Giving the gift of sight to Bostonians

Vidya Rao

Not many people can say that they have an award named after themselves. Even fewer can say that they have their own holiday. Dr. Benjamin Quamina has accomplished both, along with being a Vietnam veteran, social servant and family man — and he’s still striving to make history.

Quamina, an ophthalmologist who’s been in the profession for over forty years, was born and raised in Rochester, NY to parents who not only instilled in him a strong work ethic, but also a sense of philanthropy. Quamina’s grandparents, who were from Trinidad and Jamaica, went to Panama to work on the development of the canal.

Quamina was even able to trace his genealogy through his surname. “There were two Quamina brothers shipped from West Africa. Because they were so independent and rebellious, they were sent to small islands in the Caribbean, not to the United States,” he explains. “It was also just prior to the end of slavery, so they were able to keep their original names,” he explains. “Quamina” was traced specifically to Ghana — it’s meaning being “born on Wednesday.”

Quamina’s father moved to Rochester looking for better economic opportunity, bringing his family with him.

His mother, known affectionately as “Ms. Milli” was one of the many predecessors to Rosa Parks, as she refused to board a New York bus from the back. She was a teacher and a social worker who served her community by starting credit unions in the projects. She was so well-known and loved in the community that a road was named after her, “Quamina Drive.”

“At a time when black people were powerless, and had no opportunities, my mother told me, ‘you do have opportunities,’” Quamina says.

Quamina realized his opportunities from an early age, developing his interest in the sciences and deciding to become a doctor. “I knew I wanted be a doctor when I was 7 years old,” he says. “There was a doctor from Barbados that worked in our community named Henry Jordan. I noticed how much everyone respected him and looked up to him, and I admired that.”

He attended Duquesne University, where he studied pre-med originally with the plan of becoming a teacher. However, as a medical student, his interest in clinical science blossomed. Quamina took a job as an autopsy attendant at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester. It was in this position that Quamina recognized what he did — or didn’t — want to be doing in medicine.

“When I saw a skull drilled open, I got a little ill,” he laughs. He was then recommended to and taken under the wing of an ophthalmologist, who showed him the ropes. “It’s a tremendous accomplishment to give sight to someone — it’s like giving them freedom,” he explains. “That’s how I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”

He moved to Boston in 1962 to attend Boston University for an MD PhD program. His development as a doctor was both interrupted and enhanced by events through the 60s and 70s.

“After Kennedy’s assassination, Mel King enlisted me to run a halfway house for boys in the South End called Group Ways.”

Quamina helped run five group homes serving 15-20 DYS boys in the community for over eight years, developing an emotional connection with troubled young men while working to connect them to social services and medical expertise. “I am very proud about helping the lives of many young males,” says Quamina.

He also worked with Ellen Jackson, who started Operation Exodus, a controversial grassroots organization that bused black students to predominantly white schools during the tumultuous and violently segregated 70s in Boston. “When there were riots, I was on call to take care of any injuries and medical problems,” he says.

These days, Quamina is working to maintain the visual health of the community by providing exams, surgery, glasses and contacts, as well as laser surgery and providing an in-house retinol specialist in his clinic. Quamina also passes on his expertise, teaching ophthalmology and surgery at hospitals and health centers, including Boston Medical Center. Quamina’s clinics attract a diverse client base — not only people coming from all over the country, but coming from all over the world — Africa, Vietnam, and the Caribbean, specifically seeking out the culturally sensitive care and talent of Dr. Quamina.

As a result of Dr. Quamina’s work, an award given in recognition of outstanding ophthalmologists was named in his honor, the Benjamin A. Quamina Award, and on May 12, 2004, Mayor Menino dubbed it “Benjamin Quamina Day” in Boston.

“Ben’s the type of doctor who will be out in a parking lot, see someone not wearing sunglasses, and go over to educate them about the harm of UV rays on the eyes,” says Karen Scantlebury, Quamina’s program administrator. “Now that’s real care — real doctoring.”