UC San Diego’s Vision Research and Patient Care are Coming Together to Cure Blindness
By: Jade Griffin
UC San Diego is a place where patients come from around the globe for world-class care and research to address debilitating eye diseases. Thanks to philanthropic support from generous donors, including Darlene Shiley, Andrew J. Viterebi, Hanna and Mark Gleiberman, and the Nixon Visions Foundation, UC San Diego is aiming to broaden its impact in the field even further.
In 2025, UC San Diego will open the highly anticipated Viterbi Family Vision Research Center, a five-story, 100,000-square-foot facility on the La Jolla Campus at UC San Diego Health, made possible with a $50 million gift from Andrew J. Viterbi, PhD. The center (pictured below) will include experimental laboratories, clinical trials in gene and stem cell therapies and administrative spaces, all designed to further the campus’ groundbreaking vision research. Vision scientists currently located throughout campus will move to the center upon its completion.
The Viterbi Family Vision Research Center will also house the Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Center for Glaucoma Research, which was funded by a $20 million gift from the Gleibermans.
Thanks to support from the Nixon Visions Foundation, research on macular dystrophy, a retinal condition that progressively diminishes the ability to see clearly and may eventually result in vision loss, will also take place in the new center.
At the groundbreaking of the Viterbi Family Vision Research Center, Robert N. Weinreb, MD, chair and Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology, director of the Shiley Eye Institute and holder of the Morris Gleich, MD, Chair in Glaucoma, commented on the expansion of UC San Diego’s vision research, which is spanning beyond walls.
“We are building bridges with other departments across the university, including neuroscience, data science, bioinformatics, engineering, bioengineering, stem cell biology and gene therapy,” Weinreb said. “Our dream is the realization of the impossible. We are going to cure blinding eye diseases.”
In addition, the Shiley Eye Institute is in the midst of a significant renovation thanks to a $10 million gift from Darlene Shiley. As the demands for ophthalmology services have expanded markedly, the project is creating an additional floor in the Shiley Eye Institute for patient care. The Shiley Eye Institute was established more than three decades ago with foundational support from Darlene and her late husband, Donald.
