Key People

Dr Gullapalli N Rao founded the L V Prasad Eye Institute in 1987, after a successful career in the United States as an academic ophthalmologist. Dr Rao received his basic medical education in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and completed his postgraduate residency training in ophthalmology at the All India Institute for Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He went to the United States in 1974, where he was trained first at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and later at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, where he continued on the clinical faculty until his return to India in 1986. His areas of specialisation include diseases of the cornea, eye banking and corneal transplantation, community eye health, eye care policy and planning. He has published more than 300 papers in national and international journals and has contributed several book chapters, in addition to serving on the Editorial Boards of several journals. He was a Visiting Professor at several Universities in the USA, Europe, Australia and Asia and delivered many named lectures around the world. Dr Rao has been honoured with several international and national awards in recognition of his services to eye care and public health. He also holds several board and leadership positions in prominent national and international organisations. Some of the significant recognition and honours include: (a) Former Secretary General and later Chair of the Board and CEO of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) in which role played a pivotal role in developing and fostering the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness along with WHO – VISION 2020: The Right to Sight in partnership with World Health Organisation (WHO) (b) Former President of ‘Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI)’, group of 80 of the most eminent academicians in ophthalmology in the world (c) Inducted into ‘Ophthalmology Hall of Fame’ at the meeting of American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) in Los Angeles. 57 ophthalmologists from around the world have been inducted into the Hall of Fame in the past three centuries (d) Recipient of World Cornea Congress Medal from International Cornea Society (among the first ten) for outstanding contribution to the field of cornea (e) Invited Editorial for the 100th year issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology (f) Honoured with the institution of 'Gullapalli N Rao - AIOS Endowment Lecture' by the All India Ophthalmological Society ( one of the five instituted by AIOS in 2020 ) (g) Member of the Jury for the Champalimaud Award, a € 1.0 million award for outstanding contributions to vision care or research.