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Elizabeth Maynard-Garrett, APR

UTHSC  Communications and Marketing

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UT Celebrates Grand Opening of Hamilton Eye Institute

 

Memphis, Tennessee (September 26, 2005) – On Monday, September 26, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center celebrated the grand opening of a dream…the second phase of the Hamilton Eye Institute.

With this addition of the pediatric and adult patient care clinics and new educational facilities, the Institute now offers patient care, research and teaching resources in one location to serve the region. Located in the 930 Madison Avenue Building, this new facility has more than 60,000 square feet devoted to laboratory facilities, examination rooms, educational and academic facilities, and administrative offices.

Included in the clinical space is the Glaucoma Center, a general adult eye care clinic, subspecialty care clinics, a pediatric eye clinic, a wet lab for surgical instruction, a distance learning suite and an ambulatory surgery center. Medical libraries and resource centers for both physicians and patients are also included.

The educational facility, located on the third floor, contains a 99-seat auditorium, which is handicapped accessible, and has display cases filled with historic ophthalmology equipment and memorabilia.

The Institute will also house a surgery center dedicated to ophthalmology and is scheduled to open in January 2006. Last year, the Institute celebrated completion of the Center for Vision Research with15,000 square feet of research space designed to bring together researchers from across the UT campus in a collaborative environment.

According to UT Hamilton Professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, Barrett G. Haik, MD, “I am overwhelmed just thinking of how much has been accomplished here in a short time. Not only has Dr. Ralph Hamilton’s vision of a comprehensive facility with patient care, research and teaching in one place come to fruition, but also we now have true, state-of-the art facilities to provide care for individuals from all walks of life. Thanks to the technologies available, our telehealth capabilities allow us to provide care literally to anyplace in the world, which will aid in our current work with doctors in Central America.”

“The most amazing part,” Dr. Haik said, “is that all of this construction has been accomplished through private giving. The university is especially grateful to Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, who donated the building and helped make all of this possible.”

Stephen C. Reynolds, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, commented, “I am so pleased that our dreams for these buildings could be realized. It was important for us that these buildings continue to be used for promoting excellence in health care. Certainly, the Hamilton Eye Institute epitomizes this.”

             Named in honor of Memphis ophthalmologist and UT faculty member, Ralph S. Hamilton, MD, and his wife, Barbara Howell Hamilton, the institute is designed to provide patient-friendly care and foster groundbreaking research for future ophthalmologists.

Consistently ranked in the nation’s top ten for clinical care, the Hamilton Eye Institute is the only university eye center providing an advanced level of vision care within a 200-mile radius of Memphis.

 

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