Practice: Wheaton Eye Clinic Ltd.
Website: http://wheatoneye.com
Location: Wheaton, IL, United States
Specialty: Glaucoma
Education: MD, 1986, Rush University Medical Center
Dr. Ruth Williams has been an esteemed thought leader and advocate in ophthalmology for over three decades. She is honored to be a member of this community of data-driven, innovative specialists committed to improving the quality of people’s lives around the world. She has been described as an inspired, optimistic and forward-thinking leader with the highest of integrity.
Dr. Williams is a glaucoma consultant and partner at the Wheaton Eye Clinic. As president and chief executive officer for 8 years, she led the clinic through an accelerated growth phase that positioned the clinic as one of the largest and most well-respected ophthalmology groups in the Midwest. This practice provides superb subspecialty eye care through its 5 full-service locations and an ambulatory surgery center, and the expertise of 33 ophthalmologists and 14 optometrists.
In 2012, Dr. Williams served as president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Prior Academy appointments include Trustee-at-Large and Secretary for Member Services. As Secretary, she expanded Young Ophthalmologist programming and advocated for increased representation of young ophthalmologists, a strategy for developing new leadership that is now modelled by ophthalmology organizations globally. Other creative initiatives implemented during her tenure in Member Services include the EyeWiki, the Advocacy Award, and the EnergEyes Award. She is currently the Chief Medical Editor of EyeNet Magazine and each month writes pithy and widely-read columns about issues important to ophthalmologists.
Holding leadership positions on multiple professional boards, she is currently the Vice-Chair of Glaucoma Research Foundation and helps plan their annual Glaucoma360, a meeting that brings together researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists with the goal to prevent vision loss from glaucoma and speed the cure. She served on the board of Women in Ophthalmology and chaired several symposia and its annual clinical conference. She led the Ophthalmology Section Council of the AMA for nearly a decade and chaired the Surgical and Specialty Section of the AMA.
Dr. Williams leverages her speaking to elegantly intertwine clinical medicine and the evidence-base with philosophy, culture, trends, and possibilities for the future of clinical care. She has given invited and named lectures at medical conferences and academic departments around the world from Brazil to Geneva to Saudi Arabia. She has enjoyed being a subject matter expert across multiple media outlets including television and print such as Health Magazine and The New York Times. Dr. Williams is a clinical spokesperson for the Academy.
An Alpha Omega Alpha Honors graduate of Rush Medical College, Dr. Williams completed an ophthalmology residency at California Pacific Medical Center, followed by fellowship training in glaucoma at University of San Francisco, California and Shaffer Associates.