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Research Funding
Dr. Teresa Duda, professor, received funding recently from the Pennsylvania Lions Sight Conservation and Eye Research Foundation.
Dr. Duda and her research team are conducting a study: "How photoreceptor guanylate cyclase ROS-GC1 controls phototransduction."
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We Salute The University community warmly welcomes the following new members:
Maura Alexander, director, Human Resources
Michael Kilczewski, TEI,
software applications specialist
Zorina Mikhelson, AuD, clinical educator, PEI
Bethany Watson, program manager, Professional Studies and Int'l Programs
The University community congratulates the following members:
Dr. John Mark Snyder, T
TEI, and his wife, on the
birth of John Lucas. The proud, new dad reports Lucas is "the perfect child; speaks three languages and is just amazing."
Barbara Tilford, Finance, on the birth of
granddaughter, Magnolia Adele. Baby "Maggie" was born just before Thanksgiving.
Dr. Satya B. Verma, professor, associate director of the Optometry externship program, and National Council on Aging board member, who was the opening speaker at the Diabetes Screening: Medicare Benefits for Better Health workshop in Philadelphia in October.
The University community extends sincere condolences to:
Lisa Blade, Williamson's Cafe,on the passing of her mother, Mary Leonardo.
Mary Ann Skirpan, Registrar's Office, on the passing of her mother, Nellie J. Zach.
Dr. Susan Oleszewski, TEI, on the passing of her father, William Lewis Oleszewski. |
Dr. Ooi Co-Authors Study Dr. Teng Leng Ooi, professor, and co-authors from the University of Louisville, Zijiang J. He, PhD and Jingping P. Xu, doctoral student, have discovered a new way to effectively reduce sensory eye dominance and improve depth perception in otherwise visually normal adults. Their vision training protocol has potential for treating patients with amblyopia (lazy eye), a condition whereby one eye is extremely weak and the patient has poor depth perception. Amblyopia affects 2-3% of children in the United States. The study, "Effectively reducing sensory eye dominance with a push-pull perceptual learning protocol," was published in the October 26 issue of Current Biology.
Dr. Ooi and colleagues found that the traditional principle of "use it or lose it" (a push only protocol) applied to most adult training regimens is ineffective for correcting sensory eye dominance. The novel form of vision training developed by the research team is called "push-pull perceptual learning," a vision training protocol that exposes the strong and weak eyes to images of different patterns, and most critically, ensures that only the images presented to the weak eye are perceived (push), while the images presented to the strong eye are not perceived (pull).
Dr. Ooi and her colleagues found that after a 10-day push-pull training session, their participants' sensory eye dominance was substantially reduced and stereopsis improved. Beyond reducing sensory eye dominance of visually normal adults, the research team is currently planning to test the push-pull training protocol on the clinical population. The ultimate goal is to develop an efficacious clinical treatment. The study reported is supported by a grant from the National Eye Institute. To read more about the study. |
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HOLIDAY
SCHEDULE
The University will be closed from noon on Friday, December 24, 2010 until Monday morning, January 3, 2011.
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4th Annual Looking Out for Kids
The fourth annual Looking Out for Kids (LOFK) fundraiser for The Eye Institute took place on November 13 in the Hafter Student Community Center.
Co-hosted this year by Lisa Nutter, first lady of Philadelphia and president of Philadelphia Academies, Inc., Philadelphia Eagles safety Quintin Mikell and linebacker Keenan Clayton, and Dr. Eileen Tyrala of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, the event included a VIP reception and silent auction to raise money for vision care and glasses for area children who otherwise could not afford it. The co-hosts visited with guests at the reception, posing for photos, chatting with many of the alumni, faculty, students and staff who attended and, in the case of the Eagles players, signing autographs.
Dr. Susan Oleszewski, vice president for patient care and executive director of The Eye Institute, was gratified by the turnout for the event. "The event was fun and successful," she said in a thank you letter to volunteers, noting, " . . . I know that everyone who attended had a great time, and that sets the stage for being able to grow the event beyond our own optometric / Salus community." Last year LOFK funded more than 400 children's eye exams, with free glasses provided for those who needed them.
(Pictured above (L to R) are Dr. Eileen Tyrala, Dr. Susan Oleszewski,
Dr. Tyrala's husband, Dr. Donald Goldsmith and Mrs. Lisa Nutter.) |
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Audiology News
Scholarships recently awarded to Osborne College of Audiology students included:Pennsylvania Academy of Audiology (PAA) awards to Andy Lau '13 ($300); Lisa Mariello-Baiada '13 ($200); and Kim Otero '13 ($500).
Attendance scholarships to the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) annual conference were awarded to Megan Myers '12 and Alison Stich '12.
A Beltone scholarship of $1,000 for the best business plan went to Yun Jin (Mary) Kim '11.
Dr. Victor Bray and Dr. Tricia Dabrowski have co-authored
an article in Audiology Today that details the practice management education model used at OCA.
New full time faculty member, Jonette Owen, AuD, was welcomed in her new position as coordinator of external clinical education.
Audiology student volunteers for the annual Fall Special Olympics event screened 120 Olympians at Villanova University on Saturday, November 6. (Pictured in photo below)
In addition to preceptor Ralph Belsterling, AuD, Special Olympics PA Healthy Hearing Clinical Director, Amanda Marchegiani, AuD '10 also precepted Osborne College of Audiology volunteers Anita Avila '13; Theresa Mamah '12; Emily McMahan '13; Stefanie Natelson '13 and Latoya Shuler '12. |
Academy of Optometry Meeting
The American Academy of Optometry annual meeting was held in San Francisco in November. From lectures to panel discussions to poster presentations, the PCO community was well represented. PCO faculty presenters included: Sarah D. Appel, OD '79, FAAO; Mira S. Aumiller, OD '02, FAAO; Linda Casser, OD, FAAO; DeGaulle I. Chigbu, OD, FAAO; Erin M. Draper, OD '09; Imran A. Khan, OD '02, MSc '02; Anne-Marie Lahr, OD; Derek Mladenovich, OD '02, FAAO, MPH; Kelly A. Malloy, OD '96, FAAO; Mitchell Scheiman, OD, FAAO and Charles M. Wormington, PhD. OD. PCO alumni presenters included: James L. Fanelli, OD '85, FAAO; Oscar Gris, BSc '07; Sylwia Kropacz, MSc '08; Erin McConnell, OD '09; Marc D. Myers, OD '99; Mahsa Salehi, OD '09; Jerome Sherman, OD '70; Teresa Valero Perez, MSc '04 and Bridgette Yeoh, MSc '04. Former TEI residents Jennifer Q. Duan, OD and Marie-Lou Garon, OD also presented, as did students Shana Barrett '13, Michael Schumacher '11, Erica Turner '13, Cara Wolfish '11 and Maryana Zagorodny '12. Congratulations to the following PCO alumni, who were inducted as Fellows of the Academy (FAAO): Katherine Baughman, OD '08; Eric Conley, OD '06; Matthew Paul Corso, OD '05; Erin M. Draper, OD '09; Julie K. Hutchinson, OD '09; Imran A. Khan, OD '02, MS '02; Joseph M. Misera, OD '96; Trisha M. Moore, OD '06; Linda Ambrose Morgan, OD '00; Maria A. Pribis, OD '09; Amber Reinhart Scharnweber, OD '09; Tehseena Ullah, OD '08; Olga Whitman, OD '07; Bridgette Yeoh, MSc '04 and Meng Meng Xu, OD, FAAO (past resident, TEI). |
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On Friday, November 12 the gymnasium of the Hafter Student Community Center was abuzz with anticipation, as the audience awaited the start of the annual PCO Eyedol talent show.
Hosted by the PCO chapter of NOSA (National Optometric Student Association), this event is always fun as it showcases the talents of the University's student body and faculty. Loosely based on the TV show American Idol, a panel of four judges comments on all performances, while the winners are decided by audience applause.
Emcees this year were Camille Cohen '14 and Whitney Roberson '14. The judges were Dr. Srihari Narayanan, Dr. Melissa Trego, and students Nwamaka Ngoddy '12 and Vijayata Dham '13.
Talented student performers this year included Tiffany Pao '13, whose rendition of Puccini's aria "O Mio Babbino Caro" brought the crowd to its feet and earned her first place; Dustin Asay '13, who sang "Cancion del Mariachi" to win second place, accompanying himself on a guitar custom painted in Mexico's red, white and green - a reminder of the two years he lived there, while third place winner Connie Berryman '14, sang "Believer," another big crowd pleaser. The duo of Daniel Strybos '12 and Sarah Bell '12 sang "I Want To Be A Billionaire," Lindsay Totten '13 sang "As If We Never Said Goodbye" and Dr. Srihari Narayanan, assistant professor, performed a classical Indian song.
Two student groups performed for the entertainment of the audience. Andy Lau '13, Mohindra Ramphal '12, Tuong-Vi Pham '13, Joey Tran '13 and Julie Vashi '13, performed an original skit about preceptors that covered the optometry, audiology and physician assistant programs. The skit's quirky preceptor sayings and mannerisms brought knowing laughter from many in the audience. While not competing, the White Tops, (Class of 2013's Keion Mark, Keston Regis, James Carson and Terrence Roberts), performed a lip sync to a Four Tops tune in white clinical jackets, complete with synchronized hand motions and steps.
See the photos from PCO Eyedol. |
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Salus Basketball Champs!
The nine week long Salus Intramural Basketball League ended in November, when Team FAPSS (above) defeated the Class of 2013B to take the championship with a score of 52-44.
The FAPSS ( Faculty, Audiology, Physician Assistant, Staff, Spouse) team included Frank Baldwin, PA '10; Jessel Coomansingh '12 PA; Sergio Dilone '12 PA; Brady Johnson '11 PA; Mike Kozlowski '12 PA; Jay Kroc; Greg Leder '12 PA; Chad Lyon; Benjamin Reidell; Chris Richards and J. Mark Snyder, OD '07, assistant professor.
MVP Awards went to Ralph Currie '11OD, (League MVP) and Brandon Wuzzardo '13 OD, (Championship Game MVP). The tournament was the work of Andrew Williams '12, optometry student by day and athletic coordinator by night.
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TEI Satellite Office Move
The Eye Institute satellite office located inhte Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia has moved. The new location ( 3300 Henry Avenue) will be known as the Falls Center.
The staff remains the same: Dr. DeGaulle Chigbu, Ms. Sharon Kelly and Ms. Denise Mumper. Falls Center hours of operation are: Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. CLOSED on Friday Saturday: 9 a.m. - 3: 30 p.m.
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