By Caroline Miller, Marketing & Communications Specialist
Eversight’s Global Development team partners with local governments and medical professionals, working together to make sustainable eye banking, donation and transplantation a reality where the need is greatest.
Globally, an estimated 285 million people are visually impaired—many with treatable conditions, but without access to care. Eversight is working every day to change that.
Eversight International Program Director David Dongwoo Lee is an integral part of the Global Development team. With a focus on Korea and other countries in Asia, he manages surgeon relations, places tissue and strives to help the region develop local, sustainable eye banking systems.
“I am very proud to work for such a great company as Eversight because our mission is to help people–to restore sight and prevent blindness,” David said. “That's been the core energy that keeps me going.”
David's journey with Eversight began over a decade ago when he and Eversight Tissue Processing Manager Dena Yeonjeong Choe traveled to the United States for an internship program, leading them to join the Global Development team and establish an eye bank in Seoul, Korea, where David and Dena live and work today.
Since then, David has dedicated his career to helping people around the world gain access to cornea tissues and build sustainable systems to support their needs.
Eversight’s collaborative global approach
“The Global Development team collaborates with a lot of different people: surgeons, eye bankers and sometimes government depending on what they want to do with us,” David said.
The process typically begins when surgeons in lower- and middle-income countries in need of tissues reach out to Eversight. This initial contact often evolves into a broader eye banking relationship, with the eventual goal of local government, community and NGO support, as seen in countries like Pakistan and the UAE.
In 2019, the Global Development team worked with Pakistan to open its first state-of-the-art eye banks as part of a new national eye banking network.
But the relationship doesn’t stop there. Vice President of Partner Relations and Global Development Collin Ross visited in May and returns in August 2024 to continue this important work.
“In Pakistan, there are two eye banks we helped them build, and they are coming back to us all the time for our input and our assistance,” he said. “We help them build their system based on their culture and their environment. We're not just shoving all the information at them. We're catering to their capabilities and community. Even when they come to a point that they don't need our help, there's always going to be some kind of relationship going on.”
David said the Global Development team is trying to do the same with the UAE.
“Within the country, we’re trying to help them sustain themselves,” David said. “But within that region, we’re trying to build an eye banking system that's going to help each other, not just the UAE, but all the surrounding countries too.”
The importance of donation
David believes donors and their families are the heart of Eversight.
“Without donors, there's nothing we can do about preventable corneal blindness,” he said. “There's nothing we can do to help people. They are the foundation of eye banking and for organ and tissue donation.”
He emphasizes the need to start donation programs, even without initial government or hospital support, by raising awareness within communities about the importance of joining the donor registry.
David expresses deep gratitude to donors and their families for the selfless decision they made to give the gift of sight. Their support is crucial in combating preventable corneal blindness, a condition that has a known cure but still affects many due to a lack of available tissue for transplantation.
“There's a cure for preventable corneal blindness and there's an answer for this, but because of lack of access, there are so many people who cannot see,” David said. “The U.S. is blessed to have a robust eye banking system. What we do here in Global Development is impacting not just the U.S., but everyone else in the world.”
The need is great & we are just getting started
The impact of Eversight's work is profound, not only domestically, but globally.
In 2023, Eversight has helped restore sight to nearly 900 people in Korea alone. David's goal is to expand that number to other countries in Asia, ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent anyone from receiving a life-changing corneal transplant.
“In countries like Bangladesh or Indonesia, they have the chance to receive cornea transplants, but because of their finances, they can’t get tissues,” David said. “It's just not fair. So, I want that to be available for everyone, that they don't have to rely on U.S. infrastructure and import tissue from Eversight–that's what I want to see in the next 10 years.”
Successful eye bank operations begin at the local community level, cultivating meaningful relationships and fostering positive change for all things impacting donation and transplantation. Collaboration with local healthcare professionals, as well as community and religious leaders, opens channels for dialogue, builds trust and understanding and overcomes challenges to donation.
David emphasizes that every person at Eversight makes a difference and helps change lives worldwide.
By seeing the desperate need for corneal tissues outside the United States, David is reminded daily of the impact of his team’s work. The work done by Eversight's Global Development team not only impacts the United States, but also extends hope and sight to people around the world.
If you feel inspired to support our global development work, please consider giving a financial gift today.
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