ASCRS Names Abigail Markward New Executive Director

The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) has named Abigail Markward as the new Executive Director of the ASCRS Foundation. Ms. Markward has more than two decades of expertise in strategic communications, marketing, publishing, and nonprofit roles.

Most recently, she served as Vice-President of Business Development and Associate Publisher at PentaVision, a company subsequently acquired by BroadcastMed in 2022. In this capacity, she collaborated with corporate partners to orchestrate large-scale marketing and content campaigns of impactful clinical significance at the juncture of industry and medical professionals, according to ASCRS.

Ms. Markward's commitment to humanitarian causes is exemplified by her participation in a 2-week women's advocacy mission to Nepal in 2018, in collaboration with SightLife International. She previously served as President and now Immediate Past-President of Ophthalmic World Leaders (OWL), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing diversity within the ophthalmic industry's leadership ranks.

“I am elated and humbled to join the ASCRS Foundation team and eager to expand upon the exceptional work accomplished to-date. I am deeply honored to contribute to the Foundation's noble mission of enabling, educating, and furnishing resources to surgeons, thereby facilitating ophthalmic surgery and care on behalf of both our valued members and the patients under their care,” Ms. Markward said in an ASCRS news release.