His legacy: better cataract care, hope for blinding diseases with new treatments, and a world-class eye center built from the ground up.
John A. Moran Eye Center CEO and Distinguished Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology Randall J Olson, MD, has been many things throughout his remarkable career.
A talented surgeon and curious scientist. A trusted advisor and educator. The unflinching optimist. The champion of innovation. A self-made man.
But it all started with falling in love.
Gifted in math and science, Olson thought about becoming a physicist before realizing his joy in working with, speaking with, and helping others. He decided on medical school and quickly chose his specialty.
“Day one, I fell in love,” said Olson, recalling the first day of his ophthalmology rotation. “It was the beauty of it…the fact that you can make such an impact on your patients. In ophthalmology, you’re the pediatrician, you’re the internist, you’re the surgeon, you’re the neurologist. I mean, really, everything is involved. So, it just sang to me. There was no question. I didn’t have a doubt that’s what I wanted to do, and it’s been a good choice—I’ve loved it ever since.”
Olson’s patients were the beneficiaries of his passion.
“Looking at life through broken eyes is not something I’ve enjoyed, but having a partner to guide me through it has been a gift,” said John Cumming, who met Olson as a teen faced with losing vision from an accident before Olson performed surgery. “Dr. Olson has been a tether of optimism for me. Everything he says is thoughtful, empathetic, and responsible. Even when he has news I don’t want to deal with, it is always delivered with a warm, positive, enthusiastic, and can-do spirit.”
Olson began his career at the University of Utah with that same spirit. In 1979, at the age of 31, Olson cold-called the then-chair of surgery at the University of Utah after hearing its sole faculty ophthalmologist was leaving. The chair agreed to let Olson become a one-person Division of Ophthalmology but gave him no startup funding. Undeterred, Olson set about hiring equally enthusiastic clinicians and researchers, and he rallied the community to his most profound conviction: No one facing blindness should be without hope, understanding, and treatment.
“I just don’t ever remember Randy expressing a feeling that we might not do well—and I don’t remember that feeling,” remarked Mano Swartz, MD, Olson’s first hire.
Today, Olson leads some 600 employees at an institution featuring more than 50 specialists, 11 satellite clinics, more than 20 research labs and centers, and the largest global outreach program of its kind. The Moran Eye Center is a world-class institution whose clinical care, academic, and research programs have ranked among the Top 10 in the nation.
Relying on the help of friends and donors, including the late John A. Moran, Olson opened the first Moran building in 1993 and later improved upon it with the construction of today’s center. Neither project used state or federal funds.
On the cusp of his 78th birthday, Olson has announced his retirement and says it’s time for new blood at the helm. He will remain in his position until a university committee selects a new department chair in 2025.
Reflecting on Olson’s journey and status as the nation’s longest-serving ophthalmology department chair and longest-serving University of Utah department chair, colleagues often refer to him as a visionary who wasn’t afraid to blaze new trails.
“I would say, foremost, Dr. Olson is visionary,” said neuro-ophthalmologist Kathleen B. Digre, MD. “We all wanted an eye center, a place to call home where we could grow our specialties, but it was Dr. Olson’s vision that was critical.”
While fitting the label, Olson shies away from it to point to something bigger he believes will endure long after his departure.
“It’s not me as the visionary. It’s me as the facilitator getting really good people who have their own visions and concepts so that we have people who are constantly thinking of new and better ways to approach things,” explained Olson. “If it’s all predicated on one individual, that can all fall apart, so it’s got to be something much bigger than that, predicated on an overall culture of excellence. Instead of saying ‘No,’ saying ‘Why not?’ Instead of saying, ‘That’s too hard,’ saying, ‘How can we tackle it?’ ‘What can we do?’ ‘What could we be?’”
"I would say, foremost, Dr. Olson is visionary. We all wanted an eye center, a place to call home where we could grow our specialties, but it was Dr. Olson’s vision that was critical."
IMPROVING CATARACT CARE
One of Olson’s first questions as a young surgeon was how he might improve cataract surgery, the most performed procedure worldwide.
Every person will lose vision as they age thanks to cataracts, a gradual clouding of the eye’s lens. Cataracts upend a person’s golden years, taking away the ability to safely perform everyday tasks such as cooking or driving. Like any vision impairment, cataracts can also prompt depression.
Olson helped his patients by removing the clouded lens but watched them struggle afterward. They spent days in the hospital and were advised not to lift anything heavier than a loaf of bread or lean forward beyond their waist for three months. Patients eventually received a pair of thick-lens glasses akin to looking through binoculars.
The invention of a flexible artificial lens made of silicon in the 1970s was a revolutionary innovation, and Olson immediately realized its significance in improving care. But he also noted a potential danger—no one was funding independent research to improve lens design and surgical practices to keep patients safe.
So, Olson created the world-renowned Intermountain Ocular Research Center (IORC) with the late David J. Apple, MD, to vet the best lens materials and designs. Olson’s clinical research developed small-incision cataract surgery techniques to reduce healing time and infection rates. Under Olson, Moran also became one of the first academic medical centers to begin teaching phacoemulsification, the modern method of cataract removal.
IORC Co-Director Nick Mamalis, MD, first met Olson in medical school, starting a 40-year relationship he has treasured.
“Dr. Olson sees into the future,” said Mamalis. “He’s one of those people who can see where there’s a need, and then he can actually go ahead and take the steps it takes to fill it.”
As Olson hired physicians to provide care in all ophthalmic subspecialties, he bolstered the research program with talented scientists with bold aspirations. Among them was Robert Marc, whose lab in 2011 built the world’s first connectome showing the circuitry of the retina. The task seemed impossible at first since so much computer storage would be needed to hold the data generated by the project. With support from Olson, Marc started anyway with faith that technology would catch up—and it did.
on filing patents and quickly bringing therapeutics to patients. It created unique collaborations between philanthropists, industry, and an interdisciplinary scientific team. The resulting research has completely changed the field’s understanding of AMD.
The first therapy developed by the SCTM, a gene therapy for AMD, is now in human testing.
“The man’s curiosity, passion, and enthusiasm are quite simply infectious,” said Hageman of Olson. “He strives for excellence, but he does so in a very interesting way. He helps you to get on a path, provides unwavering support, and lets you run. He is bold, committed, respectful, unafraid to tackle new challenges, kind-hearted—a true champion of innovation.”
The latest centers established at Moran, the Utah Retinal Reading Center (2020) and the Alan S. Crandall Center for Glaucoma Innovation (2022), continue the search for cures and new therapies.
"Dr. Olson is a testament to the truth that leadership makes a big difference. … He has an eye for spotting and recruiting talent."
NEW HOPE THROUGH RESEARCH
While treating his patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Olson saw another opportunity to bring hope to people facing blindness. Although AMD, which impacts central vision, is a leading cause of blindness for adults 55 and older, most in the field thought it was untreatable and uncurable. Olson, tired of telling his patients they would eventually go blind, thought there had to be a better way.
He recruited Gregory S. Hageman, PhD, to lead Moran’s Center for Translational Medicine, now the Sharon Eccles Steele Center for Translational Medicine (SCTM). The two were kindred spirits: Like Olson, Hageman did not accept the status quo.
Hageman had started to unravel the genetics of AMD in hopes of finding a cure. Olson convinced him that, together, they could
do something that hadn’t been done before: develop a drug for a major disease in academia rather than big pharma.
The SCTM represented a significant departure from the academic funding model of “publish or perish,” focusing instead
"Being in Dr. Olson’s presence, you know he’s kind and he’s compassionate and he cares. The team that he has built around him is just as wonderful and inspiring as he is. So, he really has created a family at Moran, which is so wonderful to see. Dr. Olson, we wish you all the best in your retirement. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done."
EDUCATING FUTURE GENERATIONS
Olson was equally committed to hiring leaders who could elevate a residency program that trains future ophthalmologists and a fellowship program that provides ophthalmologists with advanced subspecialty training.
Under Olson, the program flourished with directors who sought innovation. The program was among the first in the nation to establish a required intern year at Moran in ophthalmology and internal medicine, allowing residents to understand the hospital system from the start and graduate exceptionally prepared.
In more recent years, the residency program has implemented a progressive flipped classroom model, which focuses on active learning outside of the classroom.
Olson has been listed as the author of more than 300 published research papers during his career, and on many of them, he is joined by the trainees he mentored. One of them was Moran Vice-Chair of Clinical Affairs Jeff Pettey, MD, MBA, who was still determining what he wanted to do after finishing his residency in 2010.
“Dr. Olson asked about my passions, and he listened,” said Pettey. “Based on what I had expressed about numerous goals adjacent to ophthalmology, he offered to create a fellowship that would allow me to pursue leadership and global outreach while specializing in cataract surgery. He essentially outlined what my dream career could be, and his support gave me the confidence to believe I could do it.”
Under Olson, the education program has provided residents with unique advantages. At Moran, they can perform far more surgeries than the national average and customize their learning experience, including engaging in charity care with Moran’s Global Outreach Division.
Olson believed part of training successful ophthalmologists was also teaching them about compassionate care. Perhaps no one was a better teacher on the topic than the late Alan S. Crandall, MD, a talented glaucoma specialist who was one of Olson’s first hires and founder of the outreach division.
Today, the division is the largest outreach program of its kind at any academic medical center. It boasts dedicated space in the center and a cadre of dedicated physicians, medical personnel, and staff who regularly volunteer their time to increase access to care at home and abroad. In Utah and on the Navajo Nation, teams provide charitable care; overseas, the division teaches and trains new physicians and nurses in low-resource countries. The work is solely funded by generous donations from the community.
The concept, however, was novel when Crandall came to Olson seeking to allow physicians and medical personnel time to travel for the greater good. Olson didn’t hesitate.
Olson allowed his physicians to do what they were best at, explained Crandall in a 2019 interview.
“He’s the ultimate chairman because he does what’s best for ophthalmology, for Moran,” said Crandall.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Olson believes he has set up the center to go fearlessly into the future.
The past few years have been a time of expansion, with additions to faculty and exciting work to embrace new technologies such as teleophthalmology, apps, and artificial intelligence.
“I see us, with our strength in bioengineering, really being leaders in looking at new technology approaches,” Olson has said. “We want to be a leader, and we should embrace that and not be afraid of it.”
Moran Executive Director Wayne Imbrescia, who helped Olson build both centers and has worked with him for more than 30 years, said Olson has earned a special place in history at the University and in his field.
“It’s a pretty amazing adventure when you think about him as the one and only chairman in the history of the Department of Ophthalmology and all that’s been done on his watch,” said Imbrescia. “It’s impressive."
Awards & Honors
Randall J Olson, MD, is a world-renowned expert in cataract and intraocular lens surgery who has received top recognition in his field and at the University of Utah.
Among his awards and honors:
- American Academy of Ophthalmology Kelman Award & Lifetime Achievement Award
- American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Binkhorst Medal
- International Intra-Ocular Implant Club Jan Worst Medal
- University of Utah Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence
- University of Utah Rank of Distinguished Professor
- Governor’s Medal for Science & Technology Academic/Research
- The Ophthalmologist Power List
