History:

Legacy Devers Eye Institute was founded in 1959 with a one million dollar endowment for research and indigent care from grateful patient and Portland businessman, Arthur Devers.

Discoveries in Sight Research Laboratories (DIS) was established in 1997 by Legacy Devers Eye Institute at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. The main research labs are now located at Legacy Research Institute on Legacy's Holladay Park Campus, with studies taking place there and at other Legacy Health locations.

Building on a strong research tradition at Devers Eye Institute, DIS’s internationally recognized vision scientists, ophthalmologists and optometrists combine National Institutes of Health funded basic and clinical research programs, with unrestricted research collaborations with private industry to study glaucoma and other blinding diseases of the eye and central visual system.

Through its association with Legacy Research Institute, Legacy Devers Eye Institute, and the seven Legacy Health hospitals, DIS has access to scientific and clinical resources that are unusually robust for an organization its size.

Research Focus:

Discoveries in Sight is a private, nonprofit research institute — one of only a handful in the United States that is focused on the visual system. Visiting clinicians, scientists, medical students, and post-doctoral fellows come from around the world (including England, France, Belgium, Brazil, Korea, Singapore, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, China, Germany, Nepal and South Africa) in order to draw on our research expertise.

Our goal is to expedite development of new technologies and treatments to prevent, detect and treat blinding eye disease through programs that include:

• Basic Research: Combining novel research programs in ocular anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology to discover their roles in ocular and central visual system disease.
  
  
• Clinical Research: Initiating and conducting clinical trials, developing and testing new diagnostic tests and therapies.
  
  
• Clinical Epidemiology: Prevalence of eye disease in populations
  
  
• Technology Development: Working with industry to accelerate the development of new technologies and pharmaceuticals.

Funding:

Funding for research comes from the government (National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), private foundations (e.g. Legacy Good Samaritan Foundation, American Glaucoma Society, Collins Foundation, Glaucoma Research Foundation, and Brightfocus Foundation), and industry partners.