The Eye Institute: Background 
The Eye Institute of the Medical College of Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital is a national leader as a full-service academic ophthalmology program. Dedicated to the highest quality patient care, education, and vision research, the faculty and staff strive to provide state-of-the-art clinical and surgical patient care in a compassionate and timely way.
Department faculty are leading ophthalmic educators of residents, fellows, and practicing eye care professionals. Support of and participation in the department's basic and clinical research is paramount in achieving clinical and educational goals.
The Eye Institute opened in 1976 as one of only seven eye centers in the United States specializing in eye care, vision research and physician training in ophthalmology. Conveniently located 15 minutes west of downtown Milwaukee in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, the Eye Institute serves as a regional referral center with approximately 40,000 patient visits each year. Faculty physicians are full-time clinical faculty members of the Medical College of Wisconsin and provide eye care services in the Department of Ophthalmology at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital.
With an emphasis on subspecialty eye care, department faculty provide comprehensive diagnosis and treatment and assist physicians in the community with complicated and difficult clinical problems. All patient care services including general and specialty clinics, diagnostic services, micro-surgery suites, and ambulatory patient rooms are contained within the eight-story building.
In addition to providing clinical services, the Eye Institute is a scientific research center. The seventh and eighth floors of the Eye Institute are dedicated to basic science research. Currently, we are in the midst of a five-year plan to renovate our laboratories, recruit new scientists and outfit the labs with more sophisticated equipment.
The department also maintains ongoing collaborative research with basic scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and receives substantial support from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc.
In conjunction with its triad mission of teaching, vision research and patient care, the Eye Institute conducts one of the most outstanding training programs in ophthalmology with instruction at all levels.
Today, the Eye Institute is recognized as one of the leading clinical and vision science
programs in the country. Department faculty are recognized nationally and internationally for advances in eye care. Over the past two decades, the collaborative efforts between Eye Institute research scientists and physicians have resulted in better treatment of complicated eye diseases, improved surgical techniques, and improved understanding of a variety of eye problems.