BIRMINGHAM – Torrey DeKeyser, executive director of the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, is retiring from the post she has held for 22 years.
DeKeyser came to the EyeSight Foundation in January 1999, shortly after it was created from proceeds from the sale of the Callahan Eye Hospital to the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Under her direction, the ESFA awards approximately $2.5 million in grants each year, and in 2012, it was named Outstanding Charitable Organization by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
“What a legacy Torrey DeKeyser and the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama have created together,” said EyeSight Foundation Board Chairman Danny McKinney. “I say together because from the foundation’s inception 22 years ago, our board has looked to Torrey for leadership, guidance and wise counsel on the issues facing our organization. She delivered on all three counts over and over again, and the EyeSight Foundation and the eye care community are all the better for it today.”
During her tenure, the Foundation awarded $76 million in grants to eye health partners in Alabama for issues ranging from the training of future ophthalmologists and support of research seeking cures for blinding eye diseases, to providing vision screenings and follow-up care for children, as well as rehabilitation services for individuals with low vision.
The foundation also embarked on two, back-to-back multi-year funding plans to expand eye research at UAB’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, part of the School of Medicine. It is in the midst of the second plan, and the department’s research growth has gone from 32nd nationally to the top 10 in the country as reported by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, which ranks funding support for research.
This special funding began about nine years ago as part of a strong recruiting package for a new ophthalmology department chair at UAB, Dr. Christopher Girkin. DeKeyser credited Girkin with taking the department to a higher level with the help of the EyeSight Foundation.
“Without Torrey’s support and determination to make it happen, we could not have risen as highly and quickly as we did,” said Dr. Christopher Girkin, who serves as chair of UAB’s Ophthalmology Department. “Her leadership skills were integral to the entire process.”
Looking back on a highly successful run, DeKeyser said “what has meant the most to me is being able to contribute to the success of our board of trustees in pursuing our goals. These 24 individuals are so committed and so dedicated. They have supported the staff and explored the best ways to serve our mission – well beyond sending money to worthy grant recipients.”
The trustees supported networking outside Alabama to advance efforts at home in Alabama. “They care passionately about the work our grantees perform and wanted to help attract additional funding when possible,” she said.
DeKeyser had high praise for the grantees themselves, noting that Alabama’s reputation in eye health care extends beyond the state’s borders. “The Alabama vision community is very, very strong and working with our grantees has been an absolute joy and honor,” she said.
DeKeyser cited partnerships with other community funders, like Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation, for success in supporting community grantees such as Alabama-based Sight Savers America (SSA), resulting in the delivery of eye care services for thousands of children, ranging from eyeglasses that allow a child to succeed academically to extensive sight saving treatment for serious eye conditions.
DeKeyser’s own work has not gone unnoticed. Sight Savers America awarded her its highest honor – The Hall W. Thompson Hero for Sight Award – for 2020. Its namesake, Thompson, served as a board member of the EyeSight Foundation, and DeKeyser called him “pivotal” in the work to connect children across the state with proper eye care.
A mosaic by Mary Dignan – who is deaf and blind – will hang on the Sight Savers America tribute wall at Callahan Eye Hospital in honor of DeKeyser along with past recipients of the award. Each year, a visually impaired artist creates a piece of art especially for the recognition.
“For decades, Torrey’s efforts have supported better vision for Alabamians,” Sight Savers founder and president Jeff Haddox said in making the presentation. “She is loved and respected as a leader in the eye care community. She is dedicated to helping others, and it has been an honor to work with her.”
DeKeyser is immediate past chair of the Prevent Blindness Board of Directors, where she also served as secretary and co-chair of the Public Health and Policy Committee. She is active in the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research/Alliance for Eye and Vision Research, and Priory in the USA of the Order of St. John.
In the civic arena, she is a past member of Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the VOICES for Alabama’s Children Board of Directors, American Heart Association Circle of Red and has worked with the YWCA Purse & Passion program, Birmingham Women’s Committee of 100, and Birmingham Women’s Network.
