Victoria Sheffield has 40 years experience in ophthalmology and international blindness prevention.  She was certified as an Ophthalmic Medical Technologist after graduating from the two-year training program at the Georgetown University Medical School in Washington, DC.  She is a Viet Nam era veteran of the US Air Force Medical Corps (1966 -1971) serving in the Philippines and Italy.  Ms. Sheffield was appointed Assistant Director for Paramedical Training Programs at the International Eye Foundation in 1979.  She lived in Kenya working with IEF’s “Kenya Rural Blindness Prevention Project” from 1980-1983 with follow on assignments in the Middle East and Caribbean.  

In 1984, she joined Helen Keller International as Director of Technical, Educational, and Scientific Services providing training, conducting surveys, and designing materials with a focus on vitamin A deficiency in Asia and Africa.  Ms. Sheffield worked closely with UNICEF during the drought and famine in Ethiopia and Sudan in 1985 and 1986, battling vitamin A deficiency and trachoma.  Ms. Sheffield returned to IEF as President & CEO in 1990.  She is a recognized leader in the field of blindness prevention; consulted with the World Health Organization’s “Programme for Prevention of Blindness” from 1985 through 1987 in Geneva where she designed and produced public education materials.  She lectures at US and UK universities; has authored 23 articles, 3 book chapters, and 29 presentations at professional conferences, and served as technical reviewer on 7 publications.

Ms. Sheffield is a Co-Chair of the North America Region of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) (1999-present); Chaired the IAPB “Partnership Committee” in collaboration with WHO 1993-1998; Member of the Executive Committee (founding Vice Chair 2009-2010) of VISION 2020/USA; is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s (AAO) Global Outreach Committee; and was an officer of InterAction, a US-based consortium of over 160 international NGOs.  Ms. Sheffield holds the rank of Commander in The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and was appointed to the Hospital’s Board of Directors in 2009.  She received the 2010 “Prince Abdulaziz Ahmad Al Saud Prevention of Blindness Award” from the Middle East Africa Council of Ophthalmology, an AAO “Achievement Award” in 1999, an IAPB “Regional Achievement Award” in 1998, and the 1990 Statesmanship Award from the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology.  Ms. Sheffield served on the United Nations Association/National Capital Area Board and received its Human Rights Award in 1998.  She is an Honorary Member of the Union of Bulgarian Ophthalmologists and the Albanian Society of Ophthalmology.  Ms. Sheffield has traveled to 99 countries, lived in five on four continents, and has professional experience in 41 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.