View Annual Report - Jules Stein Eye Institute

The Ahmanson Foundation
Awards Grant to
UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic
The Ahmanson Foundation
awarded the UCLA Mobile Eye
Clinic (MEC) at UCLA’s Jules Stein
Eye Institute a generous grant for
advanced diagnostic equipment to
expand services.
The MEC is a 40-foot-long coach
staffed by ophthalmologists,
technicians, and volunteers that
travels four days a week to
underserved areas in Los Angeles—
schools, health clinics, community
centers, homeless shelters—
providing high-quality eye care at
no cost. The new diagnostic
equipment provides significant
enhancements to the MEC, specifically
allowing ophthalmologists to
more effectively screen for diabetic
retinopathy and glaucoma. In
addition, portable instruments that
can be used outside the vehicle
were purchased in order to screen
patients with disabilities and
provide additional support at larger
events such as health fairs. Anne L.
Coleman, MD, PhD, director of the
MEC, noted, “The equipment the
grant enabled us to obtain is
essential for the advancement of
clinical care and, ultimately, the
benefit of patients. We are so
grateful for The Ahmanson’s
Foundation’s wonderful support of
the MEC.”
16 Highlights | Philanthropy
The MEC was established in 1975
by an anonymous donor who was a
friend and associate of Dr. Jules
Stein. The individual had an urgent
eye problem that brought him to
the Jules Stein Eye Institute. He
was so impressed with his care
that he created the MEC with the
advice of his ophthalmologist,
Robert Christensen, MD, to meet
the tremendous unmet need for
eye care in the community.
The MEC’s mission has been
consistent from its inception, and
this high quality, reliable resource
has grown over the years, becoming
well known throughout the
region. This year alone, the MEC
staff and ophthalmic personnel
saw approximately 5,000 patients.
Private philanthropy is critical to
sustaining the MEC and allowing
those in need to benefit from its
important services. Bartly J.
Mondino, MD, director of the
Institute, commented, “The
Ahmanson Foundation has been a
loyal friend for many years, and its
recent grant demonstrates a
steadfast commitment to helping
those in need. We are lucky to
count the Foundation as a partner
in our goal of ensuring a lifetime of
good vision for all.”
The Ahmanson Foundation, incorporated
as a private foundation in
1952, was established by financier
Howard F. Ahmanson and his wife
Dorothy Ahmanson. Its corpus
was augmented in later years by
his two nephews Robert H.
Ahmanson and William H.
Ahmanson. The Foundation serves
Los Angeles County by funding
cultural projects in the arts and
humanities, education at all levels,
health care, programs related to
homelessness and underserved
populations, as well as a wide
range of human services. In 1997,
the Foundation established the
UCLA Center for Eye Epidemiology
to support research and clinical
studies to further knowledge of the
development, treatment, and
prevention of eye disease. In 2005,
it established the Ahmanson Chair
in Ophthalmology, a distinguished
position to which Steven D.
Schwartz, MD, chief of the Retina
Division, was appointed in 2007.
The UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic
travels four days a week to
underserved areas in Los
Angeles—schools, health clinics,
community centers, homeless
shelters—providing high-quality
eye care at no cost.