Dr. Paul Dougherty Receives CMA Compassionate Service Award

Posted on: October 19, 2026

We’re proud to share that Dr. Paul J. Dougherty, founder and Medical Director of DLV Vision, a Unifeye Vision Partners (UVP) practice in Southern California, has received the California Medical Association’s 2026 Compassionate Service Award. The award honors physicians with a demonstrated history of providing charity and donated care to communities across California.

For Dr. Dougherty, that commitment goes back more than 30 years.

Restoring Sight Where It’s Needed Most

In 2007, Dr. Dougherty founded the Andrew Dougherty Vision Foundation (ADVF), a nonprofit that provides free cataract and vision correction surgery to people who could not otherwise afford care. Since then, he and his team have restored sight for patients in Morocco, Costa Rica, Haiti, Lebanon and Mexico, often in communities affected by conflict, natural disaster or poverty.

In June 2026, ADVF and its Moroccan partners supported 231 cataract surgeries in Tiddas and Moulay Bouazza, Morocco. Beyond each mission, the foundation trains local surgeons and donates equipment so care continues long after the team returns home.

Caring for Patients Close to Home

Dr. Dougherty’s charity care also reaches patients across Southern California, including:

• Uninsured and underinsured patients through the Conejo Valley Free Clinic
• People experiencing homelessness, in partnership with the Lions Club
• Wounded veterans through the Wounded Warrior Project
• Individual patients who reach out to the foundation directly

A Pioneer in Vision Correction

Dr. Dougherty founded DLV Vision in Ventura County in 1997. He has personally performed more than 40,000 vision correction procedures and was one of the few U.S. surgeons to perform laser vision correction before FDA approval. He has served as a principal investigator in FDA clinical trials, including topography-guided LASIK and the Visian ICL, and teaches at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute.

Learn more about Dr. Dougherty on his DLV Vision profile, or read the California Medical Association’s announcement.

The Values Behind Our Network

As a physician-led network, Unifeye Vision Partners exists to give doctors the support they need to focus on what matters most: their patients. Dr. Dougherty’s work shows what that can look like. Surgical excellence and a genuine commitment to giving back go hand in hand, whether patients are in our clinics or thousands of miles away.

We’re proud to have DLV Vision as part of our network of practices, and we congratulate Dr. Dougherty on this well-deserved recognition.

Congratulations, Dr. Dougherty, on this well-deserved recognition.

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