History of the Alabama Eye Bank

Since 1969, the Alabama Eye Bank has been helping blind eyes see. The illustrious history began in Mobile in 1959, fifteen years after the first Eye Bank had been established in New York City. Eugene de Juan, MD, and Eugenia Walker Metzler, RN, began this first effort in Mobile about the same time that an Eye Bank was established at University Hospital in Birmingham by Drs. Stephen Grant and Christopher Kelly, co-chiefs of ophthalmology at the University of Alabama Medical School. In the mid-1960s, several eye banks were started in the state, ultimately culminating with the full accreditation of the then-named Alabama Lions Eye and Tissue Bank by the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA). The EBAA establishes standards for the industry as directed by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The AEB is registered with and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The AEB is a member of Vision Share, a cooperative eye tissue distribution center that explores potential markets for tissue donation. Headquartered in Birmingham and with regional offices in Huntsville, Montgomery, and Mobile, the AEB has been among the top 10 U.S. eye banks for the number of transplantable corneas provided consistently for over two decades and in the top 5 since 2006.