Jules and Doris Stein Research to Prevent Blindness Professorship

Est. 1992

The Jules and Doris Stein Research to Prevent Blindness Professorship, named after Dr. Jules Stein, was established in 1992 by Research to Prevent Blindness.

Dr. Stein was a leader in the advancement of vision science and the prevention of blindness. He combined his love for music and medicine with a talent for analysis and organization to produce a lifetime of achievements as a musician, physician, business leader and philanthropist.

Born in 1896 in Indiana, Jules Stein earned his first degree from the University of Chicago at age 18 and followed it with an M.D. from Rush Medical College. After completing postgraduate studies at the University of Vienna and in Chicago, Cook County Hospital, he began medical practice and was certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

From an early age, Dr. Stein was a musician, and he financed his education by playing in and leading his own band. As his reputation increased, he began booking other musicians for professional engagements. In 1924, he founded the Music Corporation of America (MCA). Within 10 years, MCA represented most of the big-name bands, and corporate activities began to extend to representation of film stars, directors, writers and musical artists. MCA entered the promising new field of television at its inception, eventually acquiring the Universal City property, Universal Pictures, and other enterprises and becoming pre-eminent in the entertainment industry.

Throughout his successful career in entertainment, Dr. Stein maintained a great interest and emotional investment in medicine, particularly his own field of ophthalmology. In the late 1950s, with the encouragement of his wife, Doris, he chose to direct his considerable talents to blindness prevention.

With Dr. Stein’s efforts, Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) was created. RPB is recognized as the world’s leading voluntary organization in support of studies of the eye and cures or treatments for its diseases.

Dr. Stein also was largely responsible for the passage of legislation to establish the National Eye Institute as a separate entity in the National Institutes of Health. Under his leadership, the Jules Stein Eye Institute was founded at UCLA as a multidisciplinary center for vision science.

Jules Stein died in 1981, leaving a legacy of hope to the world. Through his accomplishments and philanthropy, he created ever-replenishing resources for eye research and the means to preserve and restore sight for future generations.

RPB has committed hundreds of millions of dollars — including their gifts to this professorship — to support scientific investigators, technological equipment and eye research laboratory facilities. As a result, RPB researchers have been associated with nearly every major breakthrough in the understanding and treatment of vision loss in the past few decades.

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