FOCUS on Ophthalmology

The Farzaneh family (pictured left to right), Vahid, Hamid, Hossein, Ali, Mohammad, Jalal and MJ, are committed to providing helpful and meaningful gifts to OU.

Mohammad (back left) and Jalal Farzaneh watch as their sons sign an agreement to create the Farzaneh Family Chair in Ophthalmology in the OU College of Medicine. Pictured (front row, left to right), are Ali, Hamid, Hossein, Vahid and MJ Farzaneh.

Mohammad and Jalal Farzaneh came to the United States destined for the University of Oklahoma from Iran in 1979 and have never looked back. Oklahoma has become home away from home for the brothers, who happen to be in the home business.

Through the years, the Farzaneh family has contributed more than $10 million to the OU Foundation to support numerous interests, including $4 million to fund a wide range of educational initiatives, establish the OU Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies in the College of International Studies and provide scholarships to students.

Their most recent $1.5 million gift to the OU Foundation will endow the Farzaneh Family Chair in Ophthalmology in the OU College of Medicine to recruit and retain top-notch faculty members.

The Farzanehs have what they describe as a “20-year relationship” with the Dean McGee Eye Institute. “About 20 years ago, our father began seeing an optometrist at Dean McGee, and every quarter he would have lunch with his doctor, as well as the president of Dean McGee, Dr. Gregory Skuta,” Jalal said.

“When Dr. Jila Noori, clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology, was recruited to Dean McGee, we met with her and learned of some equipment needs. We told her we could help, but we also wanted to do something bigger and better, and that’s when we began talking about the chair in research,” he said. “Thankfully, we were able—with the help of other charitable organizations—to completely fund the endowed chair to help recruit the best and brightest faculty and also purchase much-needed equipment.”

“Our family feels strongly about providing gifts that are helpful and meaningful,” Mohammad said. “The decision to fund a professorship in ophthalmology seemed like a good fit.”

The Farzanehs vividly remember arriving in Oklahoma without jobs during the Iranian Revolution. “But Oklahomans accepted us and gave us an opportunity, and now we want to give back to extend that same opportunity to Oklahoma students,” said Jalal. The brothers, both 1981 OU BS in Environmental Design Architecture and 1984 OU MA in Architecture graduates, started their home building company, Home Creations, in 1981.

They and their five sons, Ali, MJ, Hossein, Vahid and Hamid, are now all OU alumni.

Mohammad and Jalal say that while they will remain involved with business and philanthropic endeavors, their children have begun taking leadership roles. “Our companies are now being managed and led by the next generation. They are the majority owners of the businesses and the officers of the Farzaneh Family Foundation, and they are the ones who chose to pursue this gift,” Jalal said.

“Our children definitely have a stake in carrying out our life’s work,” he said. “They were born and raised in Oklahoma, as well as their children.

“We can remember a time when we did not know where our next meal would come from,” Jalal said. “If we can provide $10 million in giving to OU from where we started, we feel that our children can go from where we are today and do much more.”

Dr. Austin LaGrow

Dr. Austin LaGrow has a clear vision for his future. He says the opportunity to do research, coupled with the opportunity to treat patients with a broad range of backgrounds, drew him to study at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Medicine. Successfully treating those patients and seeing their joy in renewed vision is what keeps him at OU.

LaGrow received three endowed scholarships through gifts to the OU Foundation while in medical school, including the Freda Somsen Plummer Scholarship established in 1993 through a $6,500 gift; the Ben and Shirley Johnson Endowed Scholarship started by their son, J. Calvin Johnson, M.D., through a $193,000 donation; and the Frances P. Olson, M.D., Endowment established through Olson’s $4.3 million 2003 estate gift.

“These scholarships had a big impact on my life,” said LaGrow. “My wife, Kelsey, and I were newly married when I came to OU, and medical school was a huge financial burden for us. Scholarships provided needed supplies and a laptop. They also covered my expenses for interviews and board exams. These are expenses that most people don’t even take into consideration.”

The Edmond, Okla., native earned his Oklahoma Christian University bachelor’s degree in biology in 2015 but had already decided to pursue medicine, and specifically ophthalmology, following an internship the previous year.

“Dr. Frederick Miller, who was one of my professors at OC and now an associate professor and assistant dean for preclinical curriculum at the OU College of Medicine, offered me a summer internship in Dr. Michelle Callegan’s laboratory at the Dean McGee Eye Institute for the summer of 2014,” he said. “I worked with them researching the pathophysiology of and novel therapeutics for intraocular infections. That is actually what piqued my interest in ophthalmology, which was further solidified by the clinical and surgical experiences I had shadowing various Dean McGee physicians.”

LaGrow completed his OU M.D. in 2020 and his internship in internal medicine prior to starting a residency in ophthalmology at Dean McGee, where he currently is practicing.

Callegan, director of vision research at Dean McGee, is thankful for that early connection. “We are very fortunate to have Austin working with us in the lab during his busy ophthalmology residency,” she said. “He brings clinical expertise and a translational angle to our work, which is important when focusing our research to help patients.”

Despite his hectic schedule, LaGrow plans to continue research throughout his residency. “Our research is impactful,” he said. “We are looking at the disease process behind endophthalmitis, how bacteria enters the eye, and through what mechanisms damage is caused to give us a better idea of what drug therapies we should use and how we can prevent infections in the future.”

LaGrow says he’s thankful for such opportunities. “Hearing how happy patients are after cataract surgery and other ocular procedures is very fulfilling. At OU and Dean McGee we are able to improve the quality of life for Oklahomans.”

Michelle Callegan says her background in microbiology drives her research on ocular bacterial infections.

Michelle Callegan moved to Oklahoma City in 1996 to pursue her postdoc in ophthalmology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Little did she know that 27 years later she would still be at OUHSC researching the same area of focus that drew her from New Orleans. She calls it “one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Callegan holds the Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professorship, endowed by gifts to the OU Foundation. In addition, she is a George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the OU Health Sciences Center.

“My background in microbiology drives my research focus on ocular bacterial infections,” said Callegan. “We study interactions between bacteria and the immune system of the eye. Bacteria have different ways to overcome the effort of immunity to fight against infection. We study virulence factors—what makes the bacteria evil.” Virulence factors, she explained, focus on infection spread and the evasion of the host immune system.

Callegan said that she and her team examine elements of the immune system crucial for fighting eye infections by determining how the bacteria interacts with the eye. “We figure out the essential factors in the bacteria that make them virulent and those in the host that it uses to fight off the infection,” she added. “Many times, the bacteria win.

“You can treat bacterial infections with antibiotics and you can treat the inflammation, which is also damaging, but you can’t treat the factors the bacteria produce that are harmful.

“Our research program hits those different areas by trying to find better antibiotics, better inflammatory drugs, or virulence factor-targeting to help patients who are afflicted with eye infections.”

Callegan credits her endowed professorships for her continuing research. “The funds I receive pay salaries for technicians and students and help with projects that are too early in the development stage to be funded by sources such as grants.”

Callegan says that she typically has six people working with her and the lab becomes an even busier place in the summer. “We mentor a lot of students, ranging from high school to residents and fellows,” she said. “It’s exciting to work with trainees and mentees and to watch them do the fun stuff I don’t have time to do. But I keep telling myself that we all have parts to play in order to get the research done.”