A Clear Mission
By Mickey Furfari
With permission
of the Times West Virginian
Dr.
Larry Schwab received his MD at WVU in 1966, completed his internship
at the Charity Hospital of Louisiana in New Orleans, then served
in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Vietnam with the rank of captain.
Later Schwab completed a basic science course in ophthalmology
at Harvard in 1969, then returned to WVU and completed his residency
in that field.
In 1972, he began what would be more than 20 years of distinguished
service with the International Eye Foundation. He worked as an
ophthalmologist for the IEF's worldwide blindness prevention
and sight restoration project. In 1975, he qualified as a diplomat
for the American Board of Ophthalmology.
He and his family lived for 12 years in the developing African
nations of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. From 1972 to
1989, he held 14 appointments with IEF, assisting governments
with developing ophthalmic training courses and curricula for
health workers at all levels.
In that work, Schwab designed national blindness prevention strategies
and developed rural outreach programs.
He was elected to the IEF board of directors in 1992 and still
serves on the nonprofit organization's medical advisory committee
and board of directors.
"I had always been interested in working overseas, especially
with disadvantaged people," Schwab said. "I didn't
have that opportunity until I completed my residency. Before
I was drafted in 1967, there was an opportunity to do smallpox
eradication in Somalia with the Peace Corps and (wife) Martha
would have been able to accompany me."
But the military duty call prevented that from happening.
"The basic principle and goal of the IEF was to help countries
with poorly developed eye care services and to develop eye programs
that were sustainable," Schwab explained.
"Our projects trained African health workers—mostly
physicians, medical assistants, and nurses—to diagnose and
treat eye disease and, in some cases, to perform cataract surgery
themselves."
The Schwab family experienced some inconveniences—including
food, water, and gasoline shortages—while living in local
African economies.
"During a four-year stay in Kenya, helping that country
establish a national eye care program, I was the only ophthalmologist
in a province the size of Oklahoma,' Schwab recalled.
"We spent most of those 17 years in Africa and came back
to the U.S. in 1989. It was a very interesting experience.
After spending a year at WVU on a grant to help develop eye care
programs in developing nations, he joined Dr. Stephen Powell
in private practice at Regional Eye Associates, Inc. "I've
been with the group for 14 years," Schwab said.
Schwab kept notes while developing a curriculum for teaching,
demonstrations, and lectures. From those notes, Schwab published
the textbook Eye Care in Developing Nations, now in its third
English edition. It has been translated and published in five
other languages for health-care workers in Africa and Asia.
Nongovernmental organizations working in sight restoration and
blindness prevention projects helped finance publication and
distribution costs.
"There's an international initiative now to really address
some of the major causes of blindness around the world,"
Schwab said "It's called Vision 20/20. And the goal is to
specifically lower the rates of blinding diseases for millions
of people who are visually impaired or are unnecessarily blind
by the year 2020."
This past fall, Schwab attended the Landmine Summit in Nairobi.
He says there are 300,000 to 400,000 landmine survivors. About
ten percent are blind in one or both eyes. His goal is to create
awareness among political leaders and ophthalmologists of this
man-made epidemic.
"This is very gratifying to me to try to help out. It gives
me great satisfaction."
As a highly regarded authority in his field, Schwab has received
numerous awards, including induction into the WVU Academy of
Distinguished Alumni.
The doctor and his wife Martha, also a 1966 WVU graduate, reside
in Morgantown. They have three children: Eric, Mark, and Angela.