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 Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

, a nonprofit manufacturer of low cost

intraocular lens Intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens (optics), lens implanted in the human eye, eye as part of a treatment for cataracts or myopia. If the natural lens is left in the eye, the IOL is known as Phakic intraocular lens, phakic, otherwise it is a pseudop ...

es for treating

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

. He also developed suture and

surgical blade Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

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,

Madurai, India Madurai ( , also , ) 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. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in T ...

; the Lumbini Eye Care Project,

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

; 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 eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

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

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

; and the Visualiza, Guatemala. 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 (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

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 city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...

native. He graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

with an MPH. He is listed as a notable alumni of University of Michigan and the University of Michigan School of Public Health. 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. In 2004, he was awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

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 a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan We ...

. In 2009, he received the Spirit of Helen Keller Award, given by Helen Keller International, 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 as a foreign expert who has made great contributions to the economic and social development of Liaoning Province.

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 Ashoka USA Fellows