NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP) will welcome friends, donors, supporters, healthcare professionals, and community leaders to its annual Gala on November 14 in Newport Beach, where AECP Founder and President Dr. Roger V. Ohanesian will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The recognition celebrates more than three decades of leadership and service that has transformed the delivery of eye care throughout Armenia.
Since embarking on his first humanitarian mission to Armenia in 1992, Ohanesian has led efforts that grew into one of the country’s most impactful and long-term healthcare initiatives. Through AECP, he has helped establish a comprehensive eye care system, restore sight to countless individuals, train generations of physicians, and create sustainable programs that continue to improve eye health nationwide.
Ohanesian first traveled to Armenia in 1992, where he witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of the 1988 earthquake, the collapse of the Soviet healthcare system, and the ongoing conflict that had left countless individuals without access to quality medical care. Confronted by preventable blindness, inadequate medical infrastructure, and significant unmet needs, he recognized that Armenia required more than temporary medical missions. It needed a long-term solution. That realization led to the founding of the Armenian EyeCare Project.
From the outset, Ohanesian championed a groundbreaking model centered on sustainability, local capacity building and medical education. He established Armenia’s first ophthalmology subspecialty fellowship training programs, enabling talented Armenian physicians to receive advanced training in the United States and return home equipped to lead their specialties. This commitment to education laid the foundation for Armenia’s emergence as a regional center of excellence in eye care.
Under his leadership, AECP introduced numerous landmark initiatives that transformed eye care across Armenia. Among the most notable was the launch of the “Bringing Sight to Armenian Eyes” program and the deployment of the Mobile Eye Hospital, which brought state-of-the-art surgical care directly to underserved communities throughout the country. As AECP expanded, it established subspecialty clinics in Yerevan, strengthened partnerships with Armenia’s Ministry of Health and leading international institutions, modernized surgical education through a dedicated wet-lab training center, and helped shape Armenia’s national blindness prevention strategy.
Through the 2010s, his vision continued to drive national innovation. AECP launched Armenia’s first national Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) Program, helping save the sight of vulnerable premature infants. The organization also established the Center of Excellence for the Prevention of Childhood Blindness in Yerevan; expanded pediatric eye care services through collaborations with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); strengthened ophthalmic infrastructure through Regional Eye Centers; and introduced nationwide diabetic eye disease screening and treatment programs utilizing modern technologies, including artificial intelligence-assisted screening models.
