International Health Conference in Boston - April 2005
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Dear all,
This conference will likely be of interest to many people on
this e-mail list.
UNITE FOR SIGHT 2nd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
"Eyes on International Collaboration: Promoting Health from Cam-
pus to Lab to Field."
April 2nd and 3rd 2005
Boston, USA
Early Bird Registration at
http://www.uniteforsight.org/2005_conference_registration.shtml
mailto:JStaple@uniteforsight.org with any questions.
All of the funds raised from the US$ 15 (early bird) registra-
tion fees with go toward Unite For Sight's sight-restoring cata-
ract surgery programs in Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, and India
during Summer 2005.
Community Experiences: Improving Health for the Medically Under-
served "Impossible Dreams - The First Ascent of the East Face of
Mt. Everest and Eradicating Blindness in Mountainous Asia", Dr.
Geoffrey Tabin, MD Eye Diseases and Community Experiences in
Tanzania, Dr. Muhsin Sheriff, MD, MPH "Health Care for the
Homeless in Boston, Dr. James OConnell, MD
The Role of Research to Improve Health "Compassion, Knowledge,
and Advanced Ophthalmic Technologies", Dr. Dimitri Azar, MD Ad-
vances in Corneal Transplantation, Dr. Shachar Tauber, MD "Op-
tic Neuro-Prevention - A Strategy to Eradicate Glaucoma Blind-
ness, Dr. Louis Pasquale, MD "Stem Cells to the Retinal Res-
cue," Dr. Michael J. Young, PhD "The Role of Household Drinking
Water Treatment Technologies and Safe Water Storage in Prevent-
ing Blindness in the Developing World, Ms. Susan Murcott, M.S.
Epidemiology and The Economic Perspective on Health Improvement
"The Cost of Blindness, Dr. Kevin Frick, PhD The Role of Eco-
nomics in Improving Health Outcomes, Heidi Williams, MSc
International Community Eye Health Programs by Unite For Sight
Student Interns
Biographies of the Speakers
Community Experiences: Improving Health for the Medically Under-
served
"Impossible Dreams - The First Ascent of the East Face of Mt.
Everest and Eradicating Blindness in Mountainous Asia", Dr.
Geoffrey Tabin, MD Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Himalayan
Cataract Project and Associate Professor of Surgery and Ophthal-
mology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine
In 1994, Dr. Tabin co-founded the Himalayan Cataract Project,
which strives to eradicate preventable and curable blindness in
the Himalaya through high quality ophthalmic care, education,
and establishment of a world-class eye care infrastructure. He
trained the first Tibetan surgeon to perform microscopic cata-
ract surgery and established the Tilganga Eye Center in 1994 as
the first outpatient cataract surgery facility in the Himalayan
region. Dr. Tabin was featured in a National Geographic Ultimate
Explorer program entitled Miracle Doctors on MSNBC in Septem-
ber 2003. Dr. Tabin is also on Unite For Sights Medical Advi-
sory Board.
Eye Diseases and Community Experiences in Tanzania, Dr. Muhsin
Sheriff, MD, MPH MPH (cataract surgery eye camps in Tanzania)
MUCHS - Harvard Research Collaboration, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;
MPH in Quantitative Methods Candidate at Harvard School of Pub-
lic Health
Dr. Sheriff is Internal Medical Monitor at the MUCHS (Muhumbili
University College of Health Sciences) - Harvard Research Col-
laboration in Tanzania. He is a medical doctor with an MPH in
Management and Policy who is studying for a 1-year MPH degree in
Quantitative Methods at Harvard School of Public Health. He will
share inspiring stories about his work to improve community
health in rural areas of Tanzania. 'In addition to his full time
job, he volunteers with a group of medical and non-medical per-
sonnel in conducting 'eye camps' in rural villages where they
provide vision screenings and refractions, distribute eye-
glasses, give health checkups and advice, and organize eye sur-
geries. Dr. Sheriff received a Volunteer Service Award in 2001
from the International Medical Relief of Western New York, Inc
for coordinating eye surgical camps in Tanzania.
"Health Care for the Homeless in Boston, Dr. James OConnell,
MD Harvard Professor and Founder and President of the Boston
Health Care for the Homeless Program
Dr. OConnell is the Founder and President of the Boston Health
Care for the Homeless program, which began in 1985, currently
staffs 250 employees, and provides medical care to the homeless
at 72 sites in the Boston area. Dr. OConnell says that he is a
doctor who makes house calls to people who have no houses, and
his organization is considered to be the premier health care for
the homeless program in the country. Prior to his work with the
Boston homeless population, Dr. OConnell was national program
director for the Homeless Families Program, a project jointly
sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. De-
partment of Housing and Urban Development.
The Role of Research to Improve Eye Health
"Compassion, Knowledge, and Advanced Ophthalmic Technologies",
Dr. Dimitri Azar, MD Harvard Professor of Ophthalmology and Di-
rector of the Corneal, External and Refractive Surgery Services
at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Dr. Dimitri Azar, who is also on Unite For Sights Medical Advi-
sory Board, is a Harvard Professor of Ophthalmology, Associate
Scientist at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, and Director
of the Corneal, External and Refractive Surgery Services at Mas-
sachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Azar has more than one
hundred journal publications about corneal, anterior segment,
and refractive surgery. His current research projects include
the molecular basis of corneal scarring and avascularity during
wound healing, as well as refractive surgical innovations and
the mathematical basis of laser surgery.
Advances in Corneal Transplantation, Dr. Shachar Tauber, MD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Corneal and
Refractive Surgery Service at Yale University
Dr. Tauber, who is on Unite For Sights Medical Advisory Board,
is a leader in refractive surgery. He participated in clinical
research supporting the FDA approval of LASIK for correction of
hyperopia. He was Visiting Fellow in advanced techniques in re-
fractive surgery in Venezuela, and served as an observational
fellow in cornea and external disease at Massachusetts Eye & Ear
Hospital. Dr. Tauber was invited to educate ophthalmologists at
the 1998 Global Ophthalmology Conference in China and at Tamil
Nadu Medical University in India in 1999.
"Optic Neuro-Prevention - A Strategy to Eradicate Glaucoma
Blindness, Dr. Louis Pasquale, MD Co-Director, Glaucoma Ser-
vice, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Dr. Pasquale, who is Co-Director of the Glaucoma Service a the
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Assistant Professor in
Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, is interested in devel-
oping strategies to prevent functional visual loss from open-
angle glaucoma.
"Stem Cells to the Retinal Rescue," Dr. Michael J. Young, PhD
Director, Minda de Gunzburg Research Center for Retinal Trans-
plantation, Schepens Eye Research Institute and Assistant Pro-
fessor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School
Dr. Young is one of the worlds leading researchers in stem
cells in the eye and the use of stem cells for the reversal of
blindness. His lab focuses on the use of neural stem cells for
retinal transplantation. His research projects include "integra-
tion of transplanted neural progenitor cells into the retina of
immature and mature dystrophic rats," "bioengineering and stem
cells to treat optic neuropathy," and "differentiation of reti-
nal progenitor cells into specific cell types."
"The Role of Household Drinking Water Treatment Technologies and
Safe Water Storage in Preventing Blindness in the Developing
World, Ms. Susan Murcott, M.S. Lecturer, Research Engineer,
Principal Investigator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
President of Ecosystems Engineering
Ms. Murcott is a research engineer and lecturer in the Civil and
Environmental Engineering Department at MIT. Her research fo-
cuses on innovative technologies and sustainable approaches in
water and municipal wastewater treatment in development country.
She is President of Ecosystems Engineering, a consulting company
specializing in drinking water and municipal and industrial
wastewater projects with an emphasis on the use of sustainable,
innovative, and cost-effective technologies. Among the courses
that she teaches is "Design for Developing Countries," and she
also leads student teams on research project trips in Nepal,
Haiti, and Brazil.
Epidemiology and The Economic Perspective on Health Improvement
"The Cost of Blindness, Dr. Kevin Frick, PhD Associate Profes-
sor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr. Frick is an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health whose research focuses on cost-
effectiveness studies dealing with sensory impairment. He has
published research on the global productivity cost of blindness
and how the Vision 2020 blindness prevention program could af-
fect this cost. His ground breaking paper "The Magnitude and
Cost of Global Blindness: An Increasing Problem That Can Be Al-
leviated," published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology,
states that the Vision 2020 program will save US$102 billion
over the next 20 years. By 2020, the economic loss in productiv-
ity from blindness will be US$50 billion per year.
The role of economics in improving health outcomes, Heidi Wil-
liams, MSc PhD candidate in Economics, Harvard University
Ms. Williams recently completed an AB in mathematics at Dart-
mouth College as well as an MSc degree in development economics
at the University of Oxford, supported by a Rhodes scholarship.
She is currently working in a research position at the National
Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Boston, with economists
Amy Finkelstein and Michael Kremer of Harvard University. Ms.
Williams will begin research and studies in the economics PhD
program at Harvard in the fall of 2005, supported by a National
Science Foundation graduate research fellowship and a Harry S.
Truman scholarship. Her current research is focused in health,
including work in epidemiology, health economics, and program
evaluations.
International Community Eye Health Programs by Unite For Sight
Student Interns
Presentations by Unite For Sight International Interns (Summer
2004, Fall 2004, and Winter 2005 Interns)
Early Bird Registration at
http://www.uniteforsight.org/2005_conference_registration.shtml
mailto:JStaple@uniteforsight.org with any questions.