The University of Utah's JOHN A. MORAN EYE CENTER Celebrates 40 Years with a Visionary Leader at the Helm.

Luckily, Randall J Olson, MD, is an optimist. His career at the University of Utah began with a 1979 cold call to the then-chair of surgery Frank Moody, MD. Olson had heard the sole member of the school's ophthalmology division was leaving.

Moody told him there wouldn't be a replacement. Instead, they were eliminating the ophthalmology program. Olson persisted.

"I talked him into letting me come for an interview and then spent the day convincing him there was an opportunity/' Olson recalls. "He said, 'I'll give you a shot.'"

Olson turned down a fellowship at Harvard University and a full-time position at the University of California, Los Angeles, for the chance to build something new in his hometown of Salt Lake City.

Over four decades, he's grown a one-person program into one of the nation's top vision institutes, conducting trail-blazing research and providing comprehensive care in nearly all ophthalmic subspecialties. More than 500 employees at 11 locations work to achieve a common goal: that no person with a blinding condition, eye disease, or visual impairment should be without hope, understanding, and treatment.

In 2019, the Moran Eye Center earned the distinction of being ranked No. 8 in the nation by Ophthalmology Times, while U.S. News a World Report designated Moran as a high-performing hospital on its Best Hospitals for Ophthalmology list.

Olson, the longest-serving ophthalmology department chair in the nation, marked his 40th anniversary at the U in June.

Building an Institution

Working out of a few exam rooms in the School of Medicine, Olson barely made his budget during his first year. Driving throughout the Mountain West in a 1973 Chevrolet, he introduced himself to doctors who might refer patients, and his dream started to take shape.

Recruiting talented physicians such as renowned cataract surgeon Alan S. Crandall, MD, Olson supported his faculty in following their passions-including community outreach as Crandall estab lished Moron's Global Outreach Division. Funded by donors, the division is the largest of its kind at any U.S. academic institution, providing charitable care to underserved populations in Utah and training doctors and nurses in developing countries to sustainably expand access to care.

When it came to patient care and research, Crandall says Olson always championed innovation.

"We were one of the first academic programs to do phacoemulsification and to use intraocular lens implants, which are now the...