Dr. Hedges, Ophthalmology

Dr. Thomas Reed Hedges, Jr., professor emeritus of ophthalmology in the School of Medicine, passed away September 10, 2009, at age 85.

Dr. Hedges was a 1944 graduate of Ohio State University. He earned his medical degree in 1947 from Cornell. During this time he was a V12 Naval Reserve midshipman. He was an intern at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, a fellow at Cleveland Clinic in neurology and a fellow in neuro-ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University through 1949. After completing his residency in ophthalmology at Penn, he became a captain in the US Army and was assigned to be chief of ophthalmology at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center until 1952.

In 1954 Dr. Hedges started his ophthalmology practices in Philadelphia and Moorestown, New Jersey. He established and ran the section on ophthalmology at Pennsylvania Hospital for over 30 years. At this time he was appointed to Penn’s faculty and was later promoted to professor of ophthalmology in 1973. He became emeritus in 1998. Dr. Hedges also taught at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey until his retirement in 2002. His research at Louis Coriell Laboratory in Camden on the effects of intracranial pressure on the optic nerve lead to multiple papers in medical journals and acceptance to the American Ophthalmological Society in 1964. He was a Senior Honor Award recipient from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He was co-founder of The International Neuro-ophthalmology Society. Dr. Hedges’ portrait was installed in the Great Court of the Pennsylvania Hospital in 2005.

Dr. Hedges is survived by his wife, Ann; son, Thomas R. Hedges, III; grandsons, T. Reed Hedges; G. Shonnard Hedges; Daniel W. Hedges; Duncan F. Hedges; and great-grandson, Zephan Isaac Zuser-Hedges.

Donations may be made to the Thomas R. Hedges, Jr. MD Fund, Pennsylvania Hospital, 800 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19017.