1930
David Paton is born in Baltimore, Maryland to Richard Townley Paton, MD and Helen Meserve Paton.
1948
After five years at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Dr. Paton graduates cum laude and class president.
1952
Dr. Paton again graduates cum laude from Princeton University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in biology.
1956
Dr. Paton receives a Doctor of Medicine from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
1957
Dr. Paton completes an internship year in the Department of Medicine at later-named Weill Cornell Medicine.
1957
Dr. Paton serves for two years with the Public Health Service as Senior Assistant Surgeon in the Ophthalmology Division of The Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.
1959
Dr. Paton is accepted for the residency program at The Johns Hopkins’ Wilmer Institute.
1961
Dr. Paton becomes the annual fifth-year senior resident. His fourth year is spent in eye surgical research and general eye care at the St. John Ophthalmic Hospital in Jordan, later in Israel.
1963
Dr. Paton becomes a Wilmer Senior Resident. His intermittent ophthalmic travel to developing nations increases with assorted projects.
1964
Dr. Paton begins a seven-year appointment at the Wilmer Institute, proceeding from Assistant to Associate Professor. Concomitantly, for four years he is Dean of Admissions for The Johns Hopkins Medical School.
1968
Dr. Paton conceives and founds ORBIS and is the first Medical Director for international hands-on eye care teaching.
1971
Dr. Paton is recruited to Houston, Texas to become Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine for 10 years.
1983
Dr. Paton becomes the first Medical Director of the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
1984
Dr. Paton is awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Bridgeport University, and later a Doctor of Science from Princeton University and medal of The Legion of Honor of France.
1985
Dr. Paton marries Diane Johnston (Paton), Executive Director of the (U.S.) President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
1985
Dr. Paton founds OcuSystems, a short-lived networked organization for private ambulatory surgical centers in the U.S. whose profits are to finance surgical units in developing nations.
1985
Dr. Paton becomes Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical School and Director of Ophthalmology at the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens.
2011
Retired, Dr. Paton authors “Second Sight: Views from an Eye Doctor’s Odyssey.”
2011
Dr. Paton and Dr. Brad Feldman found Academic Global Ophthalmology (AGO), a start-up non-profit for global eye care.
2017
Dr. Paton is honored with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who.