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Department of Ophthalmology and KU Eye Center
School of Medicine > Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology
World Sight Day is held annually on the second Thursday of October to draw global attention to blindness and vision impairment. Your KU Eye Team supports The International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and World Health Organization (WHO) in this advocacy day and encourages others do the same.
This year's Call to Action is: Eye Care Everywhere. We invite you to join this focus on eye care issues, with the goal of everyone, everywhere having access to good eye health.1 William L. White, MD, KU Eye Volunteer Faculty, is currently in Haiti on a vision mission trip and was kind enough to take a minute to share this about his experience at this and his many others. "Considering that there are no significant public health interventions with present knowledge to prevent or reduce the occurrence of reversible blindness from cataracts, surgical intervention remains the only successful treatment course to restore the gift of sight. Whether provided by the decades developed technique of phacoemulsification as utilized in countries with considerable resources, or manual small incision cataract surgery successfully conducted on large scale in areas with less financial means, people are all impacted the same way: One patient and one eye at a time."
It is not just other countries that are in need! There are things you, as an individual, can do locally, such as:
- Schedule an eye exam
- Look at your family members and others in the community, especially those vulnerable to vision difficulties, and connect them with resources:
- The young
- School-age children
- The elderly
- Those with diabetes
- Donate usable eye wear
Read more, including how to help those in need of glasses, here.
October is Contact Lens Safety Awareness Month
Prevent Blindness® declares October as Contact Lens Safety Awareness Month and your KU Eye Team joins them in providing tips to keep your eyes healthy.
For the approximate 46 million Americans wearing them, contact lenses are a great alternative to glasses.
However, more than 80 percent of contact lens wearers are at a risk for an eye infection from unsafe use. Read more here, including how to decrease infection likelihood from our KU Optometrists.
Healthy Eyes, Happy Life: Expert Tips for Seeing Well and Feeling Great at Every Age - presentation by KU Eye Ophthalmologist, Anne Berenbom Wishna, MD - Details here
The Ophthalmology Program’s strategy is threefold
- first, build a credible, academically-centered clinical practice encompassing all aspects of ophthalmology;
- second, develop the research program around the concept of a Center for Ophthalmic Engineering with emphasis on optics, refractive surgery, intraocular approaches and biomechanics of the eye (Many conditions of the eye including glaucoma, retinal and neurophthalmic diseases as well as tissue engineering and genetic determinants of ocular physiology and pathology can be explored using engineering principles.
- and third, develop a competency-based residency program as opposed to the traditional process-based to better meet the needs of the Ophthalmology Trainees and the Kansas general public.
We are working toward a stand-alone department with clinical, surgical, teaching, and research facilities located in close proximity to maximize team-oriented research. John E. Sutphin, Jr., MD, Chairman since 2007, leads this strategic effort.
To accomplish these goals, the Ophthalmology Advisory Board has established the following, which are adopted by all KU Eye Physicians, Residents and Staff:
Vision
KU Eye will be acknowledged as the most highly regarded center for eye care in the Heart of America and be recognized as among the top tier of the most respected centers in the nation.
Mission Statement
It is the mission of KU Eye to establish and maintain a world-class eye care center that provides exceptional patient care, delivers the most advanced graduate and postgraduate medical education and conducts innovative basic and clinical research.
Values
KU Eye physicians and staff will:
Provide patients the highest quality eye care within a compassionate atmosphere.
Engage in outreach through education and collaboration to promote excellence in eye care throughout our wider community.
Work closely in consultation and support of the physicians and staff of the University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center, University of Kansas Physicians and our community.
Perform cutting-edge, basic, clinical and applied research in ophthalmology and vision science.
Inspire students, residents and fellows to adopt the core values and support the mission of KU Eye.
The Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Kansas is located at 7400 State Line Road in Prairie Village, Kansas and at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., Suite 1011 Miller Building, Kansas City, Kansas. Learn more...
Last modified:
Oct 11, 2018