By Laura Kroeger
NKyTribune staff writer
Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati has become the world’s epicenter for restoring sight to the blind. Patients have come from all 50 states and countless countries around the globe because this is their last resort. Every other procedure has failed. Edward J. Holland, M.D. is their ultimate hope.
Imagine a soldier blinded by an explosion in Iraq. A farmer blinded by a fertilizer explosion. A winery owner blinded by a chemical explosion. Thousands of citizens blinded by fireworks explosions. Children born with rare diseases that rob them of eye sight.
They have all been brought to tears when the eye patch is removed after surgery and they can see. For some patients it’s the first time ever having sight. It’s all thanks to Dr. Holland, a pioneering ophthalmologist in the treatment of Severe Ocular Surface Disease. He does what no one in the world has been able to do.
Right here in Northern Kentucky.
Dr. Holland helps patients who have Severe Ocular Surface Disease due to corneal blindness. He uses stem cells from full blood relatives of the patient—parents, siblings or a child. In some cases the stem cells can come from a cadaver. About 20 to 30 percent of available stem cells are extracted from one eye of the donor. Then the cells are immediately transported to the adjoining operating room at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood where the patient awaits.
In 2025 alone, across Dr. Holland’s four centers of excellence nationwide, over 700 patients received access to sight-restoring care, many after being told repeatedly that nothing could be done for them. He estimates that he has seen several thousand blind candidates for surgery and has performed over 1,200 procedures.
The surgery is not a “one and done” process. While patients can joyfully see after the surgery, they must return between eight and 10 times the first year and four to six times the following several years to be checked. After that, it’s twice a year.
The son of an ophthalmologist, Dr. Holland attended the Loyola-Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and trained in ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota. He completed two fellowships. One was in cornea and external disease at the University of Iowa. The second centered on ocular immunology at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He returned to the University of Minnesota to serve as Director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Service. Then he was promoted to the position of Professor and named the Elias Potter Lyon Chair in Ophthalmology.
“Around 1990 I pondered why stem cells were not working to restore sight,” explains Dr. Holland. “My colleagues were not particularly concerned and gave up easily. Major medical facilities in large cities throughout the U.S. were unable to perform a successful transplant. Or they were doing the same surgery on a patient over and over hoping for a miracle. Not enough was being done to cure blindness.
“When I moved my family to Northern Kentucky in 2000 I served as Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine (now UC Health) and joined the Cincinnati Eye Institute, known as CEI, as Director of Cornea Services. I visited Roy First, M.D., head of Nephrology at UC at the time. If he could prevent kidney transplants from being rejected, why couldn’t the same procedures using stem cells and oral anti-rejection medication be used for my work to restore sight? Unlike routine corneal transplantation, patients receiving ocular surface stem cell transplantation require systemic immunosuppression to prevent transplant rejection.”
Dr. Holland found huge success. Who would have thought that using some of the procedures involved with kidney transplants could also be implemented for triumphant transplants with people experiencing Severe Ocular Surface Disease?
He met with Joe Gross, who was the President and CEO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare at the time. After explaining the success of the revolutionary procedure to help the blind see, Dr. Holland told him, “I’ll get you a patient from every state within five years. Joe Gross was intrigued and sprang for the initial funding of the transplant coordinator.”
The Cincinnati Protocol was born.
It is a trademarked center of excellence with extraordinary collaboration between Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. St. Elizabeth supplies the operating rooms, UC Nephrology, now represented by Amit Govil, M.D., offers much time, especially by Dr. Govil himself, to review abnormal lab results and assist Transplant Coordinator Liz Kinosz. Residents and Fellows in ophthalmology also come from UC to assist Dr. Holland in the OR.
If they have a heart for the procedure and evident skills, they become candidates to work at other Centers of Excellence in the nation established under the Cincinnati Protocol. CEI employs Kinosz in the vital role of Transplant Coordinator. Cincinnati Children’s brings kids to the Tri-State for the procedure. The St. Elizabeth Foundation handles the donations that come to The Holland Foundation for Sight Restoration.
“No one could believe what we do here,” says Dr. Holland. “Three out of four patients who come to us have been told by their state’s top medical leaders to accept their blindness. Besides, what could some guy in Kentucky do for them?
“I love working in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area. Everyone is incredibly collaborative here. As soon as a person sees what happens with the Cincinnati Protocol and the desperate people who make the trek here, they do what they can to help.”
A prime example is David. The U.S. military veteran earned a Purple Heart in Afghanistan after he was blinded in both eyes by a bomb explosion. The father of eight children ages 1-12, he sat at his Georgia home for a year. He received corneal transplants at medical centers in Texas, Georgia and North Carolina. They didn’t work. His wife heard about Dr. Holland’s groundbreaking work and convinced her husband to come to Northern Kentucky for the revolutionary eye procedure. The whole family waited patiently in a conference room while their patriarch was in surgery. Touched by the caring family, St. Elizabeth nurses went to Walmart to buy toys for the kids and also brought several boxes of pizza back with them. Attorney Burr Travis was in the area and slipped $500 into the pocket of the children’s mother.
“His wife was blown away by the kindness of everyone she encountered,” remembers Dr. Holland like it happened yesterday. “The most moving scene was when the former soldier’s eye patch was removed and he saw his youngest child for the first time. He cried. We all cried. He now is able to drive a car and work. His vision is 20/40.”
Dr. Holland has published over 100 academic papers on the Cincinnati Protocol. He lectured at Johns Hopkins in early April. That’s just one of his many yearly speaking engagements. Word has been slowly making its way through the medical community and with fellow ophthalmologists. They are now sending patients to the Cincinnati Protocol Centers of Excellence.
A symposium is held in Northern Kentucky every fall. Specialists come from all over the world and talk about collaboration. The first year attracted 12 cornea physicians. By year four 40 were attending.
Dr. Holland estimates that about 100 specialists have individually come to check out his successful program.
Another vital component of the program is the ocular surface transplant coordinator who serves as the vital link across all stages of care. This position is critical to ensure the continuity and coordination of the patient throughout their journey. The transplant coordinator’s primary role is being a patient advocate, managing oral and topical medications, screening lab results, monitoring for medication side effects, and coordinating visits with other ophthalmic subspecialties. Liz Kinosz has been in the position for 13 years.
“It’s so rewarding to watch the patch come off and the patient can see,” she says with great enthusiasm. “We all cry happy tears. Just to be on the dream with them is exciting. We take eyesight for granted until we meet these brave people who come to Northern Kentucky and now to other cities with the highest of hopes because no one put the puzzle pieces together until Dr. Holland came along. He is a humble down-to-Earth guy. You’d never know that he is the best in the world until you see sight restored on people who have been told over and over that there is no hope for them.”
Four Centers of Excellence
According to Kinosz, there are now four Centers of Excellence under the Cincinnati Protocol with another to be announced any day:
• The inaugural center: Cincinnati Eye Institute/St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood, KY, established by Dr. Holland in 2022
• University of California, Irvine, CA, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute led by Marjan Farid, M.D., established in 2023
• Virginia Eye Consults, Norfolk, VA, led by Albert Cheung, M.D., established in 2023
• Mass Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, led by Thomas Dolman, M.D., established in 2024
“It’s remarkable that Dr. Holland could make so much happen in such a short amount of time,” says Kinosz.
Of the nine more Centers of Excellence in the queue, one is with the U.S. military so that blinded soldiers can receive immediate assistance to restore their sight.
So much gratitude
There are many ways patients express their gratitude to Dr. Holland.
David Tegtmeier is a seventh generation Kansas farmer whose fertilizer blew up while he was in his vineyard. He experienced immediate blindness. Tegtmeier found his way to Dr. Holland. Now Tegtmeier has full vision. To commemorate the miracle of sight, Tegtmeier and his wife named their son Holland.
Another farmer, Aaron, endured a severe alkali injury to his face and both eyes. He was told by a university cornea specialist to learn braille, buy an exercise bike, quit medical school, and seek a new occupation. He refused to give up on his dream to become a physician. His wife and family members read his textbooks to him. After several visits to Dr. Holland, his sight was restored. Dr. Aaron Young and his wife named their first son Holland. To further pass on his miracle, Dr. Young enjoyed a fellowship in nephrology so he could further understand how kidney transplant protocols were adapted by Dr. Holland’s Cincinnati protocol.
Sometimes the gift of sight changes people in other ways. Tom was running a meth lab when it exploded and blinded him. After no success with various medical procedures he worked for the Texas Association for the Blind. When he heard about Dr. Holland’s success he traveled to Kentucky. His eyes were healed. That’s when he decided to devote his life to helping others. He is now moving up the ladder at Texas Association for the Blind and has turned his life around.
Melanie had given up when convinced to make one last try. “When I walked into Dr. Holland’s office in January 2022 I was blind in both eyes and had very little hope for sight as I was turned away by every other cornea specialist I had seen. By the end of 2022, Dr. Holland had restored my sight in both of my eyes and I was able to pass the eye test to get my license back, and my world opened up. I was a shell of a person at the time we met, but he has restored more than just my eyesight…he has restored my life entirely.”
She decided that the best way to advertise her gratitude was to obtain a tattoo around her ankle that simply says, “Holland.”
Help at home base
Since each patient must return so many times post-surgery, Dr. Holland convinced several Northern Kentucky hotels to provide discounts to those who must stay overnight. Others come in the morning and return home in the evening. But it is a costly process.
That’s where the “two Bob’s” come in.
Robert Dempsey works in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical industry. His occupation introduced him to Dr. Holland years ago. Dempsey followed the evolution of the Cincinnati Protocol. He asked, “How can you do all this groundbreaking work and not have a foundation? This is an expensive process for patients and the team.”
Together they founded The Holland Foundation for Sight Restoration. Both Dr. Holland and Bob Dempsey knew the region’s Bob Sathe, Chairman of MCF Advisors, a wealth management firm located in Covington. Sathe has served on well over a dozen boards on both sides of the Ohio River. Dempsey recruited him to join the Holland Foundation Board as they discussed the groundbreaking work to restore sight to the blind.
“Dr. Holland is doing some of the most remarkable work in our region. It’s an honor to be part of this mission. I can’t believe how much Dr. Holland has accomplished,” Sathe said.
In addition to Sathe, Bob Dempsey recruited renowned medical professionals and community supporters. Interestingly, the late reporter and PR pro Pat Crowley sat on the Board early on. The only paid employee is Kila Hanran who serves as Executive Director over administrative duties and fundraising. She is constantly on the move.
One of the Foundation’s signature fundraising events is Eye Love Rock ‘N Roll, bringing together physicians, industry partners and supporters at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Annual Meeting. In 2025 it was held in Los Angeles, raising over $100,000 to advance the Foundation’s mission and expand care nationwide. Money raised expands the educational opportunities of surgeons diagnosing and treating severe ocular surface disease and provides long-term management for patients with the disease.
Last, there are many unmet needs of the patients desperate for help. Now long-time business leader John Domaschko has joined the Board. Perhaps his founding of Suits That Rock will be helpful in the expansion of Eye Love Rock “N Roll.
What’s next?
Dr. Holland hints that another Center of Excellence is about to debut in a major city. And of course more centers are in the queue to be established throughout the nation.
He also has a dream of working with the military so that soldiers blinded in service can have access to immediate help by Dr. Holland.
Right now, the Union, Kentucky, resident and his wife have a daughter left at home. While her siblings chose business careers, the Hollands hope that the Ryle High School student will select a career in medicine, following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather.
Stay with the Northern Kentucky Tribune for more news on the upcoming centers of excellence and the stories that bring people to Northern Kentucky to escape darkness and see the light.