International Health Conference in New York City

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

This conference will likely be of interest to many people on this

list.

UNITE FOR SIGHT SYMPOSIUM

GLOBAL PARTNERS: YOUTH, CORPORATIONS, AND ACADEMIA

BRIDGING HEALTH DIVIDES

Saturday, October 2, 2004

Symposium 12-4:30 PM ET at NYU School of Medicine

Followed by Jazz For Peace Festival at 5:30 PM

New York City

Register by September 20th - Reduced Rate

All of the funds raised from the $8 registration fees will go toward

Unite For Sight's sight-restoring cataract surgery programs in Humjibre,

Ghana and Nyamuswa, Tanzania this Fall.

Group Rates Available

Register at

http://www.uniteforsight.org/2004_symposium.shtml

Contact .Staple@... with any questions.

Unite For Sight is pleased to invite you to attend an exciting

international conference for students, volunteers, physicians,

professors, corporate professionals, nurses, public health professionals,

and leaders in ophthalmology, pubic health, academia, corporations, and

policy.

Speakers:

" Stem Cells to the Retinal Rescue, " Dr. J.

Young, PhD, Director, Minda de Gunzburg Research Center for

Retinal Transplantation, Schepens Eye Research Institute and Assistant

Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School " International Political Crises: The Emergency Rooms of

Public Health, " Dr. Waldman, MD, MPH Professor of

Clinical Population & Family Health and Deputy Director of the Center

for Global Health and Economic Development at Columbia University Mailman

School of Public Health " Eye Diseases and Community Experiences in

Tanzania, " Dr. Muhsin Sheriff, MD, MPH, MUCHS -

Harvard Research Collaboration, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; MPH in

Quantitative Methods Candidate at Harvard School of Public Health " Bridging Health Divides: A Federal Perspective, " Ms.

Rosemary Janiszewski, MS, CHES, Deputy Director, Office of

Communication, Health Education and Public Liaison; Director, National

Eye Institute Health Education Program, NIH. " Entrepreneurship in Medical Technology and the Role of

Venture Capital, " Mr. Mart , President, Callaway

Private Equity Partners

Unite For Sight Summer 2004 Interns in Tanzania and Ghana:

- " Better Vision, A Better Life: Ghana Health and Education

Initiative and Unite For Sight Restoring Eyesight in Rural

Ghana, " Alison Polk- - " Unite For Sight Improving Eye Health in Rural

Tanzania, " Sachin Jain - " Unite For Sight's Eye Health Programs in Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania, " Sally Ong

Biographies of Speakers

Dr. J. Young, PhD

Director, Minda de Gunzburg Research Center for Retinal

Transplantation, Schepens Eye Research Institute and Assistant Professor

of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School

Dr. Young is one of the world’s 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 “integration 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 retinal progenitor cells into

specific cell types.”

Dr. Waldman, MD, MPH Professor of Clinical Population

& Family Health and Deputy Director of the Center for Global Health

and Economic Development at Columbia University Mailman School of Public

Health

J. Waldman, MD, MPH, is Deputy Director of the Center for Global

Health and Economic Development at the Mailman School of Public Health of

Columbia University, and former Director of its Program on Forced

Migration and Health. He is a physician specializing in child health in

developing countries. Dr. Waldman began his career with the World Health

Organization’s Global Smallpox Eradication Program in

Bangladesh. He subsequently worked at the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention for more than twenty years where, among other

assignments, he directed technical support activities for the Combating

Childhood Communicable Diseases Project. In the 1980s and 1990s he

and his colleagues at the CDC published a series of studies on the

epidemiology of refugee health and provided public health assistance in

many international humanitarian crises.

Dr. Waldman was the coordinator of the Task Force on Cholera Control at

WHO from 1992-1994 and the Technical Director of the USAID-funded child

survival BASICS Project from 1995-1999. He is the immediate past

Chairman of the International Health Section of the American Public

Health Association and serves in an advisory capacity to a number of

international non-governmental organizations. He has worked in

complex emergencies in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Albania, Democratic

Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and, most recently, Iraq.

Dr. Muhsin Sheriff, MD, MPH

MUCHS - Harvard Research Collaboration, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;

MPH in Quantitative Methods Candidate at Harvard School of Public

Health

Dr. Sheriff is Internal Medical Monitor at the MUCHS (Muhumbili

University College of Health Sciences) - Harvard Research Collaboration

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 personnel in conducting 'eye camps' in rural villages where

they provide vision screenings and refractions, distribute eyeglasses,

give health checkups and advice, and organize eye surgeries. 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.

Ms. Rosemary Janiszewski

Deputy Director, Office of Communication, Health Education and

Public Liason; Director, National Eye Institute Health Education Program,

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 activities, including the National Eye

Health Education Program, a program to prevent vision loss through public

and professional education programs. She implemented the Healthy

Vision 2010 program, a vision-related component of Healthy People

2010Before 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).

Mr. Mart

President, Callaway Private Equities Partners

Mr. 's company is a placement agent for venture capital and private

equity financing in the medical device industry.

Unite For Sight Student International Intern Speakers

Alison Polk-,

Unite For Sight's Cataract Surgery Program in Humjibre, Ghana

Alison Polk- lived and worked in Ghana between August 2003

and August 2004, where she was the Ghana Health and Education

Initiative‚s co-Project Coordinator and Financial Officer in Ghana. She

developed GHEI's English enrichment program for middle school students,

supervised construction of GHEI's Community Center, and volunteered in a

nearby private hospital. She also coordinated the first Unite For Sight

cataract surgery program during June 2004 in conjunction with the Ghana

Health and Education Initiative (GHEI).

Prior to her year in Ghana, Alison graduated from University of

Pennsylvania with a degree in Health and Societies with a concentration

in Health in Africa. She has done development work in the Dominican

Republic and Tanzania doing construction and working in a secondary

school. She also studied at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

during Summer 2002.

Since her return to the United States in August, Alison has assumed the

position as Vice President for External Affairs with the Ghana Health and

Education Initiative. She will continue to develop and coordinate future

GHEI/Unite for Sight Volunteer Programs in Humjibre, an important effort

aimed at preventing eye disease and restoring eyesight. She plans to

attend medical school in the future.

Sachin Jain,

Unite For Sight's Program in Nyamuswa and Mwanza, Tanzania

Sachin Jain is a second-year medical student at Rush Medical College

in Chicago, IL. Some of his interests include advocacy for underserved

populations, universal health coverage, and international public health.

He traveled to rural Tanzania as a Unite For Sight intern in the summer

of 2004 to implement several eye care initiatives, such as establishing a

cataract surgery program, an eye clinic, and eye health education in

local schools. He has also been honored with an Albert Schweitzer

Fellowship for the 2004-05 academic year. His fellowship focuses on

delivering eye care services, and diabetes and asthma education to a

homeless community in Chicago. Sachin is also the Unite For Sight

Regional Director for the Midwest and national co-coordinator for the

American Medical Student Association's Direct Action Interest

Group.

" My experience in Tanzania this summer was life-changing. By

screening people for cataracts, distributing eyeglasses, relieving the

cost of medications, and teaching eye health in schools, I gave hope to

the village of Nyamuswa. Where advanced, high-tech care was but a dream,

I showed that ophthalmic care, and health care in general, can be a

reality for them, despite the poverty and lack of access to services. I

can't imagine doing anything more worthwhile with my

summer. "

Sally Ong,

Unite For Sight's Program in Tanzania

Sally is a sophomore undergraduate student at Duke University. She is

from Johor, Malaysia and is considering a double major in Biology and

Political Science. Sally is involved with service-learning initiatives,

including participating in a course entitled " Humanitarian

Challenges at Home and Abroad FOCUS program " and teaching a

course entitled " Service Learning: Expanding Your Duke Education

beyond the Classroom. "

Sally is the co-Vice President of Duke's chapter of Unite For Sight. As a

Unite For Sight Student Intern in Tanzania during Summer 2004, she

prescribed eyeglasses, participated in cataract eye surgery camps, and

implemented eye health education programs in schools throughout the

country.

" It was a wonderful experience working in Tanzania. The need for

eyeglasses and other eye services is real and urgent. You sense it from

the questions people ask, the requests they make and the stories they

tell. Average wage is Tsh 48,000 (USD 43) while a pair of eyeglasses

costs Tsh 30,000 (USD 27). People cannot afford eyeglasses. Every

Tanzanian I met has been very receptive to our programs. From the policy

makers to the villagers, everyone supports our work, appreciates our

efforts and invites us back to Tanzania. Sensing a need in the community

is one thing, being supported and respected by the people made the

internship very much more fulfilling. "

Register at

http://www.uniteforsight.org/2004_symposium.shtml

Contact .Staple@... with any questions.

Jazz For Peace Festival Concert Benefiting Unite For

Sight at 5:30 PM

On Saturday, October 2nd, a Jazz For Peace

Concert featuring Rick DellaRatta will benefit Unite For Sight, a 501©3

nonprofit global humanitarian organization that works globally to develop

sustainable solutions to improve eye health outcomes. The proceeds

of the concert will fund sight-restoring cataract surgeries coordinated

by Unite For Sight in African countries. The benefit will be held

at Penang - 24 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY - at 5:30 pm. Tickets are

$25 plus a one drink minimum. For details, please go to

www.jazzforpeace.org.

Unite For Sight has been recognized by USA Today, Glamour

Magazine, Nokia and International Youth Foundation’s YouthActionNet, and

WK Kellogg Foundation. With seventy-five chapters established at

universities and medical schools, Unite For Sight has an international

network of 2,000 students and volunteers who build healthier communities

through disease prevention, eye health promotion, and health

education. Each chapter works with local community infrastructures

to improve access to health programs, and the primary objective is to

prevent blindness.

Jazz For Peace? and Rick DellaRatta has been featured on the cover of

UPWARD, the feature article insert of BIG NEWS, which is

distributed widely in the streets and subways of New York City as well as

Albany, NY. Rick DellaRatta was invited to lead a band for an

international audience that consisted of Israeli, Middle Eastern,

European, Asian & American' Jazz musicians. Rick named this

band " Jazz For Peace? "

Jazz for Peace's mission is to help advance people to their highest

potential through the understanding of Jazz as well as spreading peace

through our " Jazz For Peace? Concerts " worldwide - joining

forces (or performing) with multi-cultural musicians to spread peace

through the art form of Jazz and entering regions that are politically

controversial. By the means of live concerts, video taping, on

hands/on-line teaching as well as supplying musical instruments to

underprivileged children in under developed areas worldwide, Jazz for

Peace will re-enforce what past history has proven - that the art form of

Jazz has the ability to create a positive effect that unites people and

may eventually start to transform the barriers and issues of different

cultures and beliefs. For more information please visit

www.jazzforpeace.org

Recent Quotes:

" Rick DellaRatta is one of the finest Jazz pianists

alive. "

--Savannah Times

" It is actually the quality of DellaRatta's voice that grows on

me more &

more with repeated listenings. At first I felt that Rick's strengths as

a

pianist were foremost, but with time I have come to understand that

Dellaratta's skill as a vocalist is not to be underestimated. " His

voice

has quite a haunting quality to it, being slightly androgenous in

tone,

sometimes ghostly.... sometimes sexy. "

--Jen Karpin, Green Mtn Jazz Messenger

" .....sure it will be a good show. "

--New York Times Jazz Forum

Register at

http://www.uniteforsight.org/2004_symposium.shtml

Contact .Staple@... with any questions.