All those associated with The Himalayan Vision Project are grateful for the tireless and heroic efforts of the teams of international vision health care physicians and optometrists who have brought vastly improved quality of life to countless men, women and children of Ladakh over the past 7 years.
Our objectives and capabilities have taken a quantum leap forward by virtue of an alliance formed with the prestigious LV Prasad Eye Institute located in Hyderabad. This invaluable collaboration was made possible by the friendship and share ideals of one of the world’s most renown and admired cornea and stem cell specialists, Dr Virender Sangwan. Dr Sangwan came to the aid of a Ladakhi police officer who was suffering from an extremely serious eye condition and through the successful treatment of that very fortunate individual has become a friend and inspiration to us all.
We now have three local Ladakhi students enrolled at the excellent LVPEI / Bousch & Lomb vision technician training center. They will return to Ladakh in August 2015 to permanently staff our expanded vision clinic facility. Teams of talented and dedicated physicians will come to Ladakh from The LV Prasad Eye Institute to conduct wide scale screening and treatment camps and we’ll be able to send the more serious cases to Dr Sangwan at LVPEI in Hyderabad so that they can benefit from their cutting edge capability and compassionate ideals.
Dr Virender Sangwan embodies our mantra of altruistic action:
Some people see things as they are and say why?
Others see things as they should be and say, why not?
Director – SRUJANA Centre for Innovation, Centre for Regenerative Ophthalmology and Clinical Research
Consultant, Cornea and Anterior Segment, Ocular Immunology & Uveitis Services
Virender Singh Sangwan completed his basic medical education from Maharshi Dayanand University, Haryana, in 1986 and MS Ophthalmology in 1991. He did a fellowship in Cornea & Anterior Segment at L V Prasad Eye Institute, and another in Immunology & Uveitis Services at Harvard Medical School, USA, before joining LVPEI. He has worked as Field Medical Director at ORBIS International, Inc., New York, and as Chief Fellow, Immunology & Uveitis Service of Harvard Medical School, Boston. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester, New York, USA. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award 2006 and the Biotech Products and Process Development and Commercialization Award 2007 from the Government of India. He has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals, presented widely and served as faculty for workshops and instruction courses on uveitis, limbal stem cell deficiency and limbal stem cell transplantation, nationally and internationally. He is reviewer for the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, Cornea, Comprehensive Ophthalmology Update and Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. He is on the editorial board of International Ophthalmology and section editor of British Journal of Ophthalmology. He is an honorary member of the North African Centre of Sight, National Ophthalmic Society of El Salvador and National Ophthalmic Society of Peru. He is secretary of the Asia Cornea Society and Vice-President, Uveitis Society of India. He is also founder secretary/ treasurer of Uveitis Society of India and the LVPEI Alumni Association.
Please enjoy a short inspirational lecture given by Dr Sangwan called,
“Square Peg in a Round Hole”