Ira G. Ross Eye Institute
Location: Downtown
Historical Note:
The Ira G. Ross Eye Institute is located at 1176 Main Street in the City of Buffalo. The Institute is a collaboration the UB Department of Ophthalmology, the Elizabeth Pierce Olmstead, MD. Center for the Visually Impaired and University Ophthalmology Services.
The institute is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of adults and children with diseases of the eye and the vision system. While its research component will be located elsewhere, patient care and training of physicians will take place at 1176 Main St. That work will be overseen by faculty in the university's Department of Ophthalmology who constitute University Ophthalmology Services, a practice plan that is part of UBMD.
The Ira G. Ross Eye Institute is adjacent to the Elizabeth Pierce Olmstead, MD. Center for the Visually Impaired. The Olmstead Center provides vision services, rehabilitation, job training and social services for those with visual disabilities.
Namesake:
Ira G. Ross was an innovative scientist and engineer responsible for establishing aerodynamic and in-flight simulation techniques that still are used in testing commercial and military aircraft. He was head of Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, which later became Calspan. Ross was the husband of Elizabeth Pierce Olmstead Ross, an ophthalmologist and 1939 graduate of the UB School of Medicine. In 2003, Olmstead Ross offered a $3 million challenge grant to establish the Ira G. Ross Eye Institute and followed up with an additional $1 million challenge grant.
History/Chronology:
- 1921 -- Construction of the building located at 1176 Main Street is completed
- 2003 -- Dr. Elizabeth Pierce Olmstead Ross offers a $3 million challenge grant for the establishment of the Ira G. Ross Eye Institute
- 2007 -- (November 1) The Ira G. Ross Eye Institute opens at 1176 Main Street