Mission
The Ophthalmology Foundation works with eye care professionals, societies, and organizations to enhance and provide ophthalmic education, with special focus on low-resource and underserved countries. We commit to strengthening ophthalmic education with the ultimate goal of improving eyecare and advancing the preservation and restoration of vision for all.
Vision
A world where everyone has the opportunity to have the best possible vision and eye health.
Values
The Ophthalmology Foundation prioritizes:
- equity, inclusion, ethical and responsible behavior
- fostering an organization of many voices, perspectives, and backgrounds
- and, ensuring our programs represent, resonate with, and positively impact the varied communities we work with.
Strategy
We support and create programs that advance and facilitate the teaching skills of medical teachers, with a particular focus on ophthalmologists in low-resource and underserved countries.
We will equip those involved in the training of eye care professionals with the attitude, knowledge and skills needed to be effective educators.
We will encourage the training of eye care teams composed of ophthalmologists, allied ophthalmic personnel and administrators, which is the most efficient way of improving access to quality eye care in a context of limited resources.
Resources invested in education have a multiplier effect of benefitting many patients: improving the quality and longevity of their eyesight, as well as averting the multiple effects that follow a person’s vision loss or impairment.
The Ophthalmology Foundation is dedicated to improving eye care and advancing scientific ophthalmology through deeper support of international ophthalmic education. Our special emphasis on bringing state-of-the-art educational concepts and original content to low-resource and underserved countries keeps the focus on our ultimate goal: making prevention of blindness and maintenance of high-quality vision accessible to people of all nations.
Where We Work
The Ophthalmology Foundation is a global organization based in San Francisco, USA. The International Ophthalmological Fellowship Foundation is based in Munich, Germany. We focus our educator programs in low income regions and nations where access to ophthalmic care may be inadequate. We have Board members representing all world regions, many subspecialties and supporting industry.
Our Programs
The Ophthalmology Foundation is proud to support faculty education programs created by a team of respected ophthalmic educators, high impact fellowships created and managed by the International Ophthalmologic Fellowships Foundation, and online examinations to ensure ophthalmologists in training meet the highest standards of excellence in knowledge and skills.
History
The Ophthalmology Foundation is the successor organization of the International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation (ICOF). As a co-founder of the ICOF, our Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Spivey led members in raising funds for the International Council of Ophthalmology to advance educational programs within the global ophthalmic community.
For more than 20 years, Bruce and his colleagues at the ICOF worked toward multiple goals in furthering ophthalmic care and continuing professional education, primarily through programs focused on increasing the abilities of educators in training better practitioners. Eventually, the goals of the ICOF grew beyond the initial founding principles, and by mutual decision the ICOF and International Council of Ophthalmology decided to pursue different philanthropic programming.
The Ophthalmology Foundation was born out of this experience and the ultimate goal of creating a global network of ophthalmologists, administrators, and ophthalmic educators who will be able to apply the most recent advances in the practice of ophthalmic care, regardless of geography or income levels. The Ophthalmology Foundation believes that by incorporating the latest thinking on how to deliver education virtually and in-person, we can increase the training opportunities for ophthalmologists worldwide, developing doctors who will be able to to improve their local systems, and ultimately increasing access to care through better practices and increased capacity.
Our Partners
The Ophthalmology Foundation is grateful for our partners who are committed to our mission and contribute to and help disseminate the work that we do.
Membership
The Ophthalmology Foundation is a proud member of the IAPB.
