Susan Lane of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, has made a transformational gift of $1.5 million to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Michigan Medicine. The mother of two has been a longtime patient of the department as well as a dedicated donor. Her latest gift will establish the Lane Family Corneal Clinical Endowed Research Fund. Per her wishes, $1 million of her gift will create the endowed fund while $470,000 will establish the Lane Family Corneal Clinical Expendable Research Fund, a companion to the endowment. A retired teacher and active volunteer, Ms. Lane’s lifelong commitment to education and teaching is reflected in her allocation of the remaining $30,000 of her gift, which will establish the Ophthalmology Patient Education Gift Fund. She sees this as a way to support patients by ensuring the department’s ability to maintain and add to their collection of patient education materials. “Philanthropy is a way for me to help others by supporting cutting-edge research that will impact patient care for years to come. I received my teaching degree from the University of Virginia decades ago, yet I still feel the same level of passion for education today as I did then. Helping ophthalmological patients at Michigan Medicine obtain informative resources to understand and better manage their conditions is especially meaningful to me.” In 2021, gratitude drove her gift to establish a professorship in the department honoring the care she received from Alan Sugar, M.D., emeritus professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, for over forty years. While Ms. Lane had supported the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine in the past, her appreciation for the corneal transplant specialist’s care encouraged her to make that transformational gift. At the time, Ms. Lane said that another reason for the gift was to support the future of the field by ensuring cutting-edge corneal research such as the kind conducted by Dr. Sugar would be continued. The Alan Sugar M.D. Research Professorship in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences was inaugurated in 2023, the same year Dr. Sugar retired. The inaugural Sugar Professor is Maria Woodward, M.D., M.S., in whom Ms. Lane sees the future of the field of corneal health research and patient care. Shahzad I. Mian, M.D., chair and professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center is thrilled and gratified by Ms. Lane’s giving. “Our faculty are leaders in their disciplines, but no matter how great their expertise, conducting leading-edge research is truly made possible with philanthropy. Ms. Lane’s steadfast support enables our game-changing scientists to push the boundaries of ophthalmological research to improve how we diagnose, treat, and cure corneal conditions of all kinds. Her support is truly life-changing.”