Orbis is pleased to welcome Kathleen Sherwin as our new Chief Executive Officer—a globally respected leader whose career and values strongly align with our vision of a world where everyone can access the eye care they need to thrive.
Kathleen believes leadership is a privilege rooted in supporting others to create lasting change. She is deeply committed to achieving impact at scale and sees Orbis as uniquely positioned to meet the growing global need for eye care.
“The need for eye care has never been greater,” Kathleen says. “Orbis is focused on strengthening sustainable health systems through proven approaches—supporting women-led and environmentally conscious eye centers, delivering world-class ophthalmic training both in person and virtually, and empowering local leadership. Working in partnership with governments, health professionals, and communities, we can scale these solutions quickly to meet urgent global needs.”
Kathleen’s appointment marks an exciting new chapter for Orbis. Her strategic vision, global experience, and collaborative leadership will guide us as we continue working toward a future where everyone, everywhere, has access to quality eye care and the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Read more about Kathleen’s appointment at orbis.org.
From learner to global educator via Cybersight 🌍
A huge congratulations to Dr. Bayanda Mbambisa, an ophthalmologist from South Africa, on delivering her first-ever live Cybersight webinar. 🙌
Not long ago, Dr. Mbambisa was using Cybersight to build her own surgical skills and clinical confidence, at a time when local training opportunities were limited. Today, she’s sharing that knowledge with others— reaching 1,033 eye care professionals from 132 countries with her session on managing diabetic macular edema (DME) in low-resource settings.
One attendee summed it up perfectly: “Through Dr. Mbambisa’s comprehensive and excellent presentation, she made what was unrealistic—reachable. My learning on DME was highly satisfactory and genuinely enjoyable.”
For those who don’t know, Cybersight is Orbis’s free telemedicine and e-learning platform, it connects eye care professionals to world-class learning and mentorship—and helps turn access to education into better care for patients everywhere.
More than 140,000 users, including 15% of the world’s ophthalmologists, now rely on Cybersight—making it the largest and most established digital learning and mentorship environment in global eye health—offered entirely free of charge.
Thank you, Dr. Mbambisa, for giving back to the global eye care community and helping improve eye care around the world. 💙
And a big thank you to everyone who shared photos of themselves enjoying the webinar.
We’re excited to share that President & CEO — and current PMNCH Board member — Kathleen Sherwin will be joining a panel at “Lives in the Balance” during #WHA79 on 19 May 2026, from 11:30–14:00 CET in Geneva.
She’ll be contributing to the global conversation on adolescents’, women’s, and children’s health and well‑being.
Pleased to share that our President & CEO, Kathleen Sherwin, will be speaking at #WHA79’s official side event “The Value of Vision: The Roadmap to the Global Summit for Eye Health” on 19 May (13:00–14:30 CEST) at WHO Headquarters, Geneva (and online).
As an IAPB Board member, Kathleen Sherwin is proud to join partners and leaders to help build momentum towards the Global Summit for Eye Health.
@iapb@fredhollows@cbm_uk@sightsavers
#ValueOfVision #GlobalSummitForEyeHealth #2030InSight
João from our Cybersight team is at the Brazilian Association of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (BRASCRS) 2026, Taking place in São Paulo now!
As the Cybersight team continues expanding the Portuguese-language resources, João looks forward to connecting with ophthalmologists and eye health professionals from across Brazil and beyond.
If you’ll be attending BRASCRS, he’d love to meet you! Visit Booth 14 and say hello.
Stop by to learn more about Orbis and Cybersight. See you in São Paulo! 💙
In a world first, Orbis and eye care partner @siloamvision are screening premature babies in Mongolia for a leading cause of childhood blindness with the support of AI.
World First: Babies Screened for Blindness Using AI in Mongolia 👀👶
In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Orbis and eye care partner @siloamvision are screening premature babies for a leading cause of childhood blindness with the support of AI—marking a major step forward for neonatal eye care in low‑ and middle‑income countries.
At the National Center for Maternal and Child Health (NCMCH), clinicians have begun using assistive AI to help detect retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a sight‑threatening condition that can progress quickly if not identified and treated early.
The screening program in Mongolia uses Siloam Vision’s proprietary AI technology, delivered through a telemedicine platform that allows retinal images to be securely reviewed and supported remotely. The AI provides additional guidance to ophthalmologists, helping them prioritize cases and make faster clinical decisions — particularly in settings where specialist time is limited.
Read the full story at orbis.org/AI-Mongolia
Today is International Nurses’ Day, and we’re celebrating nurses like our very own Lori Pacheco, Associate Director of Volunteer Experience and Engagement. 💙
As a highly skilled ophthalmic nurse, Lori travels the world training eye care teams—sharing the skills that help surgical and patient care teams deliver safer, stronger care for years to come.
"Nurses are essential to safe surgery and positive outcomes. By training and supporting nurses, we strengthen health systems and raise the standard of care for every patient for years to come." — Lori Pacheco
To all the dedicated, committed, and skilled nurses out there: thank you for everything you do and we hope you have a very happy International Nurses’ Day! 🌟
#InternationalNursesDay #ThankYouNurses
A simple pair of glasses unlocks billions in global productivity, new research shows!
Big congratulations to @visionspringfoundation and partners on the publication of this new research in the British Journal of Ophthalmology: a workplace vision program costing under $10 per worker delivered a 337% net ROI in 12 weeks and boosted garment factory productivity by nearly 6%—good news for employers and workers alike.
The study also found 27% of workers needed glasses but didn’t have them—an affordable “quick win” for livelihoods and supply-chain performance.
The findings add to growing evidence that basic eye care can deliver outsized returns for both workers and employers, not just in the garment sector, but across global supply chains.
