David Paton, a visionary and forward-thinking eye doctor who founded Project Orbis, transformed a United Airlines plane into a mobile hospital, bringing surgeons to underdeveloped nations to treat patients and train local medical professionals, passed away on April 3 at his home in Reno, Nevada. He was 94 years old.
His son, Townley, confirmed the news of his passing.
Dr. Paton, whose father was a well-known ophthalmologist in New York with notable patients including the Shah of Iran and J. Pierpont Morgan’s horse, was teaching at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in the early ’70s when he grew frustrated by the rise in avoidable blindness in remote areas.
“We needed more eye doctors,” he mentioned in his memoir, “Second Sight: Views from an Eye Doctor’s Odyssey” (2011), “but equally essential was enhancing the education of existing doctors.”
But how could this be achieved?
He thought about sending loads of equipment—similar to a circus—but faced logistical obstacles. He also considered using a medical ship like the one operated by Project Hope, yet found that route too slow-paced for his liking.
“Just after the first moon landing in 1969, dreaming big was becoming reality,” Dr. Paton wrote.
Then, an innovative idea dawned on him: “Could an aircraft be the solution? A sufficiently large aircraft could be turned into an operating room, a training space, and all the necessary facilities.”
All he required was an airplane. He reached out to the military for a donation, but that effort failed. He sought funding from various universities to purchase one, but administrators rejected him, claiming the concept was impractical.
“David was willing to take chances that others wouldn’t,” Bruce Spivey, the founding president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, remarked in an interview. “He had charisma, he was inspirational, and he persevered.”
Dr. Paton chose to fundraise independently. In 1973, he launched Project Orbis with a group of influential and wealthy individuals, including Texas oilman Leonard F. McCollum and Betsy Trippe Wainwright, the daughter of Juan Trippe, the Pan American World Airways founder.
In 1980, Mr. Trippe successfully convinced United Airlines CEO Edward Carlson to donate a DC-8 jet. The U.S. Agency for International Development contributed $1.25 million to convert the aircraft into a medical facility, complete with an operating room, recovery area, and a classroom equipped with televisions for local medical staff to observe surgeries.
Surgeons and nurses volunteered their time, committing two to four weeks abroad. The inaugural flight took place in 1982, heading to Panama, followed by visits to Peru, Jordan, Nepal, and more. Notable individuals like Mother Teresa and Cuban leader Fidel Castro visited.
In 1999, The Sunday Times of London’s magazine sent a reporter to Cuba to cover the plane, now known as the Flying Eye Hospital. One patient was a 14-year-old girl named Julia.
“In developed nations, Julia’s issue would have been a minor inconvenience,” The Sunday Times article noted. “She likely had uveitis, an eye inflammation treatable with drops. In Britain, even cats receive prompt treatment.”
Her surgeon was Edward Holland, a renowned eye doctor.
“Holland skillfully used tiny instruments to make openings in the eye, soon revealing Julia’s concealed pupil,” the article described. “As he removed scar tissue, a moist, dark pupil—hidden for years—came into view. It was a touching and profound moment; this was the art of medicine. Next, he tackled the cataract and inserted a lens to maintain the eye’s structure.”
The Cuban eye doctors in the viewing area applauded.
Yet, after surgery, Julia was still unable to see.
“Then, a minor miracle occurred,” the article recounted. “As the swelling reduced, she began to rediscover her surroundings, noticing something new every minute.”
David Paton was born on August 16, 1930, in Baltimore and raised in Manhattan. His father, Richard Townley Paton, was a pioneer in corneal transplants and established the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration. His mother, Helen (Meserve) Paton, was an interior designer.
In his memoir, he wrote about growing up “among the refined, intellectually astute, well-traveled members of the Establishment.” His father saw patients on Park Avenue, while his mother hosted social gatherings in their Upper East Side home.
David attended the Hill School, a boarding institution in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where he met James A. Baker III, a Texan who later served as Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush. They were roommates at Princeton University and remained lifelong friends.
“David came from a very affluent background, yet he was down-to-earth and immensely likable,” Mr. Baker remarked in an interview. “He had clear goals in life. He was a significantly better student than I was.”
After graduating from Princeton in 1952, David received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and held senior roles at the Wilmer Eye Institute and chaired the ophthalmology department at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
In 1979, while still seeking a plane for Project Orbis, he took on the role of medical director at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Among my responsibilities,” he wrote in his memoir, “was providing eye care for many of the kingdom’s princes and princesses—around 5,000 of each, I learned—and it seemed they all insisted on being treated exclusively by the doctor overseeing their care, no matter how trivial their issue.”
Dr. Paton had two earlier marriages to Jane Sterling Treman and Jane Franke, both of which ended in divorce. He married Diane Johnston in 1985, who passed away in 2022.
In addition to his son, he is survived by two granddaughters.
Dr. Paton stepped down as the medical director of Project Orbis in 1987 due to a disagreement with the board. That same year, President Ronald Reagan honored him with the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Although he officially left the organization, he continued to informally advise it.
Now known as Orbis International, the organization currently operates its third aircraft, an MD-10 donated by Federal Express.
From 2014 to 2023, Orbis conducted over 621,000 surgeries and procedures, as per its latest annual report, and provided more than 424,000 training sessions for medical practitioners.
“The plane serves as a uniquely advantageous setting,” Dr. Hunter Cherwek, the organization’s vice president of clinical services and technologies, stated in an interview. “It was an remarkably bold and visionary concept.”
