Legacy Devers Eye Institute

The Legacy Devers Eye Institute in Portland, Oregon, is one of the few private, non-profit centers for ophthalmological care, research, and training in the United States.^[1] The Institute is affiliated with Legacy Health, a network of seven hospitals in Portland and Southwest Washington.^[2]

Mission

The Institute offers fee-for-service and charitable eye care.^[1] Part of its mission is to provide universal eye care in the Portland, Oregon, area.

The Institute also trains post-graduate professionals and conducts research. Scientists from Devers have refined how to interpret visual field testing,^[3] a standard part of the assessment of glaucoma. They have also improved corneal transplantation through innovations in DLEK (deep lamellar endothelial keratoplasty)^[4] and DSEK (Descemet's stripping with endothelial keratoplasty).^[5]

History and Funding

The Devers Eye Institute was founded in 1959 thanks to a million-dollar bequest from Arthur Devers, a coffee merchant who suffered from retinal degeneration.^[1][6] The Institute now has an endowment of approximately twenty-five million dollars held primarily by the Legacy Health Good Samaritan Foundation. Part of its research activity is supported through grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Staff and Alumni

The Devers Eye Institute staff includes fourteen ophthalmologists, four physician fellows, two clinical optometrists, and four additional senior scientists performing research. The Discoveries in Sight Research Laboratory is headed by Claude Burgoyne, M.D., 2015 winner of the American Glaucoma Society Clinician Scientist Award.^[7] The clinics are directed by Steve Mansberger, M.D., M.P.H., epidemiology section editor for the American Journal of Ophthalmology.^[8] The cornea service is headed by Mark Terry, M.D., 2016 recipient of the Eye Bank Association of America R. Townley Paton Award.^[9] James T. Rosenbaum, M.D., is the Chief of Ophthalmology.

Notable former staff and graduates of the training program include—

• Jack Cioffi, Edward S. Harkness Professor of Ophthalmology, Columbia University
• Roger A. Dailey, Lester Jones Professor of Oculoplastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University and President emeritus of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• J. Crawford Downs, Vice-Chair of Ophthalmology Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham ^[10]
• Joseph Robertson, president of the Oregon Health & Science University
• Ian A. Sigal, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh^[11]
• J. Timothy Stout, Chief of Ophthalmology, Baylor University Medical Center at Houston^[12]
• Michael Straiko, innovative corneal transplant surgeon^[13][14]
• Peter Veldman, corneal transplant surgeon and instructor at Harvard Medical School^[15][16]

References