Longtime Emory Eye Center supporter celebrates his family's commitment to the Anderson Fellowships
A recent visit to the Emory Eye Center by Paul Anderson, Jr. provided an ideal opportunity to reflect on the importance of legacy. Anderson's, legacy and Emory Eye Center's.
For the better part of a century, the Anderson family has provided a deeply inspiring standard for the Emory Eye Center to emulate,
said Allen Beck, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology.
Earl Wills Anderson was principled, intentional, and undeterred by the hurdles that often hamper greatness. We are grateful for his commitment to the Yonsei University Department of Ophthalmology and creating this lasting connection to the Emory Eye Center.
A cursory glance at the Anderson Family history explains this high praise. And then some.
Earl Wills Anderson (Paul's grandfather) was an Emory College valedictorian, a doctor of ophthalmology, and a Methodist minister who traveled to Korea as a medical missionary in 1914. The Jug Tavern, Georgia native went on to found one of Korea's first ophthalmology departments at Yonsei University. He remained at the helm of that department for more than four decades, raising his family along the way.
My grandparents were just country people from Georgia who set sail for what, at that time, felt like the ends of the Earth. And it may sound like it was just a grand adventure, but I'd say it was a sense of purpose that motivated my grandfather to go to Korea. He felt called to provide medical care to those in need,
said grandson Paul Anderson, Jr.
The next generation, Paul H. Anderson, Sr., '38C, '40L, was born and raised in Korea, where that sense of purpose was everywhere around him. A lawyer by profession, he honored his father's legacy by establishing the Anderson Fellowship at Emory Eye Center in 1987. That endowment has since allowed 10 Yonsei medical students to study ophthalmology at the Emory Eye Center. The first of those Emory-trained fellows, Eung Kowon (EK) Kim, MD. PhD, went on to become chair of the ophthalmology department at Yonsei University.
Which brings us back to the current scion of that legacy, Paul Anderson, Jr.
Now retired from his own law practice, Paul Anderson Jr. remains inspired by the legacy laid down by his father and grandfather. As soon as COVID restrictions allowed, he asked to meet with the current Anderson Fellow, Dr. Seong-eun Robert
Kim, who is doing basic scientific research with EEC faculty Dr. John Nickerson. On his most recent visit, Anderson spent an afternoon reviewing the status of gene therapy research that Kim and Nickerson are pursuing under the auspices of the Anderson Fellowship.
I am a physician in my country, but I think physicians should know how to do basic research so they can teach others and further the discipline,
said Kim.
Paul Anderson, Jr., paused to listen to these words, as though they were an answer to a question he no longer needed to ask.
This Fellowship is not about me,
he said. It's about my family's commitment to Emory, the legacy of helping others, the value of research.
Paul Anderson, Jr. is 1975 graduate of the Emory Law School.