Please Give
I have been inspired by my colleague Jane to raise funds for our work preventing vision impairment in the most vulnerable populations.
253 MILLION people worldwide are visually impaired. This definition of vision impairment is beyond what many of us would consider "functional vision" meaning there are even more people across the globe whose vision prevents them for reaching their full potential. Over 75% of vision impairment is either preventable or treatable. This is what Emory Eye Center's Global Ophthalmology Program aims to do.
Through education, research and clinical outreach we aim to prevent those at risk from losing vision and restoring vision for those who are already blind. We work with local governments, hospitals and non-profits abroad to train more physicians and develop programs what will reach remote populations. We work here in Georgia with our partners to ensure equitable access to eye care regardless of race, geography or ability to pay.
This work has been my passion and my goal since I was a teenager working in free medical clinics as a translator. I am honored to be the Director of Global Ophthalmology Emory and living my dream
I am joining Jane in raising money for our work while training for a half marathon on February 26th. The years of medical training and having children has taken quite a toll on my fitness so this will be no small feat considering I haven't run more than 3miles in over 10 years!! Please support us and our work and our goal.
I have set a massive goal (again inspired by Jane). I hesitated to do this because it felt selfish and I hate asking for money. However, just look at some of the things that this money could do!
- Support the training of ophthalmology residents in Ethiopia
- Provide the opportunity for Ethiopian residents to train with us at Emory for 1 month
- Provide sigh restoring vision to Syrian refugees in Jordan
- Support the subspeciality training of Jordanian ophthalmologists to meet the needs of their population
- Fund 1 full year of the Georgia Vision Network that aims to connect underinsured patients in rural Georgia with available care
- Fund research to understand the barriers patients face to access eye care and address the inequities in healthcare that contribute to these barriers