James B. Sprague, MD

Chairman

Dr. Sprague has served on the Foundation’s Board of Directors since its incorporation in 1999 and was elected chairman in 2005. He also served as the Foundation’s first chief executive officer from 2005 until early 2015, when he announced his retirement. A former pediatric ophthalmologist in the Washington, D.C. region, Dr. Sprague has been actively involved in public health ophthalmology studies in the U.S. and abroad, traveling extensively in developing countries with blindness prevention programs. He also served as a Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Georgetown University from 1984 to 2005. Prior to entering private practice, Dr. Sprague served as the Chief of Ophthalmology at Denver General Hospital and was on the faculty of the University of Colorado.

Dr. Sprague received his BA with honors from Harvard University and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a two-year internship and residency in internal medicine at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Sprague was an EIS Officer at the Centers for Disease Control. He later completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Colorado and pediatric ophthalmology fellowship at Columbia University.