Oregon Health & Science University ophthalmologist and scientist David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., has been named a 2024 Oregon History Maker by the Oregon Historical Society.
Since 2009, the society has bestowed the award onto individuals and organizations that are “positively shaping the history, culture, and landscape of Oregon.” The 2024 honorees will be recognized at an awards ceremony that will take place Oct. 6 at the Portland Art Museum.
Huang co-invented the ground-breaking biomedical imaging technology known as optical coherence tomography, or OCT, in the early 1990s, when he was an M.D./Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The technology has transformed the way physicians detect and manage eye diseases, and is also increasingly used for conditions of the heart, skin, esophagus and more.
Other recognitions that Huang has received for co-inventing OCT include the 2023 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Huang is the Wold Family Chair in Ophthalmic Imaging, associate director and director of research at the OHSU Casey Eye Institute. He is also a professor ophthalmology and biomedical engineering in the OHSU School of Medicine. Huang continues to improve OCT through research at the Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers at OHSU.
Huang joins tribal and conservation leader and National Park Service Director Charles F. Sams III, M.L.S., wine industry pioneer and Sokol Blosser Winery founder Susan Sokol Blosser and Eugene-based heavy equipment dealer Papé in being recognized as an Oregon History Maker for 2024 by the Oregon Historical Society.