The Himalayan Cataract Project: Eradicating Preventable Blindness in the Developing World
Geoffrey Tabin, M.D. reaches great heights as Professor of Ophthalmology and Global Medicine at Stanford and as the fourth person in the world to scale the tallest peaks on seven continents.
His passion for mountain climbing motivated his philanthropy as well his choice of medical specialties. Returning from the summit of Mount Everest, he came across a Dutch team performing surgery on a woman needlessly blinded by cataracts. It was then he understood his life calling.
Dr. Tabin is the co-founder and chair of the Himalayan Cataract Project. Together with his Nepalese partner, Dr. Sanduk Ruit, heralded by Associated Press as the “god of sight” to the world’s poor, they made a vow to eliminate all preventable, treatable blindness from the Himalayan region in their lifetime. This goal, in Tabin’s words, is “more audacious than setting out to make the first assent of the east face of Mount Everest.”
Together the two men have proven that hospital quality standards can be applied in impoverished areas, even without electricity or clean water. The Himalayan Cataract Project has since expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Tabin is a Rhodes Scholar and a Knight-Hennessey Scholar. He has published more than 45 peer-reviewed articles and two books: Blind Corners: Adventures on Seven Continents and Blind Corners: Adventures on Everest and The World’s Tallest Peaks.
For additional information or to make a donation to the organization please visit the website: www.cureblindness.org
A book about the organization and work is “Second Suns” by David Oliver Relin.