LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OneLegacy announced today that J. Martin Heur, MD., PhD, has been named Associate Medical Director for the OneLegacy Eye Bank located in Los Angeles, CA. The OneLegacy Eye Bank is the largest, not-for-profit eye bank servicing the Southern California area.
Dr. Heur currently serves as Professor and Interim Chair of Ophthalmology at the Roski Eye Institute at Keck Medicine of USC. He received both his MD and PhD degrees from the Physician Scientist Training Program at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he was awarded an NIH Medical Scientist Training Program fellowship. He completed residency training at the Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute, followed by a fellowship in cornea and external disease and refractive at the USC Department of Ophthalmology.
“Dr. Heur is a champion of the OneLegacy Eye Bank and has been committed to the utilization of locally donated tissue. He has developed and led our annual hands-on instructional seminars which educate and train surgeons on innovative surgical techniques for treating corneal diseases,” said OneLegacy Eye Bank Medical Director Christopher Blanton, MD. “We are thrilled that he will be assuming this role with our Eye Bank.”
The mission of the OneLegacy Eye Bank is to restore sight to patients in the Southern California community by recovering, evaluating, and distributing ocular tissue for transplantation and research. Additionally, the OneLegacy Eye Bank has provided sight-restoring corneas to over 25 countries worldwide.
“We are excited to welcome Dr. Heur into our distinguished group of OneLegacy Medical Directors. Not only does he bring with him an impressive background, he also shares OneLegacy’s values of healing lives through eye donation, a commitment to quality, and inspiring our community to Donate Life,” said Prasad Garimella, Chief Operating Officer of OneLegacy and Executive Director of the OneLegacy Eye Bank.
The announcement of Dr. Heur’s appointment comes during National Eye Donation Month. Since 1983, Eye Donation Month has served as an opportunity to educate the public about cornea donation, transplantation, and the important work done by local eye banks across the United States. It also sheds light on the importance of registering to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor while celebrating and honoring donors and their families.
Over 10 million people worldwide are estimated to suffer from corneal blindness. A corneal transplant replaces a portion of an impaired cornea (brought on by disease, injury, infection, or any other causes) with a healthy donor cornea, making corneal blindness a highly treatable condition. More than 95% of all corneal transplant operations successfully restore the recipient’s vision, according to the Eye Bank Association of America.
About OneLegacy
OneLegacy is the nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in seven counties in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern. It serves more than 200 hospitals, 10 transplant centers, a diverse population of 20 million donors and families across the region and waiting recipients across the country. Becoming an eye, organ or tissue donor is easy and can be done by registering online at donateLIFEcalifornia.org/OneLegacy or by “checking YES” at your local DMV. For more information, visit OneLegacy.org
