University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center | 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 | 734.763.8122
Copyright © Regents of the University of Michigan
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| Ida Iacobucci Celebrating 45 Years  In forty-five years with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Ida Iacobucci figures she has trained at least 250 residents in orthoptics. At her most recentbirthday celebration in Kellogg’s Skillman Children’s Eye Care Clinic, she talked about her work with predictable enthusiasm and energy.Ms. Iacobucci, known to many as “Ms. Ida,” spends half time at Kellogg and also consults at private practices in southeastern Michigan. She evaluates children, and some adults, for visual function and eye movement, diagnosing common muscle disorders such as amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (misaligned eyes), and diplopia (double vision). To help her patients with their ocular motility problems, she uses patches, prisms, and eye exercises to enhance binocular vision. Many adults suffer from double vision, and they are grateful that prisms or surgery can solve the problem. “Some of my patients celebrate the results of their treatment with tears of joy because they no longer have double vision,” she says. “I’m as happy as my patients, if not happier.” Ms. Iacobucci graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in biology, and soon after took up marine zoology at the University of California at Berkeley. Dissatisfied with her choice of studies, she decided to take an aptitude test, which revealed that she was well suited for medicine and for a field called orthoptics. “I’d never heard of it,” she says. The timing was such that she had a week to decide whether to enroll in the University of California orthoptics program. “I signed up and loved it from the day I started training.” After additional training in Iowa and at Wayne State, Ms. Iacobucci came to the U-M for interviews with three physicians who figure prominently in the Department’s history: Drs. John Henderson, Bruce Fralick (chair), and Harold Falls. She accepted a position in 1957, and set up her office in the old University Hospital. “It was an exciting time,” she says. “I had the chance to build the orthoptic program. At first, I’d lecture during lunch, and sometimes I had to drag my residents into the talks. But I came loaded with enthusiasm. I’ve trained so many residents over the years, and I love every minute of it.” How has orthoptics changed since Ms. Iacobucci started? In the earliest years the emphasis was on eye exercises. Now the emphasis is on diagnostic evaluation and post-operative management. “Our eye surgeons treat babies as young as four to six months because the earlier the eyes are aligned the better the ability to use both eyes together,” she says. Ms. Iacobucci has received many honors during her career, including the Lancaster Award, the highest honor given by the American Association of Certified Orthoptists. In 1995, Miss Ida’s own clinic at Kellogg was named in her honor—the Ida Lucy Iacobucci Orthoptic Clinic. |
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University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center | 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 | 734.763.8122
Copyright © Regents of the University of Michigan |