The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama is a proud sponsor of the Prevent Blindness 2024 Focus on Eye Health National Summit
For a full agenda and free registration visit PreventBlindness.org
State EyeSight Foundation director retires – READ MORE HERE
Evers named executive director for EyeSight Foundation of Alabama – READ MORE HERE
Envisioning 2021 and Beyond
Celebrating More Than 20 Years of Making a Difference in the Eyes of the World
…Focusing on the Next 20 Years of Fulfilling the Vision
A Solid Beginning. A Valuable Partnership
More than a half century ago, Dr. Alston Callahan established an eye hospital in downtown Birmingham that would become the UAB Callahan Eye Hospital. Its goal was simple, but powerful: Eradicate blinding eye diseases through groundbreaking research, world-class clinical care and unrivaled education of future clinicians and scientists. When the hospital sold, proceeds created an endowment that would mark the beginning of the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama.
Partnering philanthropically with the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, the EyeSight Foundation is a key catalyst in its ranking in National Institutes of Health Funding. With Eyesight Foundation’s contributions, it has quickly risen to a top-15 ranking from Number 32 in 2012 when partners ESFA and UAB School of Medicine created the Vision of Excellence Initiative.
The EyeSight Foundation is invested in other community partners playing critical roles in our state’s eye health by connecting children and adults to eye care and low vision rehabilitation services. Thanks to a vibrant collaboration of nonprofit groups, state agencies and academically-based programs, including Sight Savers America, UAB and others, we are proud to support what has become the best and most comprehensive children’s eye care program in the nation, getting life-changing care to thousands of Alabama children annually.
Defining Moments
What We Do: Since its inception in 1997, the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama has awarded grants totaling over $74 million to more than 30 nonprofit organizations across Alabama, including $10.7 million to UAB Callahan Eye Hospital and $50 million to the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
How We Do It: The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama (ESFA) began its original work with a $60 million endowment that was derived from the sale of the specialty eye hospital which is now known as UAB Callahan Eye Hospital (CEH). Our grants are awarded across the state of Alabama from the proceeds of that special endowment.
Why We Do What We Do: In Alabama, 150,000 people live with a visual disability, 50 million people worldwide are blind, and another 150 million are significantly vision-impaired. Great leaps forward in medicine happen when the right people come together in the right place, at a moment in time when knowledge and technology converge—this is the transformational change happening at UAB Ophthalmology.
The Results of What We Do: UAB Ophthalmology’s research laboratories currently span two buildings dedicated to discovering the mechanisms of eye diseases and developing new technologies to treat blinding diseases, and the faculty has doubled since 2012. UAB Ophthalmology is preparing the next generation of ophthalmologists to care for an aging population of patients living with blinding diseases and visual issues.
