ASCRS News: ASCRS Foundation Update
December 2023
“With failing eyesight, my job was coming to an end and so was my ability to drive. Because of Operation Sight, I can see, work a substantial job, and drive with confidence, even at night. I could not have been blessed with a better program and group of people! Thank you for changing my life!”
—Bruce, Operation Sight Patient
This is just one story of many that are made possible by the ASCRS Foundation’s domestic charitable cataract surgery program, Operation Sight. Providing vision-restoring surgery to individuals allows them to reengage with their lives and families, secure employment that they might have lost as a result of their visual impairment, and much more.
This has been a year of growth and appreciation for the ASCRS Foundation. As we rebounded from the impacts of the pandemic, we emerged with a newfound appreciation for those who make what we do possible. Our community rallied around our mission and dug deep to show support for one another.
Not a single accomplishment from this past year would have been possible without the tremendous resiliency and compassion of our partners, supporters, and greater ASCRS Foundation community. Thank you for continuing to show up every day for the individuals who benefit from your contributions.
Operation Sight has continued to be crucial for financially vulnerable, uninsured individuals who risk job loss due to decreased vision. Through a network of 730 volunteers across the nation, more than 8,600 surgeries have now been delivered to those most in need.
This year, the ASCRS Foundation celebrated our 8th National Sight Week from October 8–14, as a means to draw attention to blindness and vision impairment. During National Sight Week, we showed our appreciation to those committed to making a difference in preventable blindness in their local community and provided opportunities for the entire ophthalmic community to do their part as well.
Overseas the ASCRS Foundation seeks to address not just individual cases of cataract blindness but to fight its root cause: the shortage of eye surgeons in the developing world. The solution to this issue is two-fold: to create world-class medical centers where efficient doctors can establish a presence and to focus on education, raising the local standards for both patient care and physician training. Through our international partners, we’re working in multiple countries to create a lasting change in the treatment of global cataract blindness.
The ASCRS Foundation continues to recognize those leaders whose work advances global ophthalmology. We were proud to announce Helena Ndume, MD, as the 2023 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian awardee at the 2023 ASCRS Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. Dr. Ndume donated her $100,000 award to SEE International, an organization committed to ending preventable blindness and one that she has personally volunteered with for more than 25 years.
The ASCRS Foundation remains steadfast in its commitment to delivering educational and innovative experiences to promising young ophthalmologists. Ten Resident Excellence Awards and five Young Eye Surgeon International Service Grants were given to improve access to education and help inspire a life-long commitment to humanitarian eyecare.
We cannot say thank you enough for the immense support you have shown to the ASCRS Foundation this past year. Our patients now have the opportunity to regain employment, become independent, and build lasting relationships with their friends and family. We look forward to everything that we will accomplish together in 2024.
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New ASCRS Foundation Executive Director
The ASCRS Foundation would like to welcome its new Executive Director, Abigail Markward, MBA.
Ms. Markward has been involved in ophthalmology for more than 23 years, beginning in 2000 when she started as an account supervisor for an advertising agency specializing in medical device and pharmaceutical clients. Later, she moved to the client side in product management and marketing. Prior to beginning with the ASCRS Foundation, she had been working in ophthalmic publishing.
She finds that the shared mission to prevent blindness and improve eyesight for patients is something she likes best about ophthalmology and similarly was attracted to the ASCRS Foun-dation with its mission to educate, provide resources, and empower ophthalmologists to serve and deliver humanitarian ophthalmic surgery and care in the U.S. and internationally.
In her new role with the ASCRS Foundation, she is looking forward to the restructuring and streamlining of Operation Sight to create more impact for more patients, as well as working with the ASCRS and ASOA teams to identify new and impactful programs to further the mission.
