Marnix Heersink

The University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine has been renamed the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine after a Dothan eye surgeon donated a record-breaking $95 million to the school. UAB also will establish the Marnix E. Heersink Institute of Biomedical Innovation, which will focus on entrepreneurial health care innovation initiatives. The primary location of the institute will be at UAB, with a prominent physical presence in Dothan. The gift also will fund the Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health, named for Heersink’s wife. Heersink is an eye surgeon, innovator and entrepreneur. He co-owns Eye Center South, which he and Dr. John Fortin established in Dothan. It now has 12 offices in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Mary Heersink serves on the UAB School of Medicine board of visitors and the advisory board of the Master of Global Health Program, a joint initiative among McMaster University in Canada, Maastricht University in the Netherlands, Manipal University in India and Thomassat University in Thailand. According to a statement from UAB, Heersink wants his donation to inspire more contributions. UAB stepped up with a $5 million donation from Triton Health Systems, bringing the total support for the school to $100 million. The Heersink family has also has donated to renovate the atrium in Volker Hall and to establish the Heersink Family Active Learning Resource Center at UAB, and to the Heersink Family Endowed Glaucoma Fellowship and the Heersink Family Foundation Scholarship Endowment in Optometry, among others. Marnix E. Heersink, M.D. graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. degree and an M.D. degree from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. His internship was completed at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada, while his residency in Ophthalmology was performed at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed a fellowship in cataract surgery and intraocular lens implantation in Philadelphia and following his training came to Dothan for his ophthalmology practice.