The Mary Jane O’Neill Fellowship in International Eye Banking was established in 2001 to provide medical or technical personnel from eye banks outside of the USA, and Canada, with the skills necessary to develop, operate, and maintain successful eye banks within their own countries, reducing blindness due to corneal disease or injury.
2026 Fellowship Information
The 2026 Mary Jane O’Neill Fellowship will bring an individual to the United States for a 2 week period during May/June 2026 to intern at the Lions Gift of Sight and attend the EBAA Annual Meeting, June 3-6, 2026 in Indianapolis. Once a Fellow is selected, the EBAA will work with the eye bank and the Fellow to determine the actual dates of the program.
EBAA and The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration in New York City established this fellowship to honor Mary Jane O’Neill, The Eye-Bank’s Executive Director from 1980 to 2000. During her long history in eye banking, Ms. O’Neill was a forward thinking visionary and championed international outreach, devoting significant efforts to establish and improve eye-banking services worldwide.
Supported by:
Application Information
Deadline to Apply: October 3, 2025
2026 Mary Jane O’Neill Fellow
Roland Höllhumer, MD MBA
The Cornea Foundation, South Africa
Dr. Höllhumer interned for one week at Lions Gift of Sight followed by attending the 2026 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. His personal account is below.
I was privileged to be awarded the Mary Jane O’Neil Fellowship from the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), which is focused on providing eye banks outside the United States with the tools to develop sustainable eye banking programs. The fellowship is divided into two parts: a weeklong visit to a U.S. eye bank, followed by the EBAA Annual Meeting.
I was hosted by the Lions Gift of Sight Eye Bank in Minneapolis. They were a passionate and welcoming team that made me feel part of the family from day one. I was exposed to discussions on eye banking theory and hands-on sessions in the lab, covering all steps of the eye banking process — from referral through recovery, processing, and distribution. This gave me a holistic view of the field and the opportunity to ask the team endless questions, which they were always happy to answer. I was also able to spend significant time in the lab learning evaluation and processing techniques that I will be able to implement at my eye bank upon returning home.
The second part of the fellowship was attendance at the EBAA Annual Meeting. After spending a week at the eye bank, I arrived with much greater insight into current practices and developments in the field. It was a wonderful opportunity to network with exhibitors, fellow eye bankers, and corneal surgeons. I especially enjoyed the scientific symposium — the quality of research presented and the exchange of ideas were truly inspiring.
This program has given me the insight I needed to propel our eye banking program forward and take it to the next level. I would like to thank the EBAA and The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration for making this opportunity possible and for their warm welcome at the Annual Meeting. And to the team at Lions Gift of Sight — thank you for hosting me and for becoming part of my eye bank’s story.
