MEEI Public Affairs Department: Quick Facts about Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Our Mission

Founded in 1824 by Drs. Edward Reynolds and John Jeffries as a one-room clinic to treat Boston's needy, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary has earned an international reputation for its successful treatment of the most difficult diseases and conditions of the eye, ear, nose, throat, head and neck, and for its outstanding contributions to medical research and education.

Vital Statistics*

• Inpatient beds: 42
• Operating rooms: (14 major; 3 Surgicenter)17
• Total surgical procedures: 19,909
• Total outpatient visits:206,498
• Emergency room visits: 21,754
• MEEI operating revenue:$106,629,066
• MEEA operating revenue:$48,379,464
• MEEA (hospital-based) physicians:99
• Community based physicians:323
• Employees:1,399
• Nurses: 223
• Sponsored research:$22,134,151

*(Numbers are from FY2006)

Medical Education

• Primary teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in ophthalmology and otolaryngology.
• Training more than 135 residents and fellows in MEEI's various sub-specialties, including cornea, neuro-ophthalmology, retina, eye pathology, pediatrics, glaucoma, ocular oncology, immunology, head and neck surgery and oncology, pediatric otolaryngology, facial plastics, otology and oto-neurology.

Research Advances

• Electron microscope studies of human inner ear changes and how they cause deafness. (1970-74)
• Discovery of the first drug to treat herpes simplex, a viral infection which causes bland cold sores on the lips, but which can be blinding when it attacks the cornea. (1975)
• First isolation of the gene governing retinoblastoma, a potentially fatal eye tumor afflicting young children, which gene is a prototype for an entire class of genes relating to cancers of the breast, bone, bladder and lung. (1986)
• First isolation of the gene that causes one form of retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary, degenerative, and currently incurable and blinding disease of the retina. (1989)
• Discovery of VEGF, a molecule implicated in diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, the most common forms of blindness. (1994)

Surgical/ Clinical Advances

• First application of proton beam irradiation for intraocular malignant melanoma, which irradiation successfully treats this eye tumor without damage to surrounding tissue. (1975)
• Development of surgical methods for the alleviation of intractable vertigo. (1981)
• Development and refinement of photocoagulation by use of laser beam and ultra-cold instruments in eye surgery. (1987)
• Development of a surgical method to restore speech, swallowing, and normal breathing patients with paralyzed vocal cords. (1993)
• Establishment of the first hyperbaric oxygen service in The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1995)
• Pioneered the use of photodynamic therapy for patients with neovascular macular degeneration. (FDA approved in 2000)

Honors

• U.S. News & World Report magazine has ranked the Infirmary in the top five in one or both of its specialties (ophthalmology and otolaryngology) each year since the magazine began publishing its annual survey of hospitals in 1990. In 2007, the Infirmary was ranked fourth in ENT and fourth in Eye.
• JCAHO accreditation

Find a Doctor

Eye Appointments
617-573-3202

ENT Appointments
617-573-3954

Main Operator
617-523-7900

T.D.D.
617-523-5498

Above information in pdf format. (right click to save)

page updated: 2/08/08