DUKE STARS — Gordon K. Klintworth
 Name: Gordon K. Klintworth, M.D., Ph.D
Years of service: 45
Title: Professor of Pathology and Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Research Professor of Ophthalmology
Department: Duke University School of Medicine
At the age of 75, most people are living the retired life. But Dr. Gordon K. Klintworth still wakes up looking forward to going to work each day.
"The only reason I haven't retired is I'm still excited about doing research, writing papers and introducing research to young people," Klintworth said. "The excitement of new discoveries in research keeps me going, and Duke's support of that allows me to do what I love."
Duke has been Klintworth's professional home for 45 years, but it began as his refuge when he sought to escape the civil unrest in South Africa. On March 21, 1960, blacks in the small town of Sharpeville, South Africa, rebelled against the discriminatory pass laws that regulated their movement and required them to carry identification papers, known as pass books. Thousands left their pass books behind and marched to a police station in protest to present themselves for arrest. Police panicked and shot into the crowd, killing 69 and wounding many others, including women and children.
Klintworth heard radio reports and read newspaper accounts of mass demonstrations and riots that ensued following the Sharpeville Massacre.
"After witnessing the discrimination and atrocities taking place, I was propelled to leave the intolerance and violence behind," Klintworth said. "I began to consider career opportunities in other English-speaking countries."
Within two years the neurologist-turned-pathologist secured a neuropathology fellowship at Duke and later filled a specialty niche in the field of eye pathology. When Klintworth joined the faculty at the Duke University School of Medicine, very few pathologists were interested in the eye.
"Since arriving at Duke, I have focused my research on eye diseases and particularly on inherited corneal diseases," said Klintworth, professor of pathology and Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Research Professor of Ophthalmology. "Inherited corneal diseases are rare, and before long, I became world-famous for these diseases because I'd pioneered research on them and written more about them than anybody else."
As a former director of research in ophthalmology, he not only put himself on the international map, but he also brought recognition to Duke as a leader and expert in the field of eye pathology. He has represented Duke in travels to Iceland, Saudi Arabia, India and elsewhere around the globe to study the corneal dystrophies. And today, Duke is one of the few places in the world where all medical students have some training in eye pathology and can take elective courses on the subject.
Without the time and resources Duke has provided to conduct research on eye diseases, Klintworth claims his successes would not have been possible.
"At many other places, I might have been required to do all kinds of other things, and I wouldn't have had the protected time for research," he said. "At Duke, I could become very focused on an area that was new and extremely interesting."
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