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Richard Litwin, MD, Honored with ASCRS Foundation's 2019 Chang Humanitarian Award

news | Jan 31, 2019

HCP Founding Board Member recognized for work in area of cataract blindness

The American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Foundation (ASCRS) announced, that Richard Litwin, MD, is the recipient of the 2019 ASCRS Foundation Chang Humanitarian Award. The annual award, which is endowed by HCP Clinical Advisor, Dr. David F. Chang and his wife, Victoria, was created to celebrate and highlight outstanding humanitarian work in the area of cataract blindness. According to a press release by ASCRS, the award will be presented to Dr. Litwin at the 2019 ASCRS•ASOA Annual Meeting in San Diego, California this spring.

Dr. Litwin, who is an HCP founding Board Member and long-time donor, has dedicated his life to improving eye care in the world. Dr. Litwin was a pioneer in the establishment of modern eye care in India, Nepal and other countries in which Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology and the Himalayan Cataract Project operate. He has taught cataract surgery in Asia for more than 30 years, and in the 1980’s, he worked to help establish the Aravind Eye Institute in India, one of the finest eye care facilities in the world. Moreover, Dr. Litwin was the first person to perform cataract surgery using a lens implant in Nepal and began working with HCP Co-Founder, Dr. Sanduk Ruit in 1985.

Dr. Litwin has earmarked the awarded $50,000 grant to support HCP global eye care partner, the Seva Foundation. CONGRATULATIONS DR. LITWIN!

For more information about the ASCRS Foundation Chang Humanitarian Award, visit www.ascrsfoundation.org/changaward.

“Dick personifies the unsung hero – someone who neither seeks, nor receives recognition for a lifetime of great deeds. Indeed, very few will have heard of this ophthalmologist in solo private practice, who’s had tremendous impact on the treatment of cataract blindness in the developing world.”

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