From the Chair

I write to say hello and to let you know that our hearts, minds, and prayers are with you and all of yours. For this past year and even to the present, we are all learning a tough lesson: how so much is beyond our control. The effects and reach of the Covid-19 virus have forced us to recognize and rethink our priorities. This pandemic has laid bare the real lesson in how fragile life truly is. Please know that we are with you and stand ready to help in any way that we can.

What matters most is moving forward. We have no choice but to rise above, to be resilient, and to drive change. As we reflect on the year, we are aware of loss and suffering. This must not be in vain. We must make these lessons part of a future that’s better than today.

Our 2021 Annual Report highlights the important ways that we have persevered in the past 18 months.

In the educational sphere, you’ll learn of the new avenues taken to maintain and even expand our Global Ophthalmology program during the pandemic. You’ll also get a preview of our long-awaited new Surgical Skills Training Center. This will enable learners of all stripes and backgrounds to get hands-on experience with common and not-so-common ophthalmologic procedures.

Our research efforts have proceeded with international impact in stem cell research in the retina, gene discovery in childhood glaucoma with novel recovery drug development, and new ways to visualize parts of the globe involved in different eye diseases. Showcased within are the final days of assembly and installation of two adaptive optics instruments as part of our Wisconsin Advanced Imaging Vision Science (WAIVS) initiative, and the gangbuster efforts of our Clinical Eye Research Unit, which has grown 200 percent in clinical trial numbers (now at 56) since 2015.

You’ll learn more about the people – providers and staff – who are the true reason for our success in the clinical realm.  We finally have new and improved homes for our Clinical Eye Research Unit and Low Vision Rehabilitation Programs, since the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences has officially “taken over the house” with its acquisition of all of University Station in the fall of 2021.

Our patients and our partners are the beneficiaries of ALL of the above.  We are grateful for your support.

On, Wisconsin!

Terri L. Young, MD, MBA

Peter A. Duehr Distinguished Chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Professor of Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, and Medical Genetics.