Doheny Eye Institute is about to energize Pasadena’s innovation ecosystem

By Lawren Markle
November 29, 2021

Often in economic development, the arrival of a new innovation leader sets off a wave of positive activity, including attraction of companies and organizations that want to do business with the leader, attraction of top talent, formation of a supply, demand and collaboration network in the local area, and regional thought leadership that results from the geographic concentration of all this activity.

So, anticipation is certainly high as Doheny Eye Institute prepares for the grand opening of its new headquarters near Old Town Pasadena, in a large, newly renovated building tucked away at the corner of Orange Grove Blvd and Walnut Street. Already known for its many science, technology, design and innovation assets, Pasadena will now be able to add globally respected eye research to its portfolio of core strengths.

Construction has been underway since mid-2020, with the build-out of offices, wet labs, research and development labs, a conference center, the Doheny Image Reading Center, which specializes in working with companies conducting clinical trials to develop new treatments and cures for eye diseases, and other collaboration and administrative spaces. Under its affiliation with UCLA, UCLA provides ophthalmology clinical, surgical and patient care services in Pasadena, Arcadia and Fountain Valley. The strategy is for a phased opening, and in the future, UCLA Doheny Eye Center Pasadena clinics and an outpatient surgery center with full operating suites will be added where complex eye surgeries that require specialized expertise will be performed. UCLA will be a major partner in this portion of the facility.

Initial construction will be coming to completion by the end of November 2021, with a grand opening slated for January 2022. Marissa Goldberg, CEO of Doheny Eye Institute was kind enough to give Innovate Pasadena president Rob McClinton and board member Lawren Markle a “hard hat” tour of the facility recently. She shared her excitement for the work that the Institute will be doing in Pasadena, and her aspirations for the new space.

She envisions its new headquarters will be a thriving hub for research scientists, physicians, surgeons, innovators, educators, technical and administrative staff, scientific and educational conferences, as well as collaborating partners. Recruiting top talent is on her mind, and beyond staffing immediate openings, Goldberg’s goal is to grow the research program and hire additional scientists over the coming two to three years with the primary research focus on advancing the prevention and treatment of eye diseases. To support that endeavor, the Doheny Image Reading Center will provide important data for Doheny’s artificial intelligence (AI) program that seeks to advance the identification of early markers and potential treatments for vision impairment and eye diseases.

Doheny Eye Institute, a nonprofit public benefit organization, receives funding for its work from federal grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), private grants from charitable foundations, contracts with companies interested in the vision research and individual donors who understand the importance of the Institute’s mission and want to support this advanced level of medical research.

The work will indeed benefit many, and we are all lucky that Doheny Eye Institute has chosen to call Pasadena home. Please join Innovate Pasadena in welcoming Ms. Goldberg and her entire team, and we look forward to visiting again in the near future when the ribbon is ready to cut, as the facility opens for business.

To learn more about Doheny Eye Institute and its latest researches and job openings, please visit https://doheny.org/.

Innovate Pasadena is a community organization committed to advancing greater Pasadena as a center of technology and design innovation by promoting collaboration across business and education to attract companies, entrepreneurs, innovators, and capital to the broader community. For more information, visit innovatepasadena.org.