Article

Aravind Eye Hospital offers an inspirational experience

July 8, 2006. My wife and I had been in the city of Madurai in southern India for just a few days when we read the news in the morning paper-Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (Dr. V), founder of the world-renowned Aravind Eye Hospital, had passed away.

By coincidence, July 8th was also the day I was moving into Aravind's guest house for a month-long surgical rotation. On that sun-scorched Saturday, we rushed to find any white clothing we had (the traditional color to wear at a funeral) and headed to Dr. V's house to pay our respects.

As I prepared my residency match list a few years later, I remember thinking about Aravind, and hoped that I might someday be one of the residents who have a chance to see it firsthand. So, it was with intense, yet mixed, emotion that I came to the campus and Dr. V's house that solemn afternoon. It was a dream come true to have the opportunity to see Aravind for myself, to gain a tremendous surgical experience, to present at Grand Rounds, to examine patients with a broad spectrum of "exotic" diseases, and-to be inspired.

Newsletter

Don’t miss out—get Ophthalmology Times updates on the latest clinical advancements and expert interviews, straight to your inbox.

Related Videos
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times)  ASCRS 2025: Joaquin De Rojas, MD, leverages machine learning model to predict arcuate outcomes
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: AnnMarie Hipsley, DPT, PhD, presents VESA for biomechanical simulation of presbyopia progression
Shehzad Batliwala, DO, aka Dr. Shehz, discussed humanitarian ophthalmology and performing refractive surgery in low-resource, high-risk areas at the ASCRS Foundation Symposium.
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: Advancing vitreous care with Inder Paul Singh, MD
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) The Residency Report: Study provides new insights into USH2A target end points
Lisa Nijm, MD, says preoperative osmolarity testing can manage patient expectations and improve surgical results at the 2025 ASCRS annual meeting
At the 2025 ASCRS Annual Meeting, Weijie Violet Lin, MD, ABO, shares highlights from a 5-year review of cross-linking complications
Maanasa Indaram, MD, is the medical director of the pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus division at University of California San Francisco, and spoke about corneal crosslinking (CXL) at the 2025 ASCRS annual meeting
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: Taylor Strange, DO, assesses early visual outcomes with femto-created arcuate incisions in premium IOL cases
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: Neda Shamie, MD, shares her early clinical experience with the Unity VCS system
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.