Johns Hopkins Ophthalmology Center Partners With Saudi Specialty Hospital

The Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Md., will collaborate in research, education and patient care with the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to a Johns Hopkins news release.

A major focus of the affiliation will be the training of the next generation of leaders in ophthalmology in both countries and beyond, according to the release. Wilmer Institute already has trained more than one hundred chairpersons in departments of ophthalmology in dozens of countries.

Several Wilmer faculty members will work at the hospital for extended periods — treating patients, teaching and conducting research, according to the release. With financial support from the Saudi Government, joint research activities will focus on developing treatments for blinding eye diseases, such as diabetic eye disease, that afflict patients living around the world. A new endowed professorship at Johns Hopkins will be established to support the work of Hopkins' faculty.

Read the release on the Johns Hopkins-KKESH partnership.