The event will celebrate the Department of Ophthalmology’s history and graduating its 100th graduate from the residency program. The department was established in 1971 with George S. Tyner, M.D., serving as the first chairman. Tyner was appointed by Founding Dean of the School of Medicine John Aure Buesseler, M.D., Ph.D.
Some of the Department of Ophthalmology’s history includes:
- Mary Van Horn Pratt, M.D., became the first full-time faculty member in the winter of 1973.
- The three-year residency program began in 1976 with one resident, Anthony Weber, M.D., who later became the first graduate of the program in 1979.
- By 1983, the program expanded to three residents per year for a total of nine residents with 10 faculty members.
- Since the department’s inception, it has been home to the Great Plains Lions Eye Bank which is a nonprofit organization founded by the Lions Club International, with a mission to reduce the waiting lists for corneal transplant surgery.