Gavin Herbert Eye Institute Facts

Mission: To develop and provide technologies, educational programs, and patient-care solutions that enhance visual health and performance for people in Orange County, the nation and the world through cooperation with medical professionals, industry and the community.

Size: 70,000 square feet

About the building:

• Ambulatory surgery center with two operating suites and a laser cataract procedure room
• 8,000-square-foot eye clinic with laser procedure rooms and state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging technology
• Translational clinical research center for innovative therapy trials
• 34 examination rooms; four dedicated to pediatrics
• LASIK refractive surgery center
• Oculofacial plastic surgery center with one dedicated procedure room
• More than 1,500 square feet of education and conference space
• Optometry shop, with one full-time optometrist, one part-time optometrist and two opticians
• 3 entrances: surgery suites, garden level and office level
• First LEED Gold-eligible clinical services building at UC Irvine
• Braille Institute-inspired interior design helps patients with impaired vision
• Dedicated pediatric space with play-oriented waiting room and restroom with toddler-height sink and toilet
• First clinical building on campus since the 1988 completion of Gottschalk Medical Plaza

Cost to build: $39 million

Capital funding: 100 percent private philanthropy

Major donors:

About the institute

• Eight UCI Health eye specialists are named “Best Doctors in America®”: Swaraj Bose, MBBS; Marjan Farid, MD; Sumit (Sam) Garg, MD; Baruch D. Kuppermann, MD, PhD; Linda Lippa, MD; Sameh Mosaed, MD; Jennifer L. Simpson, MD; Roger F. Steinert, MD.
• Our innovators hold seven U.S. patents for discoveries and developments related to eye health.
• Our eye specialists were the first in Orange County to implant a miniature telescope to improve vision in patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration.
• Our eye specialists pioneered use of a femtosecond laser for a laser-based approach to corneal transplant surgery, replacing the steel blade.

Contractors

Source: UCI Health Advancement