HISTORY OF THE EYE DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND EYE FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY

The Ophthalmology Department of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine traces its origins back to the year 1961. Dr. Felix N. Sabates, a Fellow at the Eye Research Foundation and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, was recruited as head of the Retina Service and Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the new Eye Department at the University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri.

Kansas City General Hospital during the same year was experiencing a financial crisis because of lack of funding from the City of Kansas City and faced the loss of accreditation with their teaching program. Dr. Vernon Wilson, Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia, along with the supporting members of the medical community in Kansas City, established an affiliation between the Kansas City General Hospital and the Medical School in Columbia to maintain the educational programs. Dr. John Buesseler, the founder of the Eye Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia, was appointed as liaison officer to implement the affiliation. The Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia and the Eye Department at General Hospital were integrated with residents rotating from the Medical Center in Columbia to the Kansas City General Hospital for their training. During this time, Dr. Sabates traveled to Kansas City regularly, not only to supervise the residents, but in addition to monitor the program activities.

In November 1966, Dr. Sabates resigned as Associate Professor and Acting Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology in Columbia and moved to Kansas City where he was given the responsibility of directing the eye program at the General Hospital on a part-time basis. The physical facilities at the City Hospital were antiquated and inadequate with little equipment. Clinics were held in the basement of the Hospital and though frequent discussions were held on the need to update the facility, plans were deferred due to continued financial circumstances.

The establishment of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine in 1971 heralded a new era on Hospital Hill, and the Eye Program at the General Hospital became independent and was fully accredited in 1970. Dr. Sabates remained Chief of the Division of Ophthalmology, part of the Department of Surgery; however, financial support for the Department continued to be limited due to other priorities within the new Medical School and Hospital.

The challenge to secure attending staff to teach in the training program and care for the clinic population under less than optimal condition was severe. Great support was provided by former residents of the program in Columbia who had established practice in the Kansas City area.

In the middle 1970’s financing had become available and the Department of Ophthalmology was moved from the basement of the old General Hospital to the fourth floor of what is now called the Diagnostic and Treatment Center where approximately 2,000 square feet of a new clinic were established.

At this time, the ophthalmology program that had been a section of the Department of Surgery acquired departmental status, and Dr. Sabates was named as Chairman of the new Department of Ophthalmology.

HISTORY OF THE EYE DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND EYE FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY

In 1986 a group of Ophthalmologists, members of the staff, along with friends of the community established a not-for-profit organization to support the Department of Ophthalmology. A new building was built close to Truman Medical Center and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine for the use of the Department.