Paul J. Dubord, MD, FRCSC, has been serving as Associate Medical Director at SightLife since 2002. Dr. Dubord is a Clinical Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, and is an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Globally, he is a member of the World Health Organization's specially appointed Expert Advisory Panel on Human Cell, Tissue & Organ Transplantation to promote access, quality and safety in all areas of transplantation. He is the founder of Eyesight International (ESI) and is the Medical Director for Operation Eyesight Universal; both involve the development of local, self-sustainable eye care in the developing world with over 30 programs in Asia, Africa and Central America.
Dr. Dubord is a member of the Eye Bank Association of America's Medical Advisory Board, International Relations Committee, Paton Society Committee and is a past board member. He currently serves on the Pan-American Association of Eye Banks Board as well as the Eye Bank at Tokyo Dental College Medical Advisory Board in Chiba, Japan. Dr. Dubord is also a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Eye Bank Committee.
He is a Board Certified Diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology and is an Ophthalmology Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC).
His medical training includes:
In 2001, Dubord was awarded the R. Townley Paton Society Award for Eye Banking by the EBAA, the only non-American recipient of this award and the EBAA's highest honor for cornea physicians in recognition of outstanding contribution to the EBAA's development and for exemplifying the precepts of R. Townley Paton, M.D., father of modern eye banking and founder of the first eye bank established in the U.S.
In 2003, he was awarded the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Award of Merit, and in 2001, he received the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Achievement Award. He also received the Faculty of Medicine Honors for Long-Term Contribution (25 completed years) from the University of British Columbia in 2008.
He has co-authored over 32 publications, including a publication for the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Eye Banking and Corneal Transplantation in the developing world with the CSA. He was a lead author in the publication of the most comprehensive set of medical standards for all cell tissue and organ transplantation in the world.
Dr. Dubord has been involved in eye banking in the developing world since 1989. He has worked with the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (the Ramayamma International Eye Bank in Hyderabad, India) since 1990. In 1990, 25 cornea transplants were performed in Hyderabad. In 2008, almost 1,500 cornea transplants were performed. The Ramayamma International Eye Bank is one of the largest eye banks in the developing world.
Dr. Dubord, through ESI, has developed a center of excellence in eye banking and cornea transplantation through the Ramayamma International Eye Bank. Since 2001, this eye bank has served as a resource center not only for India but the whole developing world. Over 115 ophthalmologists received subspecialty fellowships in Corneal Transplantation and Eye Banking (15 months duration) and over 70 ophthalmologists in the short term (at least 3 months fellowships in Transplantation and Eye Banking). In addition, hundreds of eye bank managers and technicians from all over the developing world have been trained in professional eye banking.
Currently, with the L.V. Prasad Institute, Ramayamma International Eye Bank, and three other eye banking partners supported by ESI and SightLife, a population of over 150 million individuals in India are having their cornea transplantation needs met. This is the largest program of its type in the world.
For over ten years, Dr. Dubord has worked with Health Canada and the Canadian Standards Association, chairing both committees to develop the most comprehensive medical standards for all tissue and organ transplantation that exists. Currently, portions of the standards are referred to in Canadian Federal Regulations, a unique model in the world.