The Mary Jane O'Neill Fellowship in International Eye Banking was established in 2001 in order to provide medical and technical personnel from eye banks in developing countries with the skills necessary to develop, operate, and maintain successful eye banks—ultimately, reducing blindness due to corneal disease or injury. Each year, the fellowship brings an individual to the United States to intern at an EBAA eye bank in order to learn the practice of eye banking through the clinical, technical and business aspects of the US eye banking systems.

The goal is to assist in the application of skills learned during this experience to the individuals' home eye bank. The Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) and the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration ("The Eye-Bank") in New York City established this fellowship to honor Ms. Mary Jane O'Neill, The Eye-Bank's Executive Director from 1980 to 2000. During her long career in eye banking, Ms. O'Neill was a forward thinking visionary and championed international outreach, devoting significant efforts to establish and improve eye-banking services worldwide.

Support from the Mary Jane O'Neill Fellowship has been supplemented by generous contributions from ORBIS, a highly-regarded organization dedicated to the elimination of avoidable blindness (www.orbis.org).

The deadline for the 2009 Mary Jane O'Neill Fellowship in International Eye Banking is April 24, 2009.

Mary Jane O'Neill Fellowship in International Eye Banking Host Bank Application 2009