Personal information
Biography
Dr. Juan Francisco Batlle was born on July 12, 1955, third son of the marriage of Dr. Oscar Rafael Batlle Morel and Mrs. Rosa Francia Pichardo Batlle, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Since an early age, he demonstrated his interest in medicine and ophthalmology.
He attended the school of medicine at Duke University in North Carolina. Dr. Batlle graduated Summa Cum Laude from Duke University and was a member and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honorary academic fraternities at Duke.
At the end of his internship at Duke University, he was accepted by Dr. Edward W.D. Norton into the residency training program in ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami. During his years of training, he excelled as a student of ophthalmology, and was later invited to become Chief Resident at the Institute in the year 1984. While at the Bascom Palmer, he pursued fellowship training in three sub-specialties: Retina-vitreous, pediatric ophthalmology and neurophthalmology.
Upon graduation, he returned to Santo Domingo with a legacy inherited from Dr. Norton; To improve eye care and prevent blindness in his country of origin. He also joined his father´s practice in ophthalmology. The hospital was named the Elias Santana Hospital, better known as “Los Americanos”. At this charity clinic, Dr. Batlle also created a residency training program in ophthalmology that has already graduated more than 200 residents and more than 400 ophthalmic technicians. He also founded Centro Laser, where he created a multi-specialty practice with special emphasis on cataract, glaucoma, refractive surgery, and vitreoretinal surgery.
He is a very well-known and respected authority in ophthalmic societies and organizations, both nationally as well as internationally, like the Pan American Association of Ophthalmology. The Cornea Bank of the Dominican Republic, the National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness, and Vision 20/20, the latter one engaged in prevention of blindness projects to avoid curable blindness throughout Latin America.
One of his most ambitious projects, has been the National Blindness Survey in the Dominican Republic in the year 1995, and later the RAAB (Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness) in the year 2008. He participated and directed the clinical trial of the OptiMedica Company to develop the femtosecond laser for cataract surgery, and was a pioneer in the application of amniotic membrane as a source of tissue for conjunctiva replacement in the year 1992.
He is currently Professor of Ophthalmology at the Instituto Tecnológico of Santo Domingo, and has been the Chief of the Ophthalmology Service for 25 years at the Elias Santana Hospital, where he donates his time one day of the week to help the poor people and to train and teach ophthalmology residents.
Dr. Batlle has a very friendly personality and good personal interaction with patients, colleagues and collaborators. He is in a permanent process of innovative creation to contribute to ophthalmology in general.
Since October 2012 through 2016, Dr. Juan Batlle iwas the Chairman of VISION2020/IAPB for Latin America.
Activities
Employment (6)
Education and qualifications (7)