UW Department of Ophthalmology Celebrates 50th Anniversary

The UW Department of Ophthalmology reached a significant milestone in 2014.  

A milestone tells where one has been but also tells where one is headed.  We are in the midst of the largest expansion in our department’s history, which began with the opening of the UW Medicine Eye Institute in 2009 and continued with opening of the Vision Science Center in 2013.  Our faculty has nearly doubled in size in the past seven years; we have more trainees currently than ever before; and our research portfolio is at a historic high point as well.  We have re-energized our relationships with our community through creation of the Community Action Board, and are truly grateful for great support from our CAB members and others in the community for their generosity.  

Eye disease remains a great public health challenge both in the US and world-wide.  With the aging of the population in the Western world, the need for ophthalmologists and for improvements in our treatments will become even more pressing.  Our mission remains the eradication of suffering from eye disease.  Our faculty, staff, and students work toward this goal every day through our direct patient care, our education of the next generation of ophthalmologists, and our research.  In a perfect world, this 50th anniversary milestone will be our last, and we will reach our ‘Millarium Aureum’ of a world without eye disease before our 100th anniversary in 2064.  To do so will require sustained and heroic efforts.  

Russell N. Van Gelder, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair
Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Chair