The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2026 ASCRS Foundation Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award: Aravind Haripriya, MD, and Rengaraj Venkatesh, MD.
This award, endowed by a generous gift from philanthropists David and Victoria Chang, honors individuals who demonstrate exemplary dedication to humanitarian efforts with a focus on addressing cataract blindness and disability. Each award includes a $100,000 donation to the charitable ophthalmic organization of their choice and formal recognition at the ASCRS Annual Meeting (Washington, DC, April 10–13, 2026).
“Dr. Haripriya and Dr. Venkatesh are ophthalmologists well known to ASCRS, who have contributed significantly to the overall advancement of excellence in our field as cataract surgeons,” said Lisa Park, MD, chair of the Nominating Committee. “However, their nomination for the Chang-Crandall Humanitarian Award is to recognize their leadership in an organization, the Aravind Eye Care System, a network of hospitals in southern India whose practice model allows for more than 50% of cataract surgeries to be performed at no cost or significantly subsidized cost to patients,” she said. “They have each performed nearly 100,000 surgeries, many of these being charitable cases.”
Both Dr. Haripriya and Dr. Venkatesh have long careers in ophthalmology and work within the Aravind Eye Care System, which was started by Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy in 1976. They also have a deep commitment to training and education, sharing Aravind’s best practices, the systems, software, and spreadsheets, and offering training programs to help other hospitals develop their teams to address local needs. Over the last two decades, they have been leading courses at the ASCRS Annual Meeting and various other conferences regularly, sharing new techniques and updates and also focusing on MSICS.
“It was really special for both of us. Because this is also Aravind's Golden Jubilee year, I think it means a lot for us to be recipients because we are representing the larger Aravind family, and this means so much to everyone here, especially because now we have a large team of doctors from Aravind visiting the ASCRS [Annual Meeting] every year. Considering all the previous awardees, we're truly honored,” said Dr. Haripriya.
“We truly believe that this award is for the Aravind Eye Care System,” commented Dr. Venkatesh. There are so many things to be done at Aravind, he said, adding that the award will be utilized for the best possible evidence-based care, around sustainability, training, and teaching.
