Workforce Development and Surgical Mentorship in Global Ophthalmic Care

Kevin Barber, MD, speaks with Cynthia Matossian, MD, and Sara O’Connor, MD, MPH, about strategies to address workforce shortages and training gaps in ophthalmic care. Dr. Matossian outlines the American College of Eye Technicians and its technician training model to expand career awareness and technical competency, and Dr. O’Connor describes ACE Global’s ophthalmic technician program in Honduras and a community health worker curriculum. Dr. Barber reviews distance surgical mentorship, a smartphone-to-microscope telementoring approach that supports ophthalmologists in low-resource settings as they transition to independent cataract surgery. Together, these initiatives illustrate a scalable, team-based pipeline to build capacity and reduce preventable blindness; related perspectives appear in CRST’s June 2025 “Bridging the Gap” issue. Related reading: "A Workforce Solution to Expand Access to Eye Care" "Scaling Surgical Mentorship Across Borders"