Dr. Beck has been part of Emory since attending the Emory School of Medicine; he graduated cum laude in 1989. Following a one-year transitional internship at Georgia Baptist Medical Center (now Atlanta Medical Center), he returned to Emory for his ophthalmology residency (serving as Chief Resident) and fellowship in glaucoma. He joined the Emory School of Medicine and Emory Eye Center faculty in 1994 after completing his fellowship. Since that time Dr. Beck has established a thriving medical practice focused on the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma in adults and children. He is well-known and respected among his peers at Emory and beyond, as seen by his numerous professional and patient-centered awards and his inclusion in Atlanta magazine’s Top Doctors issue every year since 2009. Dr. Beck’s research interests include diagnosis and management of pediatric glaucoma, clinical studies of adult glaucoma therapies, pediatric cataract, and glaucoma compliance. Dr. Beck has published extensively on childhood glaucoma diagnosis and management and serves as the medical monitor for the NEI sponsored, Infant Aphakia Treatment Study (IATS), headed by Dr. Scott Lambert at Stanford University. He has served as a principal investigator in glaucoma clinical trials, including the NEI sponsored Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS) and the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). Dr. Beck has a strong interest in glaucoma medication research, as well as factors that influence adherence, and participated as a co-investigator and principal investigator in the Emory based, NEI funded, Interactive Study to Increase Glaucoma adHerence to Treatment (I-SIGHT). He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, The American Medical Association, the Medical Association of Georgia, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the Georgia Society of Ophthalmology, and the Emory Eye Alumni Association. Other professional involvement includes membership on the Executive Committee for the Childhood Glaucoma Research Network and Chair of the Pediatric Glaucoma Subcommittee for the American Glaucoma Society (AGS). Past service includes the Steering Committee for Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS), the AGS Patient Care Committee and Practice Guidelines Subcommittee, and the editorial board of JAAPOS (Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus).