WICHITA, Kan.—Envision recently welcomed state, city and county officials, business leaders and donors to its headquarters in downtown Wichita last week for the grand opening of the Gigi and Carl Allen Envision Research Institute (ERI). Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell were among those who joined Envision president and CEO Michael Monteferrante to show their support of the ERI and highlight its importance to city and state as it establishes the Midwest as a hub of vision-related research.

The 12,500-square-foot facility will be used to investigate the implications of vision loss, early screening and access to treatments, optimizing rehabilitation therapies and developing accessibility technology, Envision said.

“Our goal is for eyecare practitioners to never again tell a patient there is nothing more they can do. There is always more that can be done, and that’s called low vision rehabilitation,” said executive director, Laura Walker, PhD.

“The ERI is creating a link between researchers, clinicians and educational teams. Our unique access to the Envision Vision Rehabilitation Clinic, Envision Child Development Center, Envision Industries and Envision’s global network of contacts in the vision care community will help us ask the most meaningful and impactful questions, identify how those with vision loss want and need to interact with the world and to remove the functional barriers that stand in their way,” Walker said.