In 1955, the Iowa Lions Eye Bank was established at the University of Iowa Medical Center. In 1954, Dr. Alson E. Braley, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, saw the need for an eye bank in the Midwest and approached the Iowa Lions at the State Convention in Fort Dodge.

Today, the Iowa Lions Eye Bank is a non-profit service organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of sight through the recovery, processing and distribution of human ocular tissue for transplantation and research, primarily in Iowa, but also throughout the world. The Iowa Lions Eye Bank is affiliated with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.