Division of International Ophthalmology
Welcome
About thirty seven million people in the world are blind. 90% of these people live in developing countries, where population growth is too rapid to be consistently supported by their current health care systems. Eighty percent of the blindness in these countries is avoidable, and can be cured or prevented by inexpensive interventions.
These countries lack sustainable eye care infrastructure, and they have a very small ratio of ophthalmologists to patients, especially in rural areas. The goal of the University of Wisconsin Division of International Ophthalmology (UW DIO) is to help surmount these barriers and move towards more readily available education and eye care for populations around the world. Our main goal is to provide sustainable models of delivering eye care to these people, stressing up-to-date education and the development of a strong local eye care infrastructure. With support towards this goal from the University of Wisconsin Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, we will organize medical missions, education exchanges and collaboration in research. Through our program, eye care centers internationally will be better able to collaborate in providing the world with quality eye care for all citizens.
Why Us?
As a recognized leader in eye care, education and research, the University of Wisconsin Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (UW DOVS) is well-equipped to help address blindness on an international scale. We provide high-quality primary and subspecialty eye care to over 35,000 patients every year, and the strong educational programs in the UW DOVS train students, residents and fellows, and provide important knowledge to patients and the general public. Faculty expertise combined with modern laboratories and facilities have allowed the DOVS to become one of the nation's top recipients of grants for vision research from the National Eye Institute.
The UW DOVS has an established history as a member of the international eye care community. Two charitable organizations have been founded by faculty in this department—Rural Eye Care Clinics and the Combat Blindness Foundation. More than one-third of the faculty and technical staff of the UW DOVS have participated in international ophthalmology missions through organizations such as these, and partnerships with them, especially the Combat Blindness Foundation, are a strong foundation for the DOVS's international involvement. The department has also hosted international fellowships to evolve the education of colleagues around the world.
Our Goals
The UW DIO divides its objectives into three groups. Each one is committed to achieving better global communication, education and eye health through a different avenue. The Patient Care program will consist of organized medical missions to other countries and mentorship opportunities for eye doctors from both countries in a working environment.
The Education program will facilitate information exchange around the world through the exchange of lecture and demonstration videos and the application of telemedicine to teach new techniques. We will also be implementing an exchange program for students and residents.
Worldwide, eye care research can be improved by pooling resources and collaboration between faculty from different countries. Essential improvements in eye disease treatment can be researched more efficiently through collaborative research.
Patient Care
The Patient Care program's goal is to establish sustainable medical care for underserved populations while developing educational opportunities for ophthalmologists. We will extend services directly to new and existing clinics in developing countries in the form of medical missions, benefitting both the host country and the UW in several ways. The medical missions themselves will consist of teams of UW faculty, residents and technical staff visiting a host country for two to four weeks at a time. The teams will work with doctors and medical staff of the host country in a new or existing clinic to diagnose patients with eye problems, provide patients with information on their condition and perform necessary basic surgeries. While directly providing medical aid to these patients is a priority, the UW ophthalmologists and local medical staff will simultaneously be able to form mentoring relationships with one another. Local doctors and residents would be able to experience and learn diagnostic and surgical techniques in situ and the UW medical team would gain a better understanding of different patient populations and medical environments. The boost in patient care provided by the UW medical team would help to establish the host clinic as a more permanent eye care center with a fully-trained staff.
Education
The education program's goal is to facilitate the exchange of information and educational materials with patients and eye health care providers in developing countries. The program would include an international exchange program opened to residents, faculty and staff of the UW DOVS, as well as the establishment of a telemedicine program to help share seminars, symposia and demonstrations with doctors in places with fewer educational resources.
The international exchange program would provide residents, faculty and staff of the UW DOVS the opportunity to visit institutions in India for two to four weeks at a time. They would have the opportunity to apply necessary surgical techniques to a population in need and would be exposed to a very different medical environment, allowing them to learn and understand the challenges faced by developing countries. They would also be exposed to a different patient demographic, allowing them to develop proficiency in treating diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. The exchange program would also encourage faculty from different countries to visit and train at the UW DOVS. Visiting faculty would be able to observe and learn new techniques firsthand, and through attending seminars and symposia would be made aware of recent developments in techniques and treatments.
Developing telemedicine capabilities at the UW DOVS would allow for seminars, faculty lectures and other visual/aural educational material to be accessed by partner institutions in other parts of the world. Recording or live streaming the weekly Grand Round and surgical demonstrations would help other institutions build their educational material and keep them up-to-date. At the same time, the UW DOVS would continue to develop its image as one of the strongest and most effective eye care institutions in the world.
Research
The purpose of the research project will be to enhance the efficiency and productivity of research for the University of Wisconsin as well as other institutions in India. Through promoting collaborative research, ideas and resources from both the UW and partner institutions would be used more effectively in solving problems and making discoveries about eye disease, its care and prevention.
General research goals include the improvement of understanding and treatment of diseases prevalent in developing countries and the development of better patient care, as well as the development of stem cell research ideas. An added benefit of pooling resources is the expansion of a patient demographic for clinical research. Diseases more prevalent in other parts of the world could be researched more effectively, and at the same time, effective and high-quality care would be able to reach more patients.
Contact Us
UW DIO Director:
Dr. Suresh Chandra
srchandr@wisc.edu
(608) 263-9338