Late Dr Jaiveer Agarwal
Founded Dr Agarwal's Group & Eye Research Centre
Dr Jaiveer Agarwal founded Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals with his wife Late Dr T Agarwal in 1957, in Chennai. He introduced Refractive keratoplasty with the Cryolathe in India and was also first to start Cryoextraction in the 1960’s. He was honoured with the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2006. He received the award from then President, Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam.
Dr J. Agarwal, a doyen in the field of Ophthalmology, conducted many eye camps in villages around Chennai and had treated hundreds of thousands of patients. He spearheaded the Eye Donation Campaign for the treatment of corneal blindness and the screening of school children for defective vision.
Dr J. Agarwal was the President of the All India Ophthalmological Society in 1992. He was also the President of Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association & Madras City Ophthalmological Association. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the All India Ophthalmological Society and Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association in recognition of his yeoman services to the people of Tamil Nadu and Ophthalmic fraternity, not to mention the very many recognitions he received from ophthalmic foundations from across the world. Dr J. Agarwal passed away in November 2009 after the demise of his wife.
Dr J. Agarwal envisioned to provide the best eye care treatment to the people of Chennai. At the time of his demise in November, 2009, he had realized this dream.
Late Dr Tahira Agarwal
Founded Dr Agarwal's Group & Eye Research Centre
Dr. Tahira Agarwal was the managing director of Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, which she founded along with her husband, Dr. Jaiveer Agarwal. She was the brain behind building a hospital in the shape of a human eye—a unique architectural feat that got listed in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
She was the first to introduce cryosurgery in the treatment of cataracts in India in 1967, and she was also the first to perform refractive surgery using a cryolathe in 1981. She has performed over 20,000 procedures on Zyoptix and Lasik for correcting refractive errors.
Dr. T. Agarwal played a pivotal role in training general physicians to remove the eyes after death and propagating eye donation. She established links with the International Eye Bank, Sri Lanka, in 1974 and paved the way for getting eyes for India from Sri Lanka. She passed away in April 2009 after a brief illness.
She was the recipient of the “P. Siva Reddy Gold Medal” by the All India Ophthalmological Society for the paper on “refractive keratoplasty” and the “Bharatiya Mahila Ratna Award” by the Front for National Progress and 21st Century Development Council.
While she ably supported her husband in envisioning his dream, Dr. T. Agarwal also made sure to pass on her legacy by personally training her children and grandchildren in ophthalmology.
Prof. Amar Agarwal
Chairman, Dr Agarwal’s Group
Prof. Amar Agarwal is the chairman of the Dr. Agarwal Eye Hospitals group. He is a pioneer in Phakonit surgeries and has rolled out quite a few innovations from the surgical tables of his hospital. Be it a glued IOL on a senior patient or an anterior segment transplantation in a four-month-old child, Prof. Amar is simply an artist when it comes to complicated eye surgeries.
He is also the Chairman of the Scientific Committee, Intraocular Implant & Refractive Society, India.
Prof. Amar Agarwal has won many awards for his revolutionary innovations in ophthalmology, the most significant being the Barraquer and the Kelman awards. When he is not restoring vision or training doctors from across the globe, Prof. Amar writes about ophthalmology. He has authored over 50 books that have been published in various languages. His patients remember every single interaction with him and feel that with a single magical word, “Beta” (child in Hindi), he is able to put them at absolute ease even in the most difficult times.
Dr Athiya Agarwal
Director
Trained in ophthalmology and pathology at the world-famous Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, under Professor A. Garner and by Dr. Bert Glaser in the USA, Dr. Athiya is one of the leading anterior segment surgeons and ocular pathologists in India. She is an active member of the All India Ophthalmological Society and conducts training programs for postgraduate students in modern surgical procedures. In addition to her flourishing practice, Dr. Athiya is in charge of the research activities at Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals. While not at work, Dr. Athiya is a doting mom and the best friend to her grandkids.
Dr Ashvin Agarwal
Chairman, Clinical Board
After completing medical school and post-graduation in ophthalmology, Dr. Ashvin pursued further training, including working at the Bascom Palmer Institute in Miami, Florida, and Price Vision Group in Indianapolis, specializing in refractive and corneal surgeries. He then returned to Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital in Chennai, India, focusing on the cataract division. With over 15,000+ surgeries to his credit, Dr. Ashvin specializes in complex cataract care, corneal refractive surgeries, and anterior segment repair procedures. As the Executive Director and Chief of Clinical Services, he leads the strategic and administrative efforts of the group, maintaining superior clinical quality across the hospitals. Dr. Ashvin is deeply involved in research and academics, with over 50+ roles in academic conferences and various leadership positions in organizations like Eye Connect International and ISRS, among others. He has also contributed to over 30 internationally accepted publications.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Awarded for the Invention of ECAL (Extrusion Cannula Assisted Levitation) for the Dropped IOL at the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery (AECOS) Conference in Deer Valley, Utah, USA, on July 31, 2015.
- I won the second prize for cataract and refractive surgery for the film ‘ECAL’ at the XIV International Congress of Cataract and Refractive Surgery held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, between the 1st and 4th of June 2016.
- Awarded the Visionary Award in the AECOS, Deer Valley, United States, 2018.
- American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Secretariat Award, 2021.
- Won the coveted Golden Apple Award at the 2023 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Annual Meeting.
Board of Directors
Dr Athiya Agarwal
Chairperson, Eye Research Centre
Trained in ophthalmology and pathology at the world-famous Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, under Professor A. Garner and by Dr. Bert Glaser in the USA, Dr. Athiya is one of the leading anterior segment surgeons and ocular pathologists in India. She is an active member of the All India Ophthalmological Society and conducts training programs for postgraduate students in modern surgical procedures. In addition to her flourishing practice, Dr. Athiya is in charge of the research activities at Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals. While not at work, Dr. Athiya is a doting mom and the best friend to her grandkids.
