Top Federal Way eye surgeon John S. Jarstad, M.D. announced this week that he has sold Evergreen Eye Centers and accepted a professorship at the University of Missouri School of Medicine – Columbia, Missouri to head up their advanced cataract surgery and premium artificial lens division beginning Sept. 1.

The university sought Jarstad for the professorship due to his reputation as a leading eye surgeon.

“Teaching eye surgery is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career in medicine and I’m looking forward to passing on the skills and techniques we have been fortunate to pioneer here at Evergreen Eye Center in Federal Way to the next generation of eye surgeons,” said Jarstad, who is the founder and CEO of Evergreen Eye Centers’ four Puget Sound eye surgery locations and began his career teaching eye surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Jarstad who, along with his wife Patricia, serves on the Vision Committee for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Salt Lake City, has volunteered for 31 medical teaching missions around the world.

His assignments have taken him to Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Madagascar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and North Korea.

“Our job on the committee is to visit developing countries and determine how best the resources of the LDS church can be used to care for the poor and needy by providing needed eye surgery equipment to help the local doctors increase their capacity and quality of care,” Jarstad said. “Following our most recent visits this summer, members of the LDS Church through LDS Charities donated over $200,000 for new eye surgery equipment in the Philippines and $75,000 to the Lion’s Club Vision Program in Madagascar.”

Jarstad is a leading inventor of devices and instruments used in both training eye surgeons and performing eye operations.

“If you’ve had cataract surgery in the last 20 years, it’s likely that your operation involved one of his instruments (the Jarstad Cataract Surgery Marker, the Passport Lens Injector, or the Jarstad-Stone teaching head and Cataract Simulator),” according to his wife, a certified nurses aid who has accompanied him on many of his trips abroad.

The Jarstad couple said they will miss Federal Way and have lived here longer than anywhere else during their lifetime. Their four children attended Federal Way Public Schools and have gone to successful careers, including daughter Dr. Allison Jarstad, an eye surgeon in training at SUNY Upstate in New York with two years left until she enters practice.

Jarstad wanted to especially thank those members of the community, including the local Kiwanis and Lion’s Clubs, for donating the used eyeglasses and hearing aids he has taken on his mission trips.

“What wonderful support we have received as we have gone throughout the world providing the donated eyeglasses,” he said. “There are men, women and children all over the world with eyeglasses donated by our Federal Way community who can now see to perform useful jobs and have gainful employment due to the generosity of our citizens. Each person we have helped has asked us to thank those who donated for giving them back the chance to see and work again.”