WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Richard Preske, M.D., of Winston-Salem has donated his ophthalmology practice, the Northwest Eye Surgery Center in Mount Airy, to the Eye Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Preske, 55, will continue seeing patients at the center Monday through Wednesday each week, and will join Wake Forest University School of Medicine as a faculty member. The center provides general ophthalmologic services such as treatment for cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes-related eye problems and retinal tears, as well as routine eye exams. The center will be known as Wake Forest University Northwest Eye Center.
“I can’t be here forever, and we have a lot of patients who need ongoing care,” he said. “I knew our patients and employees would be well cared for at Wake Forest Baptist, which is stable and has been around for many years, and I’ve been happy with the patients that we’ve sent there for care.”
Preske, a native of southern Indiana, completed his medical training in Michigan and opened the center after moving to North Carolina in 1985. He said securing the future for his patients and employees, and the possibility of helping train medical residents were among the reasons for making the donation, which was finalized in December.
Craig Greven, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, said this move will strengthen the Wake Forest University Eye Center’s ability to provide the highest level of ophthalmologic care to the people in the region.
“We greatly appreciate Dr. Preske’s generosity and foresight in donating his practice to our Eye Center,” Greven said. “We look forward to working with him during the transition period, and maintaining and enhancing the excellent clinical care that he has provided to his loyal patients in the Mount Airy community over the past 25 years.”
Preske’s contribution is the third ophthalmology practice to be donated to Wake Forest Baptist. The others were Coliseum Eye Associates, given by Louis Gottlieb, M.D., in 2005, and the practice of Harold Jacklin, M.D., in 2006.
Media Relations
Eric Whittington: ewhittin@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-5318
Main Number: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587