International Women's Day: Dr. Suma Ganesh Trains the Next Generation of Eye Surgeons

Dr. Ganesh has been working alongside Orbis since 2001 when she came to Manhattan for an ophthalmology fellowship. After meeting some of the Volunteer Faculty in the year prior, Dr. Ganesh was intrigued by the growing field of pediatric ophthalmology.

She wanted to make a difference in her home country, India, and knew that pediatric ophthalmologists were needed. Upon completing her fellowship, Dr. Ganesh returned to India to work at Dr. Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital, where Orbis established the country's first Children's Eye Center in 2004.

Dr. Ganesh is now the Deputy Medical Director, Chairperson and Head of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, where she also runs a fellowship program. Here, she trains future generations of eye surgeons from around the world so they can take their skills back to to their home countries to treat patients.

Gallery: Dr. Ganesh on Orbis programs throughout the years

We have a long history of working with Dr. Ganesh who attended the first-ever Orbis training in India back in 2001.

Dr. Ganesh describes her first training: "In 2001 after I came back from the fellowship in Manhattan, we had the first project with Orbis, the Hand in Hand Sight Saving Project, funded by Ronald McDonald charities. It was the first hospital-based program. Before this, programs were Flying Eye Hospital programs but this was the first land-based program. It was planned by the Orbis team, making it as child friendly as possible. They designed the building based on the Orbis child-eye hospitals in Hong Kong and made it very child-friendly with a play area."

It was on Orbis training programs like these that Dr. Ganesh met Dr. Andrea Molinari, another of our #VisionaryWomen who has worked with Orbis for two decades. Together, these two amazing doctors have trained future eye care professionals on Orbis programs, and led multiple Cybersight webinars. In 2020 alone, Dr. Ganesh and Dr. Molinari led two webinars together. Both experts in strabismus, these learning sessions offered insight into complex forms of strabismus like Duane's Retraction Syndrome.

Dr. Ganesh is a Cybersight power-user herself, using the site to teach, grade, and evaluate her fellowship students. "The students upload their cases and surgeries, and everything was graded through Cybersight," Dr. Ganesh explains while describing her unique fellowship program. This "sandwich program" has doctors from around the world first learning in their home countries through Cybersight, then in India for in-person training with Dr. Ganesh. After in-person training, the doctors return to their countries where Dr. Ganesh can monitor their surgical skills through video sessions on Cybersight. "Thanks to Cybersight they are always there with me."

We want to thank Dr. Ganesh for her commitment and dedication to fighting blindness over the last two decades. We've been working closely together since 2001 and thanks to our partners, supporters and Dr. Ganesh's extraordinary skills, we have had a huge impact on access to eye care in India.

Thank you, Dr. Ganesh, we're lucky to have you as part of our team.

Meet more of the women who are transforming eye care around the world this International Women's Day.