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 from 1994 to 2022, a broad agenda of program building and expansion was implemented: Stein Eye Centers were opened in Santa Monica and Calabasas; 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 their affiliated centers in Pasadena, Arcadia and Fountain Valley.

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 and Doheny Eye Institutes, Eye Centers, and UCLA-affilliated hospitals provide patients across the Southland with access to the finest vision care.

Expansion and growth of the Department of Ophthalmology continues under the leadership of Anne L. Coleman, MD, PhD, who took over as chair in July 2022.