Career: Week of May 18

St. Clair Hospital has named Elliot G. Nikolakopoulos a marketing and graphic design specialist in its marketing and development department. He previously served as a graphic designer at Golf Galaxy at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Nikolakopoulos is a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He and his wife, Jessica, live on Mt. Washington.
Allegheny Health Network announces the appointment of Dr. Erik Happ as director of neuro-ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmic trauma at Allegheny General Hospital. Neuro-ophthalmology is a subspecialty that merges the fields of neurology, neurosurgery and ophthalmology, dealing specifically with diseases of the central nervous system that affect vision and eye movements.
A board-certified ophthalmologist with subspecialty training in both neuro-ophthalmology and oculoplastic surgery, Happ is an expert in the management of orbital and skull based tumors and other complex neuro-ophthalmic conditions. He also performs surgery for many conditions affecting the eyelids, tear duct system and other orbital diseases. Happ helped pioneer the use of a fiber-optic laser to perform functional blepharoplasty, the removal of excess skin and fat in the eyelid to improve diminished vision, and other oculoplastic surgeries.
Happ earned his medical degree from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, completed a general surgery internship at the National Naval Medical Center and completed flight surgery training at the Naval Operational Medicine Institute. After serving five years in the U.S. Navy, he completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Pittsburgh’s Eye and Ear Institute, followed by a fellowship in the departments of Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery at Allegheny General Hospital.
The Upper St. Clair resident is a member of the North American Neuro-ophthalmology Society, American Academy of Ophthalmology and Society of US Naval Flight Surgeons.
He is also an avid supporter of the nonprofit Hawaiian Eye Foundation, SEE International and Amerinam, organizations that are dedicated to promoting the preservation, restoration and improvement of vision for underserved people of the Pacific Basin through charitable service, education and research programs.
He has traveled with the support of these foundations several times to Vietnam to treat patients who have no access to subspecialty care and provide invaluable training for local physicians and surgeons. He also helped establish a fellowship program in the United States to train Vietnamese ophthalmologists and is co-director of the oculoplastic and orbital surgery fellowship program at Allegheny General.