Internationally renowned expert in the treatment of glaucoma, Dr. Eve J. Higginbotham assumed the position of Dean and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Morehouse School Of Medicine (MSM) in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 24, 2006.
Upon her appointment in 1994 as Chair of the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Dr. Higginbotham became the first woman to head a university based ophthalmology department in the United States.
Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Maryland, Dr. Higginbotham was Chief of the Glaucoma Clinic at the University of Illinois (1985-90) and was an Associate Professor with tenure at the University of Michigan (1990-94), where she served as Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs.
Dr. Higginbotham has served on the Advisory Council of the National Eye Institute, the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Board of Women in Ophthalmology, and the Helen Keller Foundation. She is the past president of the Maryland Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons and recently completed her term as the 100th President of the Baltimore City Medical Society.
In 2001, she completed a four-year term as a voting member of the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel. She currently serves as Chair of the Planning Committee for the National Eye Health Education Program of the National Eye Institute (NED and she is a member of the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for the NEl's Clinical Research Center. Dr. Higginbotham is a member of the Friends of the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus Foundation (FCGCF). As the Director of Outreach Services for the FCGCF, she developed a program that encourages medical students to screen for glaucoma in their local communities and, as a result, enhances their exposure to ophthalmology. Student Sight Savers programs are now under way in more than 30 medical schools nationally.
Dr. Higginbotham was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2000. Professor Higginbotham has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, and she has co-edited four textbooks in ophthalmology.
Dr. Higginbotham has received numerous awards and honors during her career, including the Suzanne Veroneaux-Troutman Award and the Roman Barnes Achievement Award. She was one of 65 nominees recognized nationally for the AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award in 2004. She has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally on a range of topics, including physiology of the trabecular meshwork, total quality management, surgical advances in glaucoma and lessons learned from clinical trials. She has been listed among the Best Doctors in America for more than a decade, one of the top 10 Baltimoreans in 2000, and among the "Top Docs" in Baltimore and Michigan.
Dr. Higginbotham received her S.B. and S.M. degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed her fellowship training in the subspecialty of glaucoma at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. She is a board-certified ophthalmologist.
Dr. Higginbotham is a native of New Orleans. Her husband is Dr. Frank Williams, formerly the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Maryland and now Principal, Williams Advisory Group, LLC.