Vision Share Offers DMEK Wet Lab Training Sessions at ASCRS in Los Angeles 

May 2, 2017 – Vision Share, a provider of eye tissue and eye banking expertise, education and industry leadership, announced a series of wet lab training opportunities in Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) for 2017, including a session during the ASCRS 2017, the annual meeting of the American Academy of Cataract & Refractive Surgery held May 5–9 in Los Angeles. Read more…

Award Winner Korroch Explains How Eye Banks Have Worked to Ensure Supply Exceeds Demand

April, 20, 2017 – Longtime eye bank executive David Korroch, chief executive officer, Lions Medical Eye Bank, explains how eye banks have worked hard to meet – and even exceed – the demand for donated tissue. Korroch is the winner of this year’s Leonard Heise Award. Listen to podcast…

Tracing the Path of Donated Corneas

April, 2017 – In the United States, surgeons schedule corneal transplant procedures with the same freedom as cataract surgery, knowing donor tissue is as readily available as any IOL. Of course, surgeons are aware that donor tissue is not manufactured; it arrives at the OR at the end of a meticulous process that begins with a generous final act. Here’s how that process works. Read more…

Work of Eye Bank Network Shows Far-reaching Impact

March 1, 2017 Organization, physicians work together from procurement to placement of corneal tissue.

Events happen fast in eye banking—corneal tissue is donated, procured, evaluated, processed, preserved, matched, delivered, and transplanted in as little as a day. Into
this process go years of work—not only by the surgeons carrying out sight-saving procedures, but also by eye banking leaders who have built a reliable, efficient system to speed corneal tissue from procurement to placement all over the world, every day. Read more…

Lions Eye Institute Propels to World Leader Through Strategic Acquisition

Tampa-Based Eye Bank Purchases International Sight Restoration

TAMPA, Fla. (February 8, 2017) – The Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research (LEITR) announces the acquisition of International Sight Restoration (ISR) in Tampa to double its size, creating one of the largest eye banks and distributers of corneas in the world. Read more…

Corneal graft tissue now comes prepared, preloaded

Tampa – February 9, 2017 – Eye bank innovation can save surgeons time and financial risk. A recent innovation in transplanting Descemet’s membrane will make the procedure faster and more predictable, possibly affecting thousands of patients, clinicians say. The first-ever pre-Descemet’s endothelial keratoplasty (PDEK) corneal transplant procedure, performed with an eye bank-prepared, preloaded Descemet’s membrane graft, took place in January, according to LEITR, the Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research. Read more…

Vision Share Partner Delivers First Prepared Tissue for PDEK Corneal Transplant

CHICAGO – January 18, 2017 – Vision Share, the preferred source for eye tissue, eye banking expertise, education and industry leadership, announces that Ahad Mahootchi, MD, Medical Director of The Eye Clinic of Florida Same Day Surgery Center in Zephyrhills, has performed the first-ever pre-Descemet’s endothelial keratoplasty (PDEK) corneal transplant procedure to rely on an eye bank prepared and preloaded Descemet’s membrane graft. Read more…

Vision Share would like to announce that a new President/CEO has been selected. With excitement, Vision Share welcomes Philip I. Waitzman MBA, MPH, MA, LSW to lead Vision Share’s industry leading network of eye bank members. Mr. Waitzman brings more than 15 years of relevant healthcare and business leadership experience in the areas of marketing, business development, strategic partnerships, fundraising and development.

“I am honored to have been selected as Vision Share’s President/CEO. It is a privilege to be part of an organization that delivers high quality services and whose network consistently drives innovation. It is very apparent that Vision Share is an organization that is dedicated to making a positive, meaningful impact in the ophthalmic community. I will do my best to serve the network by helping enable our staff to fulfill Vision Share’s mission and vision while ensuring our member eye banks fulfill their passion for restoring sight and being good stewards of donation process.”

– Philip Waitzman, Vision Share President/CEO

Prior to joining Vision Share, Mr. Waitzman’s most recent role was Vice President of Corporate Partnerships, Marketing and Military Outreach for Jones International University.  At JIU he was a senior team member charged with leading three departments to develop and maintain over 50 corporate partnerships and military base relationships while overseeing the marketing and communications teams for the University. Mr. Waitzman’s academic background includes completion of a bachelor’s degree from Drake University, a master’s in social services from the University of Chicago, a master’s in public health and a master’s in business administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Philip is clearly the leader for Vision Share’s future and he has the full support of the Vision Share Board. With Philip taking on the role as Vision Share President/CEO we are very confident that he has the leadership to drive Vision Share’s success for the next chapter”.

– Chris Hanna, Vision Share Board Chair

More About Vision Share
Vision Share is the largest network of eye banks in the world, spanning over 17 states in the U.S. Vision Share and its members are consistently recognized as best in class for eye bank experience and expertise and are leading innovators in eye bank procedures and technology. Vision Share prides itself on having a global reach for placement of eye tissue. Our network and its reach are uniquely designed to meet the specific individual needs of surgeons, hospitals, surgery centers, academic institutions, and other eye banks in need of ocular tissue and related services regardless of location.