Born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Wichard (Wick) Anne Jelle van Heuven came to the United States with his parents and brother shortly after the end of World War II. He embraced life in the United States, attending Hopkins Grammar School and Yale University. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. J. Alexander van Heuven, he pursued a career in Ophthalmology, training at New York Medical College and completing a fellowship at Harvard under the direction of the father of modern retina surgery, Dr. Charles Schepens. Following his own residencies, he joined the faculty at Albany Medical College, where he helped establish a new training program, practiced as a retina surgeon, and published research on blood flow related to Diabetic Retinopathy. He pioneered the first use of televised fluorescein angiography for the instant diagnosis of retinal disorders, providing a pathway for participation in the first national DRS and ETDRS studies.
In 1981, with his wife Constance and his two sons, James and David, Dr. van Heuven moved to San Antonio to work as Chairman of Ophthalmology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, beginning more than twenty-eight years of service to the South Texas community. He grew the training program, expanded basic research, and focused on clinical outreach to underserved communities in South Texas. He loved partnering with the San Antonio Founder Lions Club to advocate for the blind and visually impaired in the crusade against darkness. A mobile eye program was initiated to bring eye exams and glasses to those in need. Dr. van Heuven, quoted in the Express News at the time, said “there are going to be babies who with the best and earliest treatment still go blind, thus research needs to continue until no babies go blind from retinopathy of prematurity.” During that time, he edited two volumes of a textbook entitled Decision Making in Ophthalmology and co-authored a history book, People of Vision: The Unique History of Ophthalmology in South Texas. Dr. van Heuven lectured nationally and internationally on a multitude of ophthalmologic conditions and presented at ARVO semi-annually. His final published work was a collection of short stories titled The Eye: Window to Body and Soul: An Ophthalmologist’s Odyssey. In 2009 he moved to rural Vermont with his wife Connie and joined the faculty at UVM to see patients part-time for another five years, completing a half-century of ophthalmic practice.
The Dr. J. Alexander van Heuven and Dr. Wichard A. J. van Heuven Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Ophthalmology is a permanent endowment established to honor Dr. Wichard A. J. van Heuven for his 25 years of leadership of our department (1980-2005). It was also named for Dr. J. Alexander van Heuven, his father, who had a profound and lasting influence on the career of his son. Dr. J. Alexander van Heuven himself was also an academic ophthalmologist–first as a professor at Donder’s Eye Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands and later, as a Clinical Professor at Yale University.
This important Professorship helps ensure the continuation of the outstanding work done at UT Health and is named for Dr. van Heuven and his father, who was also an outstanding academic Ophthalmologist, both in Europe and later, in the U.S. To honor Dr. van Heuven’s work at UT Health San Antonio, please consider donating to the Dr. J. Alexander van Heuven and Dr. Wichard A.J. van Heuven Endowed Distinguished Professorship by completing the form below.
If you have any questions, please call Philip Garza at (210) 567-2598 or email garzap6@uthsca.edu.