News & Stories

1932 - 2023

2000 - 2023

In 1962, Ted Hunter and Alson E. Braley created the Eye Bank Network, utilizing ham radio operators to coordinate the exchange of donor eye tissue between eye banks in the United States. The two recruited George Carsner to participate.

1995 - 2023

Retired Attorney Bob Rush's association with Iowa Lions Eye Bank stretches back to 1969, when he was a law student at the University of Iowa.

Among those featured in the 2025 Dare to Discover campaign, sponsored by the Office of the Vice President of Research, is Simran Sarin, a student in the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, whose research examines cornea transplant outcomes.

When Greg Schmidt arrived in Pondicherry in mid-November of 2024, he was greeted with a banana leaf on his door, welcoming him to the city in southeastern India. Schmidt, director of research and business development at Iowa Lions Eye Bank, traveled to Pondicherry with Dr. Kanwal Singh Matharu, assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Iowa, to visit Aravind Eye Hospital and their eye bank.

In the field of ophthalmology, few challenges are as daunting as preventing cell death in the cornea. Dr. Mark Greiner and his team at the University of Iowa are at the forefront of this battle, pioneering research that could revolutionize the treatment of corneal diseases.

Pat McIntosh lives a busy life in Dunkerton, Iowa. She lives on a farm that has been in her husband James’ family for seven generations, growing corn, beans, and hay, and raising beef cows. McIntosh has lived on the farm for 43 years and raises hogs and sheep for show as well.

It's uncommon to need a transplant for even a single part of the body, let alone three. But for John Riehl of Iowa City, receiving cornea, kidney and pancreas transplants not only saved his life but also profoundly enriched it.