Barbara Evers, Executive Director – effective October 1, 2021
Barbara Evers, an accountant by trade, became the second executive director of the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama on October 1, 2021 after longtime ED Torrey DeKeyser retired.
The EyeSight Foundation was founded in 1997 upon sale of the former Eye Foundation Hospital—now UAB Callahan Eye—to the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Through the endowment created from that sale, the Foundation offers grant support to promote preventive and routine eye care, vision screenings and follow-up care, low vision rehabilitation services, geographic access to eye care, training of ophthalmologists, and eye research of all kinds. Since inception, ESFA has awarded about $80 million to UAB and to community based organizations.
Evers served as assistant controller for a faith-based foundation for six years. She combines that experience with what she calls her “passion for the work of the EyeSight Foundation.” Vision research, medical education, and access to excellent eye care are “near and dear to her heart.”
“It is a thrill to support research seeking cures for macular degeneration and other eye diseases. The Foundation also supports medical education as UAB trains the next generation of ophthalmologists. And we support community-based nonprofits which meet needs among Alabama residents with vision impairment.” Evers understands the importance of quality eye health care as she and her family have benefited from excellent care at UAB Callahan Eye long before joining ESFA’s staff. “In Outpatient Surgery, in the Emergency Department, and in Callahan clinics, we have received excellent care.”
When her son was 10, he was struck in the eye with a baseball, and he was rushed to the Emergency Department at Callahan. She was so impressed by the care her son received in the ED and in Callahan clinics at his many follow-up appointments, she wrote a letter to UAB leadership in appreciation of the “jewel that Callahan represents in Alabama’s medical community.” She noted that Callahan is one of only two Level 1 Ocular Trauma Centers in the United States with a 24/7 eye emergency department. “It’s very unusual to have this very specialized eye care facility in our community,” she added.
“Our long-term goal is to maintain our endowment so that, for many years into the future, we can support access to eye and vision care; education of ophthalmologists; and cutting edge research seeking a cure for blinding eye diseases,” said Evers.
Torrey V.A. DeKeyser, Executive Director Emerita – retired October 1, 2021
Torrey DeKeyser joined the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama (ESFA) as Executive Director in 1999, following a 20-year career in university advancement and administration within the University of Alabama System, including both the University of Alabama (her alma mater) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Ms. DeKeyser is responsible to the EyeSight Foundation governing board in all aspects of the foundation’s work. As a charitable grant making organization dedicated to serving as a catalyst for improving eyesight through education, research and access to care in Alabama, ESFA awards $2.5 million in grants annually. In 2012 the EyeSight Foundation was named Outstanding Charitable Organization by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Active in the philanthropic community, she belongs to state, regional and national funders groups, including Alabama Giving, for which she is past-president of the Board of Directors. She has been a member of Grantmakers in Health and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF).
Within the eye care community, Ms. DeKeyser has served on and is the past chairwoman of the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors, where she also has served as Board Secretary and as Co-Chair of its Public Health and Policy Committee. She is involved with the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research/Alliance for Eye and Vision Research, as well as the Priory in the USA of the Order of St. John. She has served on the Steering Committee of the Sight Savers America’s Hall W. Thompson Hero for Sight Award event since its inception.
She is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and is a past member of the Birmingham Women’s Committee of 100, the American Heart Association (AHA) Circle of Red and the Junior League of Birmingham. Ms. DeKeyser also has been involved in the YWCA Purse & Passion program, the VOICES for Alabama’s Children Board of Directors, the Birmingham Women’s Network and the United Way of Central Alabama as a Loaned Executive.