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Dr. El-Maghraby has supported the training of eye care professionals from the Middle East in his hospitals and centers, and has sponsored numerous physicians from the Middle East and African for one or two-year fellowships in the United States and Europe.
He also founded the Al Noor Foundation (first non-governmental, non-profit organization for prevention of blindness) in the Middle East, and the Middle East Journal of Ophthalmology, which is the only official journal for the Pan Arab Middle East and African regions.
Dr. El-Maghraby is also the Founder and President of the Middle East African Council of Ophthalmology; in addition, because of his initiative, the inception of the annual International Blindness Prevention Award for the American Academy of Ophthalmology was materialized.
His great concern for Prevention of Blindness in undeveloped countries was obvious, and ultimately culminated in the initiation of the International Federation of Eye Banks and personally donated six eye banks to different Arab and east European countries, for which he was instrumental. He subsequently endowed a chair for prevention of blindness at the Wilmer Eye Institute, and the School of Hygiene and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University.
He played an important and significant role in transferring new technologies in ophthalmology from western countries to the Middle East, and the first to introduce intra-ocular lens implantation, refractive surgery, and the use of excimer laser in the Middle East.
He holds many memberships in ophthalmological associations and societies, to include the International Council of Ophthalmology; the Task Force for “Vision 2020: Right to sight” by WHO, international committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology; President-Elect of the International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS) in the U.S.A., and former member of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
He operated and lectured in 23 countries all over the world and has 25 publications to his credit.
His many international awards and recognition include the XXVI International Congress of Ophthalmology Award for Outstanding Contributions to World Ophthalmology, 1990; the Edward Maumenee International Award, 1991; the Fellowship ad Hominem Award-1994, the 1994 International Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology of the Royal Hawaiian Eye Foundation, and the 1994 Honorary Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Further, he was awarded the Shield for Outstanding Work in Humanitarian Causes, from the Red Cross, United Arab Emirates in 1997; the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 by the International Society of Refractive Surgery; the Pan Arab Council of Ophthalmology Gold Medal, the Tunisian Ophthalmological Society Gold Medal–2000, and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Dean’s Medal–2000.
He was chosen Physician of the Year in the Arab World by the International Public Opinion Association.and was awarded the Golden Medal Award of the Algerian Ophthalmological Society in 2004.
Dr. El-Maghraby was decorated with the Lion Badge of Honor by the President of Senegal in 1993; the Order of Merit, First Degree by the President of Niger in 1995, the Order of Merit by the late King of Jordan in 1997, the Order of the Two Niles, First Degree, by the President of Sudan in 1998, the Cedar of Lebanon by the President of Lebanon in 2001, decorated by the President of Egypt in 2003, and also decorated by the President of Tunis in 2003.
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