Jeffery L. Haddox
Jeff Haddox is the Founder of Sight Savers America. In 1997, Haddox founded Sight Savers America with the goal of ensuring that every child in Alabama is able to achieve his or her best possible vision. Through Haddox’s leadership, Sight Savers America has become a national model and is now the standard of children’s follow-up eye care. It has grown to serve over 95,000 children annually in 16 states, including approximately 55,000 in Alabama.
Haddox has been recognized by state and national organizations for his leadership and for the impact of Sight Savers America. In 2010, Haddox received the Robert G. Sherrill, Jr. M.D. Quality Award from the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation (AQAF), which recognizes a senior Alabama health care leader who is a champion of quality. He also received American Optometric Association’s “2012 Distinguished Service Award” for outstanding service and dedication to the visual welfare of the public and for contributions to the advancement of vision rehabilitation care, the most prestigious national award for vision rehabilitation. Under his guidance, Sight Savers America was awarded the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama’s Visionary Award, in recognition of its success in bringing eye care to underserved children. In addition, Haddox received the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Crystal Award on behalf of Sight Savers America.
In 1975, Haddox graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry. He attended Clemson University for his masters in mycology and then began his research career in the vision sciences at the Eye Foundation Hospital in Birmingham. From 1982-1999, Jeff served as Director of Brookwood Eye Research Laboratories. During this time, he authored and/or co-authored 41 articles that were published in scientific journals and received five U.S. and international patents on drugs designed to prevent inflammation. Until 2003, Haddox continued his career as a vision scientist while simultaneously working to build a foundation for Sight Savers America. Haddox is Co-Founder of the Black Belt Eye Care Consortium and formerly served on Governor Bentley’s Black Belt Commission. He also previously served as a Technical Advisor to Governor Bob Riley’s Black Belt Action Commission and on the Health Advisory Council of the Alabama Rural Action Commission.