Frank Brodie, MD, PhD a Duke Vitreoretinal Surgery fellowship alumni is the recipient of the 2022 American Academy of Ophthalmology Artemis Award. He was nominated by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for advocating and enhancing care for pediatric patients with craniofacial abnormalities. He is the co-founder of the Loving Eyes Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that delivers custom-fitted glasses for children in need.
Since 2014, the Academy’s Senior Ophthalmologist Committee has honored a young ophthalmologist with the Artemis Award in recognition of the tremendous work he or she has done to help disadvantaged communities to obtain vision care. The award is named after the Greek goddess Artemis, who was the protector and nurturer of the vulnerable and suffering. Past recipients have helped deliver health care to impoverished communities and designed or launched community-based health care or educational programs for patients.
As a resident physician at UCSF, Dr. Brodie embarked on a project to help pediatric patients with craniofacial abnormalities and receive properly fitting glasses, a challenge that surfaced often during his pediatric ophthalmology rotation. With his problem-solving attitude, innovative mind, technological-savviness and sincere empathy, Dr. Brodie started to work on different solutions to approach this problem and he would not stop until a solution was found.
Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team, Dr. Brodie was able to develop a novel method for glasses design and production by adapting 3D scanning and printing technology that had not been used before. Recognizing the huge need to help other children who are not able to get their vision corrected because of difficulty in finding properly fitting glasses, Dr. Brodie decided to embark on organizational and fundraising activities and ultimately co-founded the Loving Eyes Foundation with Alejandra de Alba Campomanes, MD, MPH, and J. Andy Corley.
Due to Dr. Brodie’s passion, commitment and infectious enthusiasm, the Loving Eyes Foundation has received nearly $200,000 in philanthropic support and the same amount in “in-kind” donations for the development and production of 3D-printed, custom-made glasses for any child in need. He has helped over 50 families and dozens of eye care professionals across the country to serve children far beyond the Bay Area. What had started in 2017 as a resident project has now become a major philanthropic enterprise and a great resource for many young patients and ophthalmology colleagues who rely on Dr. Brodie’s foundation to serve their patients in need.
Dr. Brodie is now working with ophthalmologists in 14 academic institutions in nine U.S. states to make sure that babies with craniofacial syndromes have the chance for optimal vision. His work with children with craniofacial anomalies is preventing a lifetime of vision loss from amblyopia at no cost in a sustainable, volunteer-driven enterprise.
Dr. Brodie attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania while simultaneously earning an MBA from the Wharton School of business. He completed his ophthalmology residency at UCSF and then a post-doc fellowship in ophthalmic innovation at Stanford University. He then went to Duke University for his vitreoretinal surgery fellowship before coming back to join the retina faculty at UCSF.
In addition to his work at UCSF, he cares for patients and trains residents at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In his free time, Dr. Brodie enjoys exploring the Bay Area with his wife Rachel, an OB/GYN at Kaiser, his two young children and their poorly trained golden retriever, Harley.