Eye Corps – Working to End Preventable Blindness in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

Dr. Susan MacDonald, MD, board-certified ophthalmologist, Co-founder and CEO of Eye Corps discusses Eye Corps’ mission to eliminate preventable blindness in sub-Saharan Africa through strategic partnerships with the local medical community and ophthalmic training institutions. Eye Corps works to build a sustainable infrastructure for eye care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on eliminating gender inequity in vision care.

Susan MacDonald, MD, Co-Founder, Eye Corps

Susan MacDonald is a board-certified ophthalmologist, receiving her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She trained in two specialties: Internal Medicine at Brown University and Ophthalmology Residency at the University of Utah.

At Brown, she helped develop a multi-specialty team to address medical and social barriers associated with AIDs. At the University of Utah, she fell in love with ophthalmic surgery and its ability to restore sight. The Moran Eye Center is where she found her purpose, her lifelong friends and amazing mentors. Returning to New England, she joined the Lahey Clinic Medical Center and Tufts School of Medicine clinical teaching program where she taught and treated patients for twenty-five years.

She is a member of the Academy of Ophthalmology and of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). She has accepted the chair position of the ASCRS Foundation to support outreach in America and internationally. As a key thought leader, she is a senior advisor for two investment funds focusing on new technologies to improve health care in low- and middle-income countries.

In 2017, Susan co-founded Eye Corps, a nonprofit in sub-Saharan Africa. Within five years Eye Corps has grown from a small idea to a well-respected model of sustainable eye care. The goal of Eye Corps is to improve the quality and quantity of eye care provided by in-country professionals.