Educational website sponsored in part by alumnus
John Drouilhet, M.D., in honor of his mother, Gladys.

Founded in 1968, the Hermann Eye Fund has three purposes: funding for research regarding the eye and visual system, caring for indigent patients with serious eye problems and teaching fellows, residents, medical students, general physicians, optometrists, nurses and ancillary personnel in the field of ophthalmology.

To further this mission, the Cizik Eye Clinic was established in 1975, in shell space provided by Hermann Hospital on the 7th floor of the new Jones Pavilion. Two million dollars in funds were raised from the community for the build-out, of which the Houston Endowment gave $250,000. The Cizik Eye Clinic opened in 1977, through the generosity of Houston Endowment, the Cullen Foundation, the Brown Foundation, the M. D. Anderson Foundation and many individuals.

For the last 29 years, the Hermann Eye Fund has functioned as a catalyst for the Cizik Eye Clinic in providing teaching, research and indigent care. Nearly a million dollars in services are provided annually to indigent and semi-indigent patients. We are often the only resource for patients who need treatment for serious eye problems but are uninsured. The Eye Center serves as a referral source for other ophthalmologists, San José Clinic, Commission for the Blind, University of Houston School of Optometry, the county clinics, Lighthouse for the Blind and numerous other community agencies. In addition, the Cizik Eye Clinic enhances eye care delivered at numerous indigent clinics, i.e. San José, Baytown, Acres Home, Settegast and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, by providing access to sophisticated testing equipment not available at those facilities. Obviously maintaining precious eyesight is of great value to the individuals we serve and to our community.

The Hermann Eye Center in its association with The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, is one of only two institutions in Houston providing specialty training in ophthalmology. Nine residents complete training in a three-year period. Since the program’s inception in the mid-1940’s, over 130 residents have graduated; additionally 5,000 medical students and approximately 16,000 general physicians have been taught basic ophthalmology and related medical personnel have received instruction on eye disease and trauma. Through the Hermann Eye Fund, 13 endowments have been created in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, one of which was the first Distinguished University Chair (John S. Dunn) within The UT System.

The Hermann Eye Fund’s support of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston has allowed the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science to become one of the top U. S. institutions conducting basic vision research. Research to Prevent Blindness awarded the Department both the prestigious Stein Professorship and a Career Development Award in the same year – the first and only time RPB has granted these two awards in one year to the same institution.