The institute, made possible by a gift from Eugene and Marilyn Glick, allows the Department of Ophthalmology to combine clinics, education, research, library, office and collaborative spaces under one roof. The structure, at nearly 80,000 square feet, is the newest on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus and the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified campus building. It will be dedicated in a formal ceremony on Friday Aug. 19, 2011.
“We’re eager to show off our new facilities to the community,” said Louis Cantor, M.D., chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology. “We are grateful for the Glicks’ vision to create a world class eye institute at Indiana University where our researchers and faculty physicians can collaborate on discoveries that we hope will lead to treatments and cures for potentially blinding eye diseases.”
Free health screenings to be offered include vision screenings for adults and children; blood pressure and body mass index assessments by IU Health volunteers; and dermatology screenings for skin cancer by residents and physicians from the IU School of Medicine Department of Dermatology
The optical shop, featuring a wide selection of glasses and sunglasses will be open.
Building tours will be offered to show visitors the clinic space, library, laboratories and clinical research areas. Art from Indiana artists whose works were selected during a public art project also can be seen. Works range from oil paintings and photographs to sculptures and blown glass.
“Our art project was one of the ways we could showcase the importance of vision in a building dedicated to vision care and research,” said Dr. Cantor. “Art also expresses the humanistic side of medicine and supports the healing process. We believed it was important to create that healing environment through art and wanted to include as many Hoosier artists as possible. We have works from nearly 40 artists on exhibit.”
In keeping with the art theme, Mireille Wannemuehler, art teacher at St. Louis de Montfort School in Fishers, will supervise an art project for children. Kids can draw their favorite sight to see on paper or with sidewalk chalk. Wannemuehler’s students created a mosaic piece that is on exhibit in the library at the eye institute.
Indianapolis artist Joani Rothenberg will paint on site during Community Day, allowing those present to see her finish a mural she is painting for the Ophthalmology Center waiting room.
IPUIU Parking Services will provide parking for the event in the Riley Outpatient Center garage; the lot directly east of the Glick Eye Institute in front of Long Hall; and in the Vermont Street Parking Garage.
Attendees also can see the most recent sculpture by Don Gummer, a renowned sculptor who attended Ben Davis High School and the Herron School of Art before making his home in New York and Connecticut. Titled “Open Eyes,” the Gummer piece will anchor the green space to the east of the Glick Eye Institute.
For more information on the location, visit https://www.iupui.edu/about/map.html
For information about the Glick Eye Institute, visit www.glick.iu.edu