ASCRS Appoints Abigail Markward as New Executive Director

Abigail Markward has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the ASCRS Foundation by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS).

With over two decades of experience in strategic communications, marketing, publishing, and nonprofit roles, Ms. Markward most recently held the position of Vice-President of Business Development and Associate Publisher at PentaVision, a company acquired by BroadcastMed in 2022. In this role, she coordinated extensive marketing and content campaigns with corporate partners, focusing on their clinical impact on industry and medical professionals, as stated by the ASCRS.

Ms. Markward's dedication to humanitarian causes is evident in her participation in a women's advocacy mission to Nepal in 2018 in collaboration with SightLife International. She has also been involved with Ophthalmic World Leaders (OWL), serving as President and now Immediate Past-President, a non-profit organization committed to promoting diversity in leadership roles within the ophthalmic industry.

“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.