Endowed by a generous gift from David and Victoria Chang, the ASCRS Foundation Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award was established in 2017 to honor and recognize outstanding humanitarian work in the field of cataract blindness and disability. The award is given annually to celebrate the charitable accomplishments of an individual or organization working in the United States or abroad. The recipient is recognized at the ASCRS Annual Meeting and a $100,000 prize is donated in their honor to a charitable ophthalmic organization of their choice. In 2020, the Foundation’s highest honor was renamed the Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award to recognize Alan S. Crandall, MD's exemplary life and commitment to humanitarian service.
Do you know someone who has made a significant contribution in global ophthalmology? If so, nominate them today! Note: Applicants who are not selected remain eligible to receive the award at a later date unless otherwise withdrawn.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce Aravind Haripriya, MD, and Rengaraj Venkatesh, MD, as the recipients of the 2026 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award.
“Dr. Haripriya and Dr. Venkatesh are ophthalmologists well known to ASCRS, who have contributed significantly to the overall advancement of excellence in our field as cataract surgeons,” said Lisa Park, MD, chair of the Nominating Committee.
“Their nomination for the Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award is to recognize their leadership in an organization, the Aravind Eye Care System, a network of hospitals in southern India whose practice model allows for more than 50% of cataract surgeries to be performed at no cost or significantly subsidized cost to patients,” Dr. Park said. “They have each performed nearly 100,000 surgeries, many of these being charitable cases.” A third of these procedures are performed on patients who are brought in as part of outreach programs conducted in remote rural areas, she added.
Dr. Haripriya is also recognized for her surgical expertise and publications for the last 10 years summarizing the outcomes of millions of phaco and manual cataract extractions at Aravind, confirming the impact of intracameral moxifloxacin on endophthalmitis reduction. Dr. Venkatesh has shown it is possible to minimize surgical waste in the operating room and revolutionized thinking about carbon emissions and sustainable healthcare delivery, resulting in ASCRS’ EyeSustain initiative.
To read more about Dr. Haripriya and Dr. Venkatesh, click here.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce Elena Barraquer, MD, as the 2025 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award Recipient.
Dr. Barraquer leads the Elena Barraquer Foundation, a nonprofit organization which fights avoidable blindness due to cataract in developing countries. Over the last 6 years, the Elena Barraquer Foundation has provided access to eye health to over 120,000 people in more than 20 countries. Additionally, its volunteer surgeons have performed 25,000 pro bono cataract surgeries, over 50,000 medical consultations, and delivered more than 65,000 glasses.
“You think about leaving your practice for a week to come do this, but then you’re able to not only give someone their sight back, but also give them back their life. Who wouldn't give a week of their life to help another human being?” Dr. Barraquer said.
To read more about Dr. Barraquer, click here.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce Martin Spencer, MD as the 2024 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award Recipient.
Dr. Spencer has always placed a lot of emphasis on teaching in his volunteer work and has thought of it in terms of ripples in the ocean of blindness. “The ripples from teaching spread much further than any specific direct intervention.”
Dr. Spencer was “just dumbfounded” when finding out that he was selected as the recipient of the Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award. “I was not in a million years expecting this,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone was aware of my work with Seva. I’ve spoken at meetings, but they’re not usually huge audiences. I’m very honored and surprised.”
To read more about Dr. Spencer, click here.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce Helena Ndume, MD, as the 2023 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award Recipient.
“It is difficult for me to find the words to thank you [Dr. Chang] and the ASCRS Foundation for this extraordinary recognition. I might say that this is the realization of a dream, but truly, it is beyond that. This is an honor that I have not and could not have imagined in my wildest dreams. … I am receiving the honor with an overwhelming sense of joy, but in my heart, I know that this award belongs to all of those who have and continue to make the Namibian Blindness Prevention Project a success. I want to thank you and accept this honor on behalf of all those who have made our work possible.” – Helena Ndume, MD
Learn more about Dr. Ndume here.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce that board member Michael Colvard, MD, (1947–2024) has been posthumously named a co-awardee of the 2023 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award, with Helena Ndume, MD.
Through SEE International, Dr Colvard met Dr. Ndume in Namibia, with whom he closely partnered for the next 36 years to advance eyecare in that country. He founded the Friends of Vision Foundation, with the mission of helping to eliminate reversible blindness both locally and in underdeveloped countries, as well as to provide food, clothing, and educational supplies to orphaned, disabled and underprivileged children around the globe.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce Roger Ohanesian, MD as the 2022 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award Recipient. "The Armenian EyeCare Project has given me an enormous sense of purpose and good feeling and has been the honor of a lifetime. To be recognized and lauded by my own colleagues within ASCRS for my 30 years of devotion to this cause is very gratifying. I would be remiss if I did not include the many ophthalmologists who have joined me multiple times to bring advanced diagnostic and surgical techniques to our grateful colleagues in Armenia. I am in awe of what we have accomplished and immeasurably proud of how far this program has come." Dr. Ohanesian has earmarked the financial prize to the Armenian Eyecare Project.
The ASCRS Foundation is proud to announce Geoff Tabin, MD and Sanduk Ruit, MD as the 2021 Chang-Crandall Humanitarian co-awardees. “It gives us great joy to receive this incredible honor which is associated with two of our heroes, David Chang and the late Alan Crandall; legends of global medicine and among the most dedicated and kindest ophthalmologists we know. We stand on the shoulders of so many giants who’ve taught and inspired us and are excited to continue working with the ASCRS Foundation and its members to overcome the travesty of needless blindness in our world.” – Geoff Tabin, MD and Sanduk Ruit, MD
Dr. Lowell A. Gess' lifelong work is truly inspirational. His career spans so many years and covers such a wide breadth of the world it can feel less like the story of one man's life and more like the story of modern ophthalmology itself. Dr. Gess has earmarked the $50,000 grant to the Lowell and Ruth Gess Eye Hospital to help expand facilities and provide a more complete eyecare program in Sierra Leone.
Like many doctors providing humanitarian care, Dr. Litwin's work followed a familiar arc, beginning with hands-on work, followed by a shift toward educating others and advocacy. He began with a high-volume cataract surgery mission trip in 1982. The trip would be the beginning of a four-decade long period of service. Dr. Litwin earmarked the grant to support The Seva Foundation, which works with local communities around the world to develop self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight.
Dr. Crandall began his humanitarian outreach work in Ghana following a request for help for a patient. Overtime, he was instrumental in the launch of the John A. Moran Eye Center's Global Outreach Program which has worked in over 20 countries. Dr. Crandall was known throughout the world for his commitment to humanitarian ophthalmology. Douglas Koch, MD, ASCRS Foundation Board Member, said Dr. Crandall "dedicated his career to humanitarian service...and his loving generous spirit permeates all that he does, whether it be with patients, colleagues, students, friends or family."
The ASCRS Foundation is pleased to highlight some of the accomplished humanitarians nominated for the Foundation's Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award. These outstanding leaders have been interviewed by the Foundation's 2020 Young Eye Surgeon International Service Grantees. Watch the first video in the series below or click the playlist icon to view additional content!
Dr. Chang embodies the characteristics of the winners of his namesake award—both incredibility generous and humbly dedicated to his work. A leading cataract surgeon practicing in California, Dr. Chang is a past ASCRS president and board member who chaired the ASCRS Foundation from 2015 to 2023. He has received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Humanitarian Service Award and the Aravind Venkataswamy Award. In 2017, he and his wife Victoria founded the Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award with the hope that highlighting the unsung charitable work being done around the world would inspire colleagues to themselves contribute toward humanitarian global eye care delivery.
Chair
The ASCRS Foundation supports physician education and provides humanitarian cataract surgery in the United States and developing countries. Through its programs and partnerships, the Foundation works to maximize the benefits of modern ophthalmology and to treat thousands of patients in need each year. The ASCRS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. EIN: 23-7388748.
