This article is an excerpt from the lecture on Rizal (“Healer as Hero”) that top opthalmologist and founder of the Eye Bank of the Philippines Dr. Minguita B. Padilla delivered at UP-PGH (Sentro Optalmologico Jose Rizal) on the occasion of his 150th anniversary. It is a historical perspective and commentary on Jose Rizal as an ophthalmologist and how this aspect of his person was inextricably linked to everything that he was: writer, activitist, patriot, martyr. For a link to the publication, please go to www.paojournal.com.