EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/1545140
SUMMER 2026 | EYEWORLD | 15 Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, MD (right), ASCRS Foundation chair, recognized the recipients of the ASCRS Foundation Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award during an ASCRS Main Stage session at the 2026 ASCRS Annual Meeting. Rengaraj Venkatesh, MD, and Aravind Haripriya, MD, were this year's co-awardees. Source: ASCRS Contact info@ascrsfoundation.org Dr. Kirby added that her whole practice team sees the benefit of being involved with Operation Sight and volunteer surgery. "One of the things that helps me keep my employees is that they derive satisfaction from giving back as well, from helping people see," she said. "It's not just me, it's my whole team." She added that the interaction and the collaboration with her staff really shows that "everyone is on the same page to try to do something to help these patients." Dr. Kirby is also grateful for her training, noting that she trained at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, under physicians like Dan Jones, MD, and Douglas Koch, MD. "I had great mentors who have contributed so much to ophthalmology and who were instru- mental in making me the ophthalmologist that I am today," she said. Furthermore, their commit- ment to sharing their knowledge and expertise in training residents as well as at meetings has propelled the specialty forward exponentially. "It's so exciting to see how cataract surgery has evolved over the last 3 decades," Dr. Kirby said, adding that it has become so much more precise with new instrumentation, techniques, and lens implant choices. "Ophthalmology has been a great profes- sion for me," Dr. Kirby said, adding that she wants to pass it on and help the next generation of ophthalmologists as well as patients in need. The ASCRS Foundation hosted a symposium at the 2026 ASCRS Annual Meeting in which panelists spoke about domestic volunteerism and the Operation Sight program. Source: ASCRS Richard Lindstrom, MD, and Stephen Lane, MD, attended an ASCRS Foundation reception during the ASCRS Annual Meeting. The ASCRS Foundation recognized individual donors and corporate supporters throughout the meeting. Source: ASCRS