David Green (born March 17, 1956) is an American social entrepreneur. His work has focused on making technology and health care services more accessible and sustainable.

Career

Green helped Aravind Eye Care System's founder Dr. G. Venkataswamy and his team to establish Aurolab in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

, a nonprofit manufacturer of low cost

intraocular lens An intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens (optics), lens implanted in the human eye, eye usually as part of a treatment for cataracts or for correcting other vision problems such as myopia, near-sightedness (myopia) and farsightedness, far-sightednes ...

es for treating

cataracts A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or double vision, halos around ligh ...

. He also developed suture and surgical blade manufacturing for Aurolab. He is known for developing many eye care programs and for making them self-financing from user fees while serving the lower economic strata. These include: the

Aravind Eye Hospital Aravind Eye Hospitals is a hospital chain in India. It was founded by Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy at Madurai, Tamil Nadu in 1976. It has grown into a network of eye hospitals and has had a major impact in eradicating cataract related blindness ...

Madurai, India Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is governed by the Madurai Municipal Corpo ...

; the Lumbini Eye Care Project,

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

; the Tilganga Eye Institute,

; the Grameen Eye Hospitals,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

; the SadGuru Trust, Chitrakoot, India; the Al Noor Magrabi Eye Hospital,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

; and the Visualiza,

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. He co-founded Sound World Solution, a social enterprise to make affordable hearing devices with a novel fitting named LegWorks, which makes high quality prosthetic knees affordable. He also co-founded the Eye Fund, a $15M social investing fund in collaboration with

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

and International Agency for Prevention of Blindness, that provides affordable loan financing for sustainable eye care programs. His work has been profiled in Fortune Magazine, NPR, the Economist, Forbes, on CNN and in the PBS documentary series, "The New Heroes".

Life

Green is an

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti ( ), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( ), is a college town and city located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's popu ...

native. He graduated from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

with an MPH. He is listed as a notable alumni of University of Michigan and the

University of Michigan School of Public Health The University of Michigan School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of the University of Michigan. Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, UM SPH is one of the oldest schools of public health in the country and is also consid ...

. He serves as a board member for the Johns Hopkins Social Innovations Lab, the Stanford University Biomedical Fellowship for India, the University of Michigan Ross School of Business Social Investing Fund, and the Seva Advisory Board.

Awards

In 2002, Green was named an

Fellow and featured as a Leading Social Entrepreneur by the

Schwab Foundation The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a Swiss Non-profit, not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 that provides platforms at regional, national, and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.Schwab Foundation for Social E ...

. In 2004, he was awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

for his work as "a pioneer in the manufacture and distribution of advanced health care products for patients in the developing world who could not otherwise afford them." In both 2004 and 2006, he was listed as one of the recipients of the Fast 50 Award by

Fast Company Magazine ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webber ...

. In 2009, he received the Spirit of Helen Keller Award, given by

Helen Keller International Helen Keller Intl is a US-based nonprofit organization that combats the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition by establishing programs based on evidence and research in vision, health, and nutrition. Founded in 1915 by Helen Kelle ...

, and the

Humanitarian Service Award. He was also voted as the leading social entrepreneur from the

by the University of Michigan Engineering School. In 2011, he received the Certificate of Honorary Award of

Liaoning Province ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

as a foreign expert who has made great contributions to the economic and social development of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, David University of Michigan School of Public Health alumni MacArthur Fellows American health care businesspeople American social entrepreneurs Living people 1956 births People from Ypsilanti, Michigan