Columbia's Department Of Ophthalmology Opens New Vision Care Center In Midtown Manhattan

The Gloria and Louis Flanzer Vision Care Center Opens For Patient Visits on April 12, 2010

NEW YORK (April 1, 2010) – Columbia University Medical Center's Department of Ophthalmology announces the opening of its new comprehensive eye care center in midtown Manhattan, the Gloria and Louis Flanzer Vision Care Center. Occupying the entire second floor of 880 Third Avenue at East 53rd Street, the new site will offer patients expert care in a beautiful and spacious setting, equipped with the latest in diagnostic and treatment technologies.

The new center is funded by Gloria and Louis Flanzer, a gift from Robert L. Burch III, and donations from other supporters.

"We are pleased to bring academic medical center-based eye care treatment to the midtown Manhattan area in a comprehensive vision care center," said Stanley Chang, M.D., the Edward S. Harkness Professor of Ophthalmology, and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, Columbia University Medical Center. "In today's rapid-paced lifestyle, we recognize that people have limited time for health checkups and other physician visits, so this location meets the needs of those who live and work in midtown, as a complement to our primary location in Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan."

"The Gloria and Louis Flanzer Vision Care Center will increase access for all patients to the outstanding clinical services of the Columbia University ophthalmology faculty," said Lee Goldman, M.D., executive vice president and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. "The availability of linked specialty care and an enhanced diagnostics program will provide efficient, high-quality care for all patients, those who live in the New York metropolitan region and those who come from other parts of the United States and foreign countries."

The new center consolidates and expands Columbia's several ophthalmology practices located around midtown into one location and will give patients access to general ophthalmologists and specialists, who focus on cornea, cataract, glaucoma, oculoplastics (rebuilding the eye following major trauma or tumors), and retina diagnosis and treatment.

This comprehensive center will provide many conveniences for patients, in terms of efficiencies of care and scheduling referrals for follow-up treatment, expanded access to clinical trials in a modern, easily accessible location.

Ophthalmic examinations, consultative services, and eye surgeries, which are best conducted in a hospital setting, will continue to be provided at Columbia University Medical Center's primary location in Washington Heights.

The center accepts most major types of insurance.

To learn more about the Gloria and Louis Flanzer Vision Care Center, please visit: http://www.columbiaeye.org/gloria_louis_flanzer_newsevents.html.

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Columbia University Department of Ophthalmology is an established leader in the study and practice of ophthalmologic medicine. Its research, educational and clinical care programs have helped define the standard of care offered to individuals affected by vision disorders across the country and across the world. Since its founding in 1933, it has been recognized as a center of excellence for vision care and research. For more information, please visit www.columbiaeye.org.

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is now among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the most comprehensive medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest in the United States. Columbia University Medical Center is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the nation's largest not-for-profit hospital provider. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.

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Lee Goldman, Mailman School, Stanley Chang, United States, Washington Heights