Vision of the Future

Trude Kahn Hollander, M.D., is a longtime friend of the UC San Diego Shiley Eye Center, a friendship that began in the late 1990s when she received treatment there. To honor that friendship and to demonstrate her belief in the groundbreaking work performed at Shiley, Dr. Hollander has made arrangements in her estate plan to fund the Dr. Trude K. Hollander Endowed Chair. The endowment will support a faculty member in the Division of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, which is housed in the Department of Ophthalmology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

"We appreciate Dr. Hollander's generosity for choosing the UC San Diego Shiley Eye Center to leave her lasting legacy toward our future growth, innovation and success," said Robert N. Weinreb, M.D., director of the Shiley Eye Center.

Dr. Hollander and Don O. Kikkawa, M.D., chief of the Division of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, have remained close friends since she was first introduced to his division. Said Dr. Hollander, "Dr. Don Kikkawa is and always has been the perfect example of a true physician who makes a difference. He has an extraordinary pair of hands and eyes which bring healing for the most complicated and rare eye conditions. He has been my idol from the moment I met him."

Dr. Hollander completed her medical degree in Bonn, Germany in 1936; she was one of four women to graduate in a class of 120. She left Germany before World War II to complete her internship at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco, then moved to Massachusetts and became board certified in gynecology. She met her late husband, Alfred, a prominent dermatologist, while practicing in Springfield. Hollander enjoyed a 45-year career in medicine before the couple retired to San Diego in 1979. This year, she celebrated her 104th birthday.

Recognized internationally as a leader in patient care, teaching and research, the UC San Diego Division of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has pioneered operations and techniques that have become the standard in the field of oculofacial plastic surgery—a specialty that focuses on disorders of the eyelids, orbits, face and lacrimal system. The establishment of the Dr. Trude K. Hollander Endowed Chair will help the division to attract and retain a leading faculty member in this specialty.

Endowment