The ASCRS Foundation has received a $1 million gift from Alcon to enable the foundation to expand its physician education and public awareness efforts. The gift also provides substantial funding for the foundation’s other areas of operation, including support for the Robert M. Sinskey Pediatric Eyecare Clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The gift was announced at the Opening General Session of the 2007 ASCRS Annual Symposium by Foundation Chairman I. Howard Fine, MD, and Alcon’s Chief Executive Officer Cary Rayment.

$600,000 of the gift will be allocated towards expansion of the foundation’s nonpartisan education and awareness efforts for presbyopia-correcting intraocular lenses which aims to educate ophthalmologists and the public about the benefits and risks of the new lenses in a non-commercial and unbiased manner. The remaining $400,000 will go to support the foundation’s on-going research grant program and its humanitarian work in Ethiopia.

During the presentation of the gift Rayment stated, “This grant signifies Alcon’s commitment to partnering with the ASCRS Foundation in its mission to improve public understanding of ophthalmology, develop and deliver physician educational programs, continue its research designed to better patient outcomes and provide humanitarian eye care to the worlds’ underserved. “