Established in 1966, the UCLA Stein Eye Institute vision-science campus is the fulfillment of an ambitious plan by ophthalmologist, businessman, and philanthropist Jules Stein, MD, and Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD, founding director of the Stein Eye Institute and founding chairman of the UCLA Department of Ophthalmology, who created a bold plan for preventing blindness through comprehensive programs for patient care, vision-science research, education and training of the next generation of physicians, and eye health outreach both local and global.
Under the leadership of Bartly J. Mondino, MD, director and chairman since 1994, a broad agenda of program building and expansion has been implemented: the first Stein Eye Center opened in Santa Monica in 2012; the UCLA Department of Ophthalmology created the nation’s preeminent organization for ophthalmic care and vision research by forging a historic affiliation with the Doheny Eye Institute in 2013; and the Edie & Lew Wasserman Building, a landmark research and patient-care facility with a state-of-the-art outpatient surgical center, opened in 2014. Combined, UCLA Stein Eye Institute, Stein Eye Center, Doheny Eye Center UCLA, and UCLA-affilliated hospitals provide patients across the Southland with access to the finest vision care.
