International Health Conference in New York City
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Dear all,
Unite For Sight is holding a conference entitled "Perspectives:
Eyes on Public Health" on April 24, 2004 at NYU School of Medi-
cine in New York City. World renowned speakers include Dr. H.
Jack Geiger, Dr. Walter Tsou, Dr. Shachar Tauber, and Dr. Louis
Pizzarello, among others. This conference is designed for medi-
cal and premedical students as well as physicians, educators,
and professors. If you are interested in attending the confer-
ence, reserve your seat by registering for the conference at our
website. Registration deadline is April 18.
http://www.uniteforsight.org/2004_annual_conference.shtml
Jennifer Staple
mailto:Jennifer.Staple@aya.yale.edu
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UNITE FOR SIGHT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
PERSPECTIVES: EYES ON PUBLIC HEALTH
April 24, 2004
9 am - 5 pm ET
Held at NYU School of Medicine
New York City
Unite For Sight is pleased to announce the First Annual Unite
For Sight Conference on April 24, 2004 at NYU School of Medicine
in New York City. This "Perspectives: Eyes on Public Health"
Conference, which offers a program of symposia and lectures,
serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas among students, vol-
unteers, and leading figures in ophthalmology, public health,
health education, and policy. The Unite For Sight Conference
also provides an opportunity for students to present independent
research in the Student Plenary Session. The Annual Meeting is
open to the general public.
100% of the registration fees will be used to cover the cost of
cataract surgeries arranged by Unite For Sight in Ghana.
Register at our website:
http://www.uniteforsight.org/2004_annual_conference.shtml
"The Power of Student Activism," H. Jack Geiger, MD, Arthur C.
Logan Professor Emeritus of Community Medicine and Director of
the Program in Health, Medicine and Society of the City College
of New York Dr. Geiger's professional career has been focused on
problems of health and poverty, and he has been a champion of
health and human rights over the past five decades. He was a
founding member and Past President of Physicians for Social Re-
sponsibility, the U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the Nobel Prize
for Peace in 1985. He is also a founding member and Past Presi-
dent of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which shared in the
Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998. He also initiated the community
health center model in the US and was a leader in the develop-
ment of the national health center network of more than 800 ur-
ban, rural, and migrant centers currently serving nine million
low-income patients. From 1965-71, he was Co-Director and then
Director of the first urban and first rural health centers in
the U.S., at Columbia Point, Boston, and Mound Bayou, Missis-
sippi.
"Medicine and Public Health: A Personal Journey," Dr. Walter
Tsou, MD, MPH, President-Elect, American Public Health Associa-
tion Dr. Tsou, former city health commissioner of Philadelphia
and now a public health consultant, is President-Elect of the
American Public Health Association. He is a member of the Tech-
nical Advisory Group for Healthy People 2010 for the U.S. De-
partment of Health and Human Services and on the board of direc-
tors of the Pennsylvania Public Health Association. He is pres-
ently a faculty adviser for the Philadelphia Asian American
Health Care Network, on the Dean's Alumni Advisory Council at
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and
on the board of directors for both Physicians for a National
Health Program and Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsi-
bility. Formerly a medical director/deputy director for personal
health services at the Montgomery County Health Department in
Pennsylvania from 1991 to 2000, Dr. Tsou also served as a clini-
cal assistant professor of community and preventive medicine and
clinical assistant professor of medicine at the MCP Hahnemann
School of Medicine. Dr. Tsou was a member of the Executive Board
of the American Public Health Association from 1998 to 2000 and
is a member of the Association's Community Health Planning and
Policy Development Section.
"Vision2020: The Right to Sight, a Global Initiative," Dr. Louis
Pizzarello, MD, Chair of the North American Region of the Inter-
national Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). Dr. Piz-
zarello is a recognized expert in the fields of public health
and ophthalmology. He has worked in blindness prevention pro-
grams in 40 countries. His particular interest has been in cata-
ract programs, nutritional and childhood blindness, and the pre-
vention of eye injuries. He has authored numerous scientific pa-
pers in the field and has served on a number of advisory boards
and committees. He has been named a Distinguished Citizen by
Southampton College and has received the Honor Award of the
American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Spirit of Helen Keller
Award from Helen Keller Worldwide. He holds an undergraduate de-
gree from Colgate University, a medical degree from the Univer-
sity of Virginia and a masters degree in public health from Har-
vard. He has practiced ophthalmology for the past 25 years in
Southampton, NY, and is currently associate clinical professor
of ophthalmology and public health at the College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Columbia University as well as adjunct assistant
professor of preventive medicine at SUNY/Stony Brook.
"Advances in Corneal Transplantation," Dr. Shachar Tauber, MD,
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Yale University School
of Medicine and Director of Yale's Cornea and Refractive Surgery
Service Dr. Tauber, who is on Unite For Sight's Executive Board
of Advisors, 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 refractive surgery in Venezuela, and served as an
observational fellow in cornea and external disease as Massachu-
setts Eye & Ear Hospital. Dr. Tauber was invited to educate oph-
thalmologists at the 1998 Global Ophthalmology Conference in
China and at Tamil Nadu Medical University in India in 1999.
"Trachoma," Jonathan Struthers, Director of International Tra-
choma Initiative The International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) is
dedicated to the elimination of blinding trachoma, the world's
leading cause of preventable blindness. ITI seeks to achieve
global elimination of blinding trachoma by putting into action
the SAFE strategy, applied research and program evaluation, and
communications and advocacy.
"A Role for Health Education," Ms. Rosemary Janiszewski, Deputy
Director, Office of Communication, Health Education and Public
Liaison; Director, National Eye Institute Health Education Pro-
gram, NIH. Ms. Janiszewski has worked in the health education
field for more than 20 years at both the state and federal
level. Since 1989, she has directed NEI health education activi-
ties, including the National Eye Health Education Program, a
program to prevent vision loss through public and professional
education programs. Before joining the NEI , Ms. Janiszewski was
the coordinator for the Cancer Information Service in Illinois.
She also served as a program coordinator at the American Heart
Association of Wisconsin. She received her MS in community
health education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She
is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).
"A Role for Health Advocacy," Mr. Joe LaMountain, Vice Presi-
dent, Strategic Communications of Vision Council of America Mr.
LaMountain leads advocacy to improve eye health care for chil-
dren. Previously he worked for the American Diabetes Association
as the National Director of Advocacy, where he helped to get 37
state laws passed that required health insurance plans to cover
diabetes supplies and education as a basic benefit. He helped to
enact a similar law benefiting senior Medicare diabetes pa-
tients.
Student Plenary Session: Alison Schroth, The Uganda Village Pro-
ject
Kevan Knoche, Turning a Service-Learning Vision into Interna-
tional Health Care Action
Salil Shukla, Long Term Efficacy of Combined Penetrating Kerato-
plasty and Trabeculectomy
Silvia Odorcic, Notch Signaling Component Expression in Human
Colonic Tissue and Colonic Adenocarcinoma