It’s been an eventful 2019 for the Mid South Eye Bank for Sight Restoration (MSEB), which recently merged with Birmingham-based Advancing Sight Network and moved its office from the Medical District to Bartlett.

Each year, the eye bank sends tissue to more than 55 countries and completes nearly 2,500 corneal transplants.

Combining resources with Advancing Sight Network helped address increasing demands, Advancing Sight Network President and CEO Alan Blake said.

“When we started looking at the evolution of eye banking, the demand of surgeons and the evolution of corneal transplant over the years, it’s gotten more and more specific," Blake said.

“Combining our forces just helps with being able to supply the Southeast with the same quality of tissue that we’ve had in the past, but with more depth and enhanced services.”

MSEB is the second-oldest eye bank in the country, organized in 1945 and chartered in 1946 – two years after the Eye Bank for Sight Restoration in New York City was established in 1944.

The nonprofit was sponsored locally by the Robert George Circle of the Business and Professional Women of the First Congregational Church.

“Our mission is to relieve suffering through the procurement, processing and delivery of the highest quality human eye tissue for transplant, research and teaching throughout the Mid-South and the world, while maintaining a viable financial base,” MSEB’s Executive Director April Ruleman said.

Ruleman believes being at the global hub for FedEx has a big impact on MSEB’s handling of time-sensitive materials.

“We have until 11 p.m. to send tissue for tomorrow’s surgeries, where in other cities the cutoff time is probably earlier,” she said.

Advancing Sight Network (formerly the Alabama Eye Bank before the merger in May) has had a relationship with MSEB for more than a decade, helping with processing its tissue and other needs.

“Eye banking has become a little more competitive and more complex, and so we wanted to have a partnership that preserves the heritage, name and staff of Mid-South Eye Bank, so that the community can still be served by their great services,” Blake said.

“We thought a partnership would be a good thing to further services in Memphis and also to continue to provide enhanced services, depth of staff and cost efficiencies.”

Advancing Sight Network is one of the larger eye banks in U.S., ranking in the Top 10 for the past 30 years. One of its goals is to support other eye banks whenever it can.

The move for MSEB from the Hamilton Eye Center at the UT Health Sciences Center to a new space at 3144 Stage Post Drive in Bartlett provides updated facilities and more space with a better flow.

One of the main reasons for cornea transplant procedures, primarily in older patients, is to replace cells in the endotheliem, keeping the cornea from getting dehydrated. Diseases of the anterior cornea like keratoconus, usually found in younger patients, can also require transplants.

MSEB partners with all the local hospitals, including in Northern Mississippi and Arkansas, and works closely with its OPO (Organ Procurement Organization) and tissue bank, Mid-South Transplant Foundation.

With the merger, Ruleman and Blake expect their staffs to grow from six employees in Bartlett and 55 employees at Advancing Sight Network’s offices in Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery and Mobile.

Research is also a major component for the nonprofit, and Blake plans to expand its research program in the coming years.

“Our main goals are to be good stewards of the gift, honoring the donor families and providing safe tissue for the donor families,” Blake said. “That’s what we’ll always be about, while we continue to grow and provide the surgeons with what they need so we can offer innovative solutions to be able to provide the best corneal care for restoring sight.”