For three decades, Milpitas ophthalmologist Kris Karlen, M.D., has led annual missions to Ghana to perform sight restoring surgeries in a county that currently has less than 50 ophthalmologists to serve a population of 20 million.

Dr. Karlen organizes these missions through his role as vice president on the board of Help is on the Way Ministries, a nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to bringing physical, spiritual, social, and financial assistance to the poor in developing countries mostly in West Africa.

"Although restoring sight to the blind may sound like something that would require a miracle, for the poor in West Africa, it's a very realistic goal," says Dr. Karlen. Most of the blindness in Ghana is curable by surgery. Dr. Karlen visits Ghana on a yearly basis to work in the eye clinics and teach techniques to local ophthalmologists.

Dr. Karlen received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed his residency training in ophthalmology at Boston University. He is currently an ophthalmologist at the Permanente Medical Group in Milpitas and specializes in refractive surgery, cataract surgery, lacrimal system surgery, and laser surgery.

Dr. Karlen has been a member of the California Medical Association and Santa Clara County Medical Society since 1992.