John A. Moran Eye Center Ophthalmologists Receives Award from Dali Lama

Salt Lake City, Utah
May 14, 2009

Moran Eye Center Ophthalmic Surgeon and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Utah, Dr. Geoffrey Tabin received an Unsung Heroes of Compassion award from The Dalai Lama on April 26, 2009 in San Francisco. The award is being given to Dr. Tabin for his dedicated service overcoming preventable and treatable blindness throughout the world.

The Unsung Heroes of Compassion award is given by Wisdom in Action, a California-based nonprofit organization. The award honors individuals who, through their loving kindness and service to others, have made their communities and our world a better place. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the exiled leader of the Tibetan people and a Buddhist teacher. The 1989 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an outspoken proponent of non-violence and compassion who is loved and revered internationally.

Dr. Tabin 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 outreach in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Tibet, North Korea, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ghana, Sudan and Ethiopia. This past year, the HCP and its flagship partner Tilganga Eye Center screened over a quarter of a million patients in the Himalayan region and provided more than 15,000 surgeries, bringing the total number of patients screened since 1994 to nearly 1.7 million and the total number of sight restoring surgeries to over 120,000.

Dr. Tabin is also leading the Moran Eye Center outreach effort in partnership with the U.N. Millennium Villages Projects to conduct a survey of blindness in Africa, bringing sustaining eye care to twelve specific villages. The U.N. program seeks to end extreme poverty by working within the most underdeveloped areas, village by village throughout Africa, in partnership with governments and other committed stakeholders. On the most recent mission to Koraro, Ethiopia, one of the U.N. Millennium Development villages, the team from Moran examined all 5,400 people in the village. In addition Dr. Tabin reported the following: We treated every person in the village with antibiotics to eradicate infectious trachoma and restored sight to all 248 people who were blind.

Dr. Randall J Olson, Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology and CEO, John A. Moran Eye Center, said this about Dr. Tabin: I can honestly say that I don.t know of any single individual in the United States who is more focused on curing blindness in underdeveloped countries and helping the poorest of the poor to obtain vision care. Geoff has a relentless passion for international outreach. It seems like every month he is setting up a new eye camp in a remote region of the world where living conditions are some of the worst on earth. With each camp or village he visits, literally hundreds of people gain vision. I believe Dr. Geoff Tabin is richly deserving of this honored award from the Dalai Lama.

The John A. Moran Eye Center has a proud tradition of international outreach. This past year, Moran physicians and researchers have trained healthcare workers and lectured and taught on six continents. Drs. Patel, Crandall, Hoffman, Zabriskie, Goldsmith, Teske, Bernstein, Vitale, Tabin and others have all volunteered to do significant teaching and outreach work in the developing world. Many of the costs for these missions have been born personally. Moran cornea, retina, neuro-ophthalmology, diagnostics (ERG and ultrasound), pathology, oculoplastics, pediatric, uveitis and glaucoma divisions have all been working to train international fellows and residents.

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

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