The UofL Health – Eye Institute opened in 1967 as the Kentucky Lions Eye Research Institute and was later renamed the Kentucky Lions Eye Center. The institute is home to the University of Louisville School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation, Kentucky Lions Eye Bank, Rounsavall Eye Clinic and the WHAS-TV Pediatric Clinic. Inside the institute, the “Wall of Vision” is a tribute to the many philanthropic donors who have made the University of Louisville Health – Eye Institute and Kentucky Lions Eye Center the pinnacle of vision care and eye research in our region.

The UofL Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences currently has basic science research grants totaling $3.14 million from sources that include:

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • S. Department of Defense (DOD)
  • Research to Prevent Blindness Foundation
  • Foundation Fighting Blindness
  • Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence
  • Robert W. Rounsavall, Jr. Family Foundation

The department has sub-awards from Sorbonne University in France and the University of Oklahoma. It also has contracts with entities such as:

  • Sparing Vision
  • Lediant BioSciences
  • Nayan Therapeutics
  • WAVE Life Sciences
  • Precision Biosciences
  • Kentucky Network for Innovation 
  • Commercialization (KYNETIC)
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