Portraits for the UCSF Proctor Foundation — 'So That All May See'
Portrait Photography for UCSF's Vision Research Community — 'So That All May See'
Dr. Nisha Acharya, MD — Director of the Ocular Inflammatory Disease and Uveitis Clinic at the Proctor Foundation, specializing in the diagnosis and management of infectious and inflammatory eye diseases, including uveitis. She leads collaborative clinical trials in partnership with teams in South India and across the Bay Area.
The Proctor Foundation and the All May See Initiative
Some portrait assignments carry a weight that commercial work rarely does. This session, shot on the campus of the University of California San Francisco at Parnassus, was made in service of one of medicine's most fundamental goals: preserving human sight.
The Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology is a UCSF research institute dedicated to the prevention and treatment of ocular infectious diseases — conditions that cause blindness and visual impairment in millions of people worldwide, with the greatest burden falling on communities with the least access to care. The All May See Foundation supports this work through fundraising and advocacy, with a mission captured precisely in its name: ensuring that everyone, regardless of geography or means, has the chance to see.
On Location at UCSF Parnassus
Dr. Thomas M. Lietman, MD is Director of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation and the Ruth Lee and Phillips Thygeson Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology at UCSF. His research centers on eliminating trachoma — the world's leading infectious cause of blindness — through community-based clinical trials funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the NIH.
The Parnassus campus sits at the edge of the Twin Peaks ridge in San Francisco — one of the most architecturally and geographically distinctive medical campuses in the country, with sweeping views of the city and the bay on clear days. For portrait photography, it offers a range of environments: the clinical precision of research spaces, the transitional light of corridors and common areas, the openness of the campus grounds themselves.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc photographed researchers, clinicians, and figures connected to the All May See initiative on location across the campus. The brief for this kind of work is clear: portraits that convey authority, intelligence, and humanity — images that can represent an institution and its mission to donors, partners, and the public.
Medical and Nonprofit Portrait Photography in San Francisco
San Francisco's concentration of world-class medical institutions — UCSF chief among them — makes it a significant market for commercial and institutional portrait photography. Researchers, department heads, clinicians, and the philanthropic figures who support their work all require imagery that meets a high bar: technically excellent, editorially credible, and appropriate to the gravity of the work being represented.
This session for the Proctor Foundation and the All May See initiative is a strong example of that category of work: portraits made in the service of a mission, on one of San Francisco's most significant medical campuses.
Dr. John Gonzales, MD — Proctor Foundation clinician specializing in the diagnosis and management of uveitis and infectious inflammatory conditions of the eye. His practice takes a multidisciplinary approach, working alongside rheumatologists, internists, and pediatricians to treat patients with complex ocular inflammatory disease.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc is a San Francisco commercial and editorial photographer with experience in institutional, medical, and nonprofit portrait photography throughout the Bay Area. Get in touch to discuss your project.