A significant portion of the proceeds are benefiting the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Arts program. The event served as an opportunity for attendees to meet the artist and learn more about the VUMC Arts mission.

Sternberg has a long history of leadership in ophthalmology, including serving as president of the AUPO, president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, president of the Macula Society and chair of the Board of Governors for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Foundation.

"You have changed my life," the (now grown up) patient said.

A full understanding of retinal cell types and their functions could point to novel therapeutic targets for diseases that affect the visual system, such as glaucoma — a leading cause of blindness for people over age 60.

Four years ago, Roger Lasater went outside to look at the stars and the moon and couldn't see them. He was was in the beginning stages of age-related macular degeneration, one of the many eye diseases studied by physician-scientists at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.

Eye safety should be a priority when viewing the eclipse on April 8.