Eyeworld

News January 2018 Vol. 15, No. 1 A Cornea Society publication A t the Cornea and Eye Bank- ing Forum, several prestigious awards were presented. The R. Townley Paton Award Lecture was given by Michael Nordlund, MD, Cincinnati, and was titled "Reflections on the Success and Future of Eye Bank- ing." Dr. Nordlund shared experiences from the last 16 years of his work with the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA). Prior to eye banking it was the surgeon's responsibility to take care of many of the functions of eye banks to- day, including recovery, donor eligibili- ty, tissue evaluation, processing, storage, distribution, and record keeping/trace- ability. It's a collaboration, Dr. Nordlund said. Surgeons are working with eye banks, but every eye bank also has a medical director overseeing the process- es. Dr. Nordlund highlighted some of the innovations in eye banking. The rea- son we've been able to approach surgery differently is because of the willingness of eye banks to innovate and provide tissues, he said. "We want quality tissue, and we want quality surgery," Dr. Nordlund said. This is the glue that holds eye banks together from both the physician and eye bank side. The EBAA has been there overseeing this transformation, making sure there are methods to assess tissue quality. So there is the surgeon in the OR doing surgery, eye banks respon- sible for recovery and preparation of tissue, and the EBAA monitoring. Dr. Nordlund shared his thoughts on some threats on the horizon and why it's important to be aware of what's made eye banking successful. He spoke about consolidation, noting patterns of consolidation in healthcare. Consolida- tion does have benefits, he said. You can standardize, and there's market leverage. Disadvantages of consolidation include less diversity for innovation, increased separation between end user/supplier, and disruption of the feedback loop. Consolidation is going to change eye banking, Dr. Nordlund said. This will make it more important that physicians maintain input in the process and be in- volved in the EBAA, as well as with their local bank. Dr. Nordlund encouraged attendees to consider locally sourced products. The Claes H. Dohlman, MD, PhD Award was given to Mark Mannis, MD, Sacramento, California. This award recognizes a lifetime of teaching excel- lence in the field of cornea and external Prestigious awards presented at Cornea and Eye Banking Forum Dr. Mannis thanks members of the Cornea Society and other mentors in the cornea field after receiving the Claes H. Dohlman, MD, PhD Award. continued on page 3

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