BOONE PICKENS grew up in eastern Oklahoma, where his father was in the oil business and his mother ran the Office of Price Administration during World War II, rationing gasoline and other goods for four counties. After graduating as a geologist from Oklahoma State University, he struck out on his own as an independent geologist. In 1956, Pickens founded Mesa Petroleum Co. with no oil and gas production and only $2,500 in capital. Over the subsequent 40 years that Pickens served as the CEO, Mesa became one of the world’s largest independent oil and gas companies. He later founded a fund management company, BP Capital, and in early 1997 launched BP Capital Commodities Fund. Mr. Pickens is a member of the Wilmer Advisory Council.
Boone Pickens Professorship in Ophthalmology
School of Medicine
Established in 2016
Held by Amir H. Kashani
AMIR H. KASHANI, M.D., Ph.D., is a retina specialist and surgeon. Dr. Kashani specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of medical and surgical retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, age-related macular degeneration, epiretinal membranes and retinal detachments as well as other common retinal diseases.
Dr. Kashani is an NIH-funded clinician-scientist studying the pathophysiology of retinal vascular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, vascular cognitive impairment and dementia in human patients using cutting-edge, noninvasive imaging methods such as optical coherence tomography angiography. He has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in the scientific literature, several subject reviews, and an ophthalmology handbook titled Optical Coherence Tomography and OCT Angiography: Clinical Reference and Case Studies.