ATLANTA – Two ophthalmologists have received the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award, presented November 9 at the Academy’s 2008 Joint Meeting, held in Atlanta.

Devin A. Harrison, MD, and Geoffrey C. Tabin, MD were recognized for their participation in charitable activities, indigent care, community service and humanitarian activities in providing services to the poor and needy populations around the world.

“Dr. Harrison and Dr. Tabin have made important contributions towards the lives of those who do not have access to quality healthcare,” said David W. Parke II, MD, president of the Academy. “We are proud to honor these two individuals for their dedication to preventing blindness in developing nations.”

Nigerian Mission

Dr. Harrison worked in Nigeria for more than two years, performing surgery and training local doctors. He spent his first year working in Kano at the ECWA Eye Hospital, an established mission eye hospital that was part of a training program for African ophthalmologists.

For the second year, Dr. Harrison and his family moved to Jos to start a new eye clinic with Dr. Lass, one of the Nigerian resident physicians he had trained. Together, Drs. Harrison and Lass established a clinic and surgery center and trained staff and nurses. The volume started small but eventually became busier, doing 20 to 30 and more cases per week.

One of Dr. Harrison’s most memorable trips from Jos was to the small village of Dakka where he met Rikki, a Danish nurse who had spent her career working in Nigeria and started a small clinic. Rikki asked Dr. Harrison to treat some of her long-distance patients who had cataracts.  Soon Dr. Harrison, along with a nurse, traveled on a challenging mission to Dakka where they performed a number of cataract surgeries. The village was remote with no electricity and only a small portable generator to run the operating microscope and cautery.

Working in Nigeria presented risks for Dr. Harrison and his family. He was the victim of an armed robbery as was the hospital compound where he and his family lived. It was a daily concern for him and his family to avoid tragic diseases and sickness but despite the risks, Dr. Harrison found the work in Nigeria to be rewarding and challenging.

Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP)

Dr. Tabin has focused the majority of his career on preventing blindness internationally and has put all of his passion and expertise into the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP), which he co-founded in 1995.

HCP is a nonprofit organization committed to eradicating preventable and curable blindness through high-quality ophthalmic care, education and the establishment of a world-class eye care center. In addition to restoring sight through surgery and care, HCP also created a sustainable system for eye care delivery by teaching local surgeons and their assistants to organize and perform modern cataract surgery.

While working full time as a corneal specialist at the University of Vermont, Dr. Tabin managed day-to-day operations of the Himalayan project in addition to his practice in Vermont, traveling to the Himalayas, arranging for training opportunities for international doctors and placing medical students and residents for electives abroad. Training at the project involves both hospital-based delivery techniques as well as outreach techniques. At the hospital they were able to employ modern cataract surgery technique that was both effective and non-expensive.

In 2006, HCP began working in Ghana, training local ophthalmologists and ophthalmic assistants in modern cataract surgery. Following that training, a team from Ghana trained at the Tilganga Eye Centre in Nepal. Subsequent to these initial trainings, local ophthalmologists have organized and carried out remote eye camps in their respective regions. With this training they are able to bring care to areas where it was previously unavailable. In 2007, Dr. Tabin and HCP partnered with The Earth Institute’s Millennium Villages Project (MVP) to provide comprehensive eye care in each of the Millennium Research Villages.

Later Dr. Tabin led a team, in conjunction with local ophthalmologists from Kumasi, Ghana, conducting an eye care intervention in the village of Bonsaaso, Ghana. During the intervention, 4,600 people were screened, 160 cataract surgeries were performed and approximately 1,100 pairs of glasses were distributed.

About the American Academy of Ophthalmology

AAO is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons—Eye M.D.s—with more than 27,000 members worldwide.  Eye health care is provided by the three “O’s” – opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases and injuries, and perform eye surgery. For more information, visit the Academy's Web site at www.aao.org.