Thurmond Eye Associates

Visionary Gift

Ophthalmology alumni donate to help future eye doctors

Oftentimes, in an academic setting, money is helpful for those things that are hard to find funding for. Whether it be sponsoring trips for resident education or resident research or even some creature comforts for the residents to have some decent furniture for after hours on call.

Wade Graham, M.D., (Resident '99, Medicine '95)

 Thurmond Eye Associates

After Wade Graham, MD, graduated from the School of Medicine and finished his ophthalmology residency, he joined the faculty of his alma mater to guide others through the process. As an assistant professor and director of the ophthalmology residency program, Graham saw firsthand the struggles residents faced — the professional problems as well as the personal ones. 
Today, he partners with two other alumni in private. Their practice, Thurmond Eye Associates, has been a successful one. So, when the three men decided they were in a position to help current ophthalmology residents, they did. In 2017, Graham (Resident ’99; Medicine ’95), K.C. Bentley, MD, (Resident ’11; Medicine ’07) and Joel George, MD, (Resident ’07; Medicine ’03) began to give $10,000 annually to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Their gift in October 2020 brought their total giving amount to $40,000. 

“We all felt well prepared for our careers and grateful for the education and training we received,” Graham said. “And we thought, what better way to pay it forward than to contribute to the institution that made it possible?”

‘See One, Do One'

While Graham was on the TTUHSC faculty, one particular donation to the department caught his attention — a copy of Ursula M. Schmidt-Erfurth and Thomas Kohnen Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology for each of his residents. Graham and his peers had to purchase the reference book during their residency to prepare for board certification and in-service training exams.

The donation was well received among Graham’s residents; George was one of them. 

“When I got to (TTUHSC) ophthalmology, I had a wife and two kids,” he explained. “I was supporting them on a resident’s salary, which is meant to support one person, so every little bit counted. That definitely made a huge impact; I don’t know where I would have gotten the money to purchase the encyclopedia.”

Thurmond Eye Associates Pay It Forward

In 2008, Graham left TTUHSC to join Thurmond Eye Associates, an established practice in the Rio Grande Valley. Shortly afterward, Graham recommended George to fill a vacated retina specialist position. Within a year, Graham became a managing partner as several of the staff physicians retired.

When the partners began looking to expand the practice beyond its existing four locations, Graham and George turned to their TTUHSC network. Learning that Bentley was considering a move, they convinced him to join them.

Now all three physicians are managing partners of Thurmond Eye Associates — the Texas Tech south campus, Graham jokes. With a surgery center and seven locations scattered along the border from Rio Grande City to Harlingen, Thurmond Eye Associates covers many ophthalmology subspecialties, including retina, glaucoma, cornea and pediatrics. 

Reflecting on the sacrifices they each made to get through their residency and have successful careers motivated them to give to the School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, where it all began. 

“Oftentimes, in an academic setting, money is helpful for those things that are hard to find funding for,” Graham said. “Whether it be sponsoring trips for resident education or resident research or even some creature comforts for the residents to have some decent furniture for after hours on call.”

Their first donation helped to revitalize the residents’ locker room and break room, where they eat and study; cover travel expenses that residents would otherwise have to fund themselves; and purchase educational materials for the surgical practice lab.

The men made subsequent gifts in 2018, 2019 and 2020, in hopes of increasing the positive impact for residents, in whom they can see their younger selves.

George said their reason for giving is twofold: “One, it just makes their training a little smoother,” he said. “Two, hopefully, maybe one day when they get out, they’ll do the same thing.”

K.C. Bentley, M.D. Resident '11 Medicine '07	Joel George, M.D. Resident '07 Medicine '03	Wade Graham, M.D. Resident '99 Medicine '95

Written by Glenys Young, Pulse magazine l  Image by Neal Hinkle