Moran Eye Center Ophthalmologist, Geoffrey Tabin, M.D., Honored

Salt Lake City, Utah
December 5, 2008

Salt Lake City, Utah. November 28, 2008. John A. Moran Eye Center Ophthalmologist Dr. Geoffrey Tabin was awarded the Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) at their 2008 Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in November.

Selected from a membership of more than 27,000 ophthalmologists, Dr. Tabin is one of only two physicians to receive this prestigious award for 2008. The Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award was created to recognize individuals involved in humanitarian projects, including participation in charitable activities, care to the indigent and community service.

Dr. Tabin is a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Utah and serves as the Director of International Ophthalmology at the John A. Moran Eye Center. He is a specialist in corneal disease and refractive surgery. Dr. Tabin is also co-Founder of the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) with Dr. Sanduk Ruit of Nepal. The HCP and the Moran Eye Center support eye care centers in Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, Tibet, North Korea, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ghana, Sudan and Ethiopia. In 2007, the HCP and its flagship partner Tilganga Eye Centre screened over 200,000 patients in the Himalayan region and provided more than 12,000 surgeries, bringing the total number of patients screened since 1994 to nearly 1.5 million and the total number of sight restoring surgeries provided to over 75,000.

Under Dr. Tabin's leadership, faculty, fellows, residents, medical students and staff from the Moran Eye Center are conducting surveys and treatments as part of the United Nations Millennium Villages Project. Dr. Tabin is working toward the goal of bringing sustainable eye care to 12 Millennium Villages in Africa.

An avid mountain climber, Dr. Tabin was the fourth person to reach the highest summits on all seven continents, including the first ascent of the East Face of Mount Everest in 1983. He has focused his career on overcoming preventable and treatable blindness throughout the world.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Dr. Tabin, call Steve Brown, Moran Eye Center Communication Manager at 801-587-7693, or email to steven.brown@hsc.utah.edu, or go to www.moraneyecenter.com.

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