UC Receives $2 Million Gift to Benefit Pediatric Ophthalmology

The University of Cincinnati (UC) Academic Health Center has received a $2 million endowment to support research and education related to ophthalmic disorders of children.

The gift, from Ira A. Abrahamson Jr., MD, will establish the Ira A. Abrahamson, MD, Endowed Chair of Pediatric Ophthalmology (Abrahamson Chair) in UC’s department of ophthalmology.

The Abrahamson Chair will be awarded to the director of the UC division of pediatric ophthalmology, who also will serve as director of pediatric ophthalmology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The UC–Cincinnati Children’s programs work jointly in the diagnosis and treatment of retinoblastoma, the leading type of eye cancer in children.

“The Abrahamson Chair will link UC’s department of ophthalmology even more closely than before with the division of pediatric ophthalmology at Cincinnati Children’s,” said James Augsburger, MD, chair of the UC ophthalmology department. “Dr. Abrahamson’s new gift will ensure continued expansion of pediatric ophthalmology at both institutions and improved eye care for all children in our region. We are thankful for Dr. Abrahamson’s generosity and commitment.”

Dr. Abrahamson is a 1948 graduate of UC College of Medicine and an emeritus faculty member in the ophthalmology department.

Funds from the Abrahamson endowment will be used within the UC pediatric ophthalmology division and at the Abrahamson Pediatric Eye Institute at Cincinnati Children’s, founded by Dr. Abrahamson in 1995.