Unite For Sight's History

Founded in 2000

Unite For Sight was founded by Jennifer Staple-Clark in her dorm room when she was a sophomore at Yale University. Now Jennifer is 30, and she has grown the organization to be a global nonprofit organization that has provided eye care to 1,300,000 people in North America, Africa, and Asia. A visionary and social entrepreneur, Jennifer Staple-Clark has been featured twice in Nicholas D. Kristof's columns in The New York Times, and she received the American Institute of Public Service's 2009 National Jefferson Award For Public Service, which is regarded as the "Nobel Prize" for public service. Jennifer is also the recipient of the 2011 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, which is presented by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to "an individual whose contributions in the realm of community service, advocacy or grassroots activism have elevated the debate or changed the landscape with respect to a public issue or issues."

Quality Care For 1.3 Million

Unite For Sight's innovative programs in Ghana, Honduras, and India have provided the highest quality of care to more than 1,200,000 of the world's poorest people, including more than 49,000 sight-restoring surgeries. The eye care is provided by local eye doctors. During 2008, Unite For Sight sponsored 5,011 of the 14,053 cataract surgeries done by Ghana eye clinics, which is 36% of all cataract surgeries done in Ghana. During 2009, with Unite For Sight's support of and collaboration with four partner ophthalmologists, Ghana increased its surgical volume to 17,366. Unite For Sight's outreach programs with the four partner eye clinics provided 46% of all cataract surgeries performed in Ghana, and these 8,060 surgeries were provided for patients living in extreme poverty. Unite For Sight was directly responsible for 92% of the cataract surgical increase in Ghana between 2008 and 2009. In 2010, five of the forty-five ophthalmologists in Ghana are now partners of Unite For Sight, and these five ophthalmologists are providing more than half of all surgeries done in Ghana.

7,900 Fellows Trained

Since 2003, Unite For Sight has trained more than 7,900 fellows to eliminate preventable blindness in their local community and abroad. These fellows participate in Unite For Sight's international Global Impact Corps program and with local University Chapter programs. All volunteers participating in Unite For Sight's international Global Impact Corps program work daily with local ophthalmologists, local optometrists, and local ophthalmic nurses to eliminate patient barriers to care and to facilitate comprehensive year-round eye care for patients living in extreme poverty. Unite For Sight prides itself on offering the best global health experience for our Global Impact Fellows, coupled with the highest quality of healthcare delivery programs with our partner eye clinics in Ghana, Honduras, and India.

Cutting-Edge Research

Our programs are designed to continually enhance global health delivery, both with our eye clinic partners, and on a broad scale. We review cutting-edge research and literature about global health delivery and share these lessons learned with each eye clinic partner so that they can apply new practices in the field. Concurrently, we also develop our own cutting-edge research by recruiting volunteers to serve as Global Impact Fellows. We work with the Fellows to design and implement research studies that contribute to understanding about healthcare delivery. For example, one recent research study explores patient understanding of postoperative medication and evaluates the use of visual communication to effectively enhance patient understanding about their crucial postoperative medication regimen. All research studies are reviewed and approved by the Fellow's university Institutional Review Board. While designing and pursuing the research, Global Impact Fellows gain an in-depth appreciation and understanding for global health delivery. Most Fellows present their research findings at conferences or in peer-reviewed journals.