Dr. Geoffrey Tabin named “Unsung Hero of Compassion” at ceremony with the Dalai Lama

Dr. Geoff Tabin speaks with the Dalai Lama upon receiving his award.

Dr. Tabin snapped this photo of HCP supporters Art Hall and Victoria Chang (in foreground) listening to the Dalai Lama at the ceremony.

On April 26, 2009, Dr. Geoffrey Tabin, co-director of the Himalayan Cataract Project, was named an "Unsung Hero of Compassion" in a ceremony featuring remarks by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Tabin was among 49 people from 13 countries to be celebrated in San Francisco for their service to society. "These individuals have been selected as representatives of the tens of thousands of people worldwide who quietly serve the disenfranchised and work to improve our communities through their personal efforts," said event chair Dick Grace, founder of Grace Family Vineyards and board chair of Wisdom in Action, the organization hosting the event.

"We don’t see them or hear about them in the daily news, but they exemplify a humanism and heroism to which we must each aspire."

Event organizers noted that as a mountaineer, Dr. Tabin became the fourth person in the world to climb the highest points of all seven continents. As an ophthalmologist, he has reached equally impressive medical heights, co-founding the Himalayan Cataract Project and empowering more than 75 doctors in 16 countries to perform more than 200,000 sight-restoring cataract surgeries throughout Asia.