Eyeworld

The ASCRS Foundation symposium at the 2026 ASCRS Annual Meeting T he ASCRS Foundation sym- posium at the 2026 ASCRS Annual Meeting highlighted domestic humanitarian eyecare and featured an es- teemed panel who shared their experi- ences. The symposium was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Vision and Carl Zeiss Meditec, and it also recognized this year's Operation Sight Volunteer of the Year, Judith Kirby, MD. The session was moderated by Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, MD, chair of the ASCRS Foundation, Susan MacDonald, MD, immediate past chair of the ASCRS Foundation, and Cathleen McCabe, MD. It also featured Vance Thompson, MD, Omar Shakir, MD, MBA, Rajesh Rajpal, MD, Nikki Fedoravicius, MPH, Lori McCoy, COA, Hayley Boling, MBA, COE, Jeffrey Levenson, MD, Lisa Park, MD, and Sarah Duval, COE, COA. At Dr. Thompson's private practice, he said Operation Sight, the ASCRS Foundation's U.S.-based charitable VOLUNTEERISM IN DOMESTIC HUMANITARIAN EYECARE: BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE cataract surgery program, has been a process and a starting point. Some- times you don't know exactly what to do when you're trying to figure out the needs. "It's nice for us to have a starting point. We'll usually have our administrator start that process, and the Operation Sight team is so good at showing you the way," he said. Dr. MacDonald added that one of the most wonderful things about Operation Sight is that it can help patients find you, but it can also help you figure out the patient. It's a great partnership between physicians and the ASCRS Foundation, she said. Encouraging involvement with Operation Sight, Ms. Duval shared some of the ways that physicians and their practices can work with Operation Sight: 1. You have a patient in your practice who doesn't have insurance and are unsure how to pay. You can send that patient to Operation Sight. Ms. Duval will do the administrative work to gather financial informa- tion and vet the patient to make sure they meet the qualifications. If they're approved, she will either send them back to the physician/ practice to perform charitable sur- gery or she will find someone who will do the surgery. 2. Someone finds ASCRS Foundation/ Operation Sight organically. They know they have a cataract and can't afford it. They apply, they're vetted, and Ms. Duval reaches out to the network of volunteer surgeons who are as close to that patient's home as possible. 3. There are also Operation Sight grantees, where the practice has a verified 501(c)(3) foundation, and once a year, they can apply to Oper- ation Sight. "We grant them money from our foundation to theirs, and they use that money to offset costs of their charitable care throughout the year. They also report twice a year with impact reports," she said. Ms. Duval encouraged everyone to visit the Operation Sight website (operationsightusa.org) to learn more about the process and how to become a volunteer surgeon. Dr. Thompson said that for practices that want to help but are trying to figure out a starting point, the Operation Sight program can help guide them. Source: ASCRS Drs. Al-Mohtaseb, MacDonald, and McCabe moderated the symposium, in addition to speaking about their own experiences with domestic humanitarian eyecare. Source: ASCRS

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