Volunteer Faculty

Our world-renowned Volunteer Faculty are the heartbeat of our training programs, both on the Flying Eye Hospital and in partner hospitals around the world. For more than 40 years the keystone of our work has been to teach and train local eye teams to provide quality eye care—we couldn't do it without their hard work and dedication.

Our world renowned Volunteer Faculty is the heartbeat of our organization.

One of the biggest problems in eye health is the lack of an adequately trained workforce. Our global network of volunteer medical professionals give up their free time each year to share their amazing skills with with eye teams around the world.

In 2023, 151 Volunteer Faculty gave up their free time and energy to give in-person training in local hospitals or on board the Flying Eye Hospital, virtual training courses, online lectures, or Cybersight consultations on complex patient cases.

This is the very reason Orbis was formed—to provide ongoing training and support. Comprised of world leading experts in eye health, our global force of 400 volunteer ophthalmologists, nurses, anesthesiologists and biomedical engineers from over 30 countries, share their skills with local teams to help improve the level of eye care for generations to come.

By talking to our partner hospitals and their staff, we create teaching programs tailored specifically for their needs. Our volunteers conduct this training and pass on the tools to undertake more complicated procedures, improve surgical outcomes and most importantly of all, restore sight to those in need of assistance.

Take a look behind the scenes on board the Flying Eye Hospital with our Volunteer Faculty!

2023 Impact

Our Volunteer Faculty also mentor people from around the world through our telemedicine platform, Cybersight. With 89% of the globe’s blind population living in low income settings, this training is making eye care more accessible where it’s needed most.

The work of our Volunteer Faculty has had a lasting impact on global eye care. In 2023 alone:

66 Volunteer Faculty

shared skills in-person, virtually, in hospitals and via Cybersight.
11 Volunteer Faculty

delivered virtual training programs.
59 Volunteer Faculty

delivered 50 online lectures.
55 Volunteer Faculty

conducted in-person trainings.

Meet Some of Our Volunteer Faculty

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. James Lehmann

This National Volunteer Week, we’re spotlighting the wonderful work of longtime Orbis Volunteer Faculty, Dr. James Lehmann. Dr. Lehmann kick-started his career with Orbis with a sight-saving trip to Xinjiang, China, in 2005, as a Flying Eye Hospital Staff Ophthalmologist on the DC-10.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Hee Joon Kim

This is the talented Dr. Hee Joon Kim, an oculoplastic specialist, whose expertise enables her to transform lives every day. Dr. Kim was recently in Vietnam for our first in-person, patient-focused Flying Eye Hospital project since the pandemic – hear what she has to say and how she was “blown away” by her very first Orbis experience.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Mary O'Hara M.D.

Dr. Mary O’Hara is a pediatric ophthalmologist specializing in strabismus at Davis, University of California, in Sacramento and a long-serving member of our Volunteer Faculty - our team of world leading experts who give up their free time to share their amazing skills.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Doreen Frimpong, Pediatric Ophthalmologist

Dr. Frimpong is an eye health hero we’ve been working side-by-side with since 2017. She heads up the pediatric department at our partner Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and has been working hard to save sight on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Andrea Molinari M.D.

Say hello to Dr. Andrea Molinari, an ophthalmologist who practices in Quito! Dr. Molinari is no stranger to eye care, beginning her practice in 1987. She is now Director of Fellowship in Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at the Fundacion Metrofraternidad, and an Associate Professor at Univ. Central del Ecuador and Univ. Pontificia del Ecuador.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Balamurali Ambati, M.D., PH.D., M.B.A.

Meet cornea specialist and Orbis volunteer Dr. Balamurali Ambati. Bala, as he is known in the eye care community, is the youngest person ever to qualify as a doctor and entered the Guinness Book of World Records for this feat in 1995. What an honor to have him as part of Team Orbis.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Andrew Choyce

As Orbis Staff Anesthesiologist, Dr. Andrew Choyce plays a critical role on board the Flying Eye Hospital ensuring sight-saving treatment is delivered safely – while training countless eye heroes. Most recently, he has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, using his specialist skills to save lives, as well as sight.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Donny Suh

Dr. Donny Suh, MD, FAAP, MBA, FACS, is a Volunteer Faculty member who has volunteered his free time to help others with Orbis for over 20 years. He is Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Douglas Fredrick M.D.

Dr. Douglas Fredrick is a staff physician at Kaiser Permanent Medical Group in South San Francisco, CA, and has been part of the Orbis family since his first Flying Eye Hospital mission in 1998.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Laura Wayman M.D.

Dr. Laura Wayman has been a part of the Orbis Volunteer Faculty family for two years. When she’s not telementoring local eye doctors in South America, she is Vice Chair for Education at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, Tennessee.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Roberto Pineda

Dr. Roberto Pineda, is assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, and a long-time Volunteer Faculty member specializing in cornea and cataracts.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Rosalind Stevens M.D. MPH

Medical retina and Retinopathy of Prematurity specialist, Dr. Rosalind Stevens, has been volunteering with Orbis for more than 20 years and is one of our longest-serving Volunteer Faculty members.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Rudolph (Rudy) Wagner M.D.

Volunteer Faculty member and pediatric specialist, Dr. Rudy Wagner, is Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at Rutgers State, University of New Jersey Medical School. He has been in practice for nearly 40 years and part of the Orbis family since the early 1990s.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Tom Johnson M.D.

Meet oculoplastics surgeon Dr. Tom Johnson, a Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. When he’s not saving sight back at home in Florida, he’s traveling halfway across the world teaching and training eye doctors as one of our dedicated Orbis volunteers.

Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Wallace L.M Alward M.D.

Dr. Lee Alward is one of the world's leading Glaucoma experts and has been a member of the Orbis family for more than 20 years. In 2020 he gave more virtual training sessions than any other Orbis Volunteer Faculty.

Looking to join our Volunteer Faculty? Find out more here.

Find out more

Thanks to your support and the help of our Volunteer Faculty, children can see their parents for the first time; an elderly man regains his vision meaning their grandchild can go to school and no longer needs to be a carer; or a mother can receive surgery and return to work to support her family.

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Help our Volunteer Faculty share their world-leading skills with teams around the world

Flying Eye Hospital

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital is unlike any plane you’ve seen before! A state-of-the-art teaching facility complete with operating room, classroom and recovery room - this amazing aircraft has been an example of the marriage between medicine and aviation since 1982.

SIGHTLINES: Educational Eye Health Medical Podcasts

SIGHTLINES is a new Orbis Video Podcast series hosted by our very own Dr. Hunter Cherwek, Vice President of Clinical Services. The series will discuss the global fight against blindness, how COVID-19 is impacting that fight, and how Orbis is innovating to overcome and move forward.

Volunteer Faculty

2023 Impact

66 Volunteer Faculty

11 Volunteer Faculty

59 Volunteer Faculty

55 Volunteer Faculty