During the sixth-annual Ivan Marais Cataract-A-Thon at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Hamilton Eye Institute (HEI) Saturday, June 3, physicians will perform cataract surgeries at no cost to restore the sight to 25 individuals, who otherwise could not afford the surgery.
The all-day outreach begins at roughly 7 a.m., in the third-floor surgery center at HEI, 930 Madison Ave. Since the first Cataract-A-Thon in 2017, more than 120 individuals have received the sight-restoring surgery and follow-up care from the annual event.
Brian Fowler, MD, associate professor, vice chair of education, and residency program director in the Department of Ophthalmology at UTHSC/HEI, and Emily Taylor Graves, MD, an ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon from Duncan Eye, PLLC, developed and coordinate the event. Also organizing the event this year, are Will Evans, MD, and Brooks Walker, MD, residents at HEI.
The Cataract-A-Thon honors ophthalmologist and cataract surgery innovator Ivan Marais, MD, who died in 2017. Dr. Marais was a longtime ophthalmology instructor at HEI.
Support for the event comes from the Mid-South Lions and the HEI Lions Club. The Lions host an annual 5K run to help fund outreach, including the Cataract-A-Thon. The Lions Club also assists in identifying individuals over age 55 from Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri in need of the cataract surgery. Those receiving the surgery Saturday were examined at an earlier date and determined to be good candidates for the procedure before being scheduled for the Cataract-A-Thon.
Read more at our UTHSC News site.