Hi all,

Unite For Sight has many new volunteer opportunities in Africa, Asia,
Latin America, and Eastern Europe for Summer 2005, Fall 2005, and Spring
2006.  Opportunities are available in rural villages, urban locations,
and refugee camps (including in the tsunami region).  RPCVs are
especially encouraged to participate, and we have had many RPCVs
participate in our programs previously.  You can read about
all of the opportunities at http://www.uniteforsight.org/intl_volunteer/

Unite For Sight volunteers implement outreach programs to prescribe
eyeglasses, implement eye health education, and screen for cataracts,
pterygium, and other eye diseases. All patients with eye disease are
referred to the closest quality eye clinic for diagnosis, treatment, and
surgery. This new form of delivery enables sustainable programs while
simultaneously reducing all of the barriers to health care, including
financial, transportation, and education hindrances. Unite For Sight's
model also reduces costs and expands the ability of all people to "Unite
For Sight" and help in the fight against blindness.

The Unite For Sight programs are open to individuals 18 years and older,
and there is no upper age limit.  Undergraduate and graduate students,
public health professionals, nurses, educators, optometrists, and
ophthalmologists are especially encouraged to apply.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Staple
Founder, President & CEO
Unite For Sight
www.uniteforsight.org

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Monthly Happy Hour in Irving

Date: Thursday, May 26, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Monthly Happy Hour at Italian Cafe, 387 Las Colinas Blvd,
Irving.

Plan on joining us for a summer cook out on Saturday, June 4th. The
NTPCA and the Dallas Peace Corps office will joined together for RPCVs
to meet with Peace Corps nominees and applicants to discuss their
experiences with those about to launch on their own international
adventure; bring pictures if you can.Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato
salad, baked beans and soft drinks will be provided.  Also, if you
feel like bringing a dish from your country of service, you are
welcome to do so, but it is entirely optional. Feel free to come
anytime after 5 p.m. The grill will be fired up around 6:00.Plan for a
fun and relaxed evening. The cookout will be held at the home of Roger
Chapin at 613 Harvest Glen Dr., Richardson, just north of the Richland
Community College.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Monthly Happy Hour in Irving

Date: Thursday, May 26, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Monthly Happy Hour at Italian Cafe, 387 Las Colinas Blvd,
Irving.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Summer Cook Out

Date: Saturday, June 4, 2005
Time: 5:00PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Join us for a summer cook out on Saturday, June 4th. The NTPCA
and the
Dallas Peace Corps office has joined together for RPCVs to meet
with Peace
Corps nominees and applicants to discuss their experiences with
those about
to launch on their own international adventure; bring pictures
if you can.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and soft drinks
will be
provided.  Also, if you feel like bringing a dish from your
country of service, you are welcome to do so, but it is entirely
optional. Feel free to come anytime after 5 p.m. The grill will
be fired up around 6:30.Plan for a fun and relaxed evening. The
cookout will be held at the home of Roger Chapin at 613 Harvest
Glen Dr., Richardson, just north of the Richland Community
College.

Hi everyone,

My name is Kira and I've recently become interested in joining the
Peace Corps. I'm still doing research on it, but I would like to
talk to an RPCV to learn more about the experience.

A little about myself: I'll graduate from the University of North
Texas (Denton) next May (This is when I would be open to serving as
a PCV.) with a BS in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. After
graduation, I'm not sure what my plans will be, maybe serving as a
volunteer or entering graduate school.

Anyhow, if anyone has some spare time to exchange emails with me,
please send me one at kcha2006@....

Thanks!

Kira
kcha2006@...

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Summer Cook Out

Date: Saturday, June 4, 2005
Time: 5:00PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Join us for a summer cook out on Saturday, June 4th. The NTPCA
and the
Dallas Peace Corps office has joined together for RPCVs to meet
with Peace
Corps nominees and applicants to discuss their experiences with
those about
to launch on their own international adventure; bring pictures
if you can.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and soft drinks
will be
provided.  Also, if you feel like bringing a dish from your
country of service, you are welcome to do so, but it is entirely
optional. Feel free to come anytime after 5 p.m. The grill will
be fired up around 6:30.Plan for a fun and relaxed evening. The
cookout will be held at the home of Roger Chapin at 613 Harvest
Glen Dr., Richardson, just north of the Richland Community
College.

Hi...

I'm a local representative for Nacel Open Door, which is a non-
profit organization dedicated to promoting world peace and
understanding through intercultural education and student exchange.
Nacel accepts highly qualified and carefully screened students from
over 50 countries around the world. Nacel is dedicated to promoting
world peace through developing, sponsoring and bringing together
foreign teens with volunteer American host families.

Can you open your heart and home to a foreign exchange student this
year (or do you know anyone that can)?  If so, this will be the most
unforgettable year of your family's life!!  You will experience
another culture without leaving your home.  If you have children,
your children will have an educational and cultural experience that
could never be provided in any other way.  The lessons that your
entire family can learn while hosting a foreign exchange student
will stay with you forever, while, at the same time, you are
providing a wealth of living experience and education to the foreign
exchange student.

A host family will need to provide a loving home and meals for one
or two exchange students (how many is your choice). Students can
have a private room or share a room with a same-sex sibling.  Host
families come in all shapes and sizes. You can be a married or
single adult, with or without children. We have many single parent
host families, as well as "empty-nesters" and people who have never
had children. Students come with spending money and insurance.  You
will be able to choose which student(s) you would like to stay in
your home.  Profiles with pictures and a letter written in English
are available.  Host families are volunteers and the IRS allows
slight tax breaks to families who host.  Nacel also offers a great
support system for the host family and the exchange student, so if
either party needs advice or help, someone will be available.

Students are expected to integrate into the host family.  The host
family does NOT act as a tour guide.  Instead, they are the
student's host parents and host siblings.  Students are expected to
clean up after themselves, help with household chores, maintain
decent school grades, and volunteer in their communities.

If you are unable to host a student, please forward this on to
anyone in your office or circle of acquaintances that may be
interested.  If you have any ideas for how I may find host families,
please share them with me.

You can read more about hosting and Nacel Open Door at
http://www.nacelopendoor.org/.

You can reach me at:
817-283-5060
or by replying to this e-mail at naceldallas@...

Thanks!!
Michaela Kral

Do you have a chronic illness or disability related to your Peace
Corps service? Are you dealing with OWCP to obtain medical benefits
or disability payments? If so, the following group may be of
interest to you:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/owcp

A group of RPCVs with OWCP claims are banding together in an attempt
to get better service from OWCP, PC Medical Office, etc. Please
feel free to join us!

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Monthly RPCV Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, June 23, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

RPCV Happy Hour at Santiago's Cantina, 2911 Main, Deep Ellum,
Dallas

Hi all-
I'm currently a Peace Corps nominee in Oklahoma City. I'm awaiting
medical clerance right now and am hoping to go to sub-Saharan Africa.
I'm just trying to get plugged into the Peace Corps community. Any
thoughts or suggestions? Feel free to e-mail me at
travisfitzgerald@.... Thanks.

Travis

Hello from the Dallas office.

I'm a recruiter at the office and one of my couples has been recently
invited to serve as PCVs in Panama.  I was wondering if any of you
served there, or know of anyone in the area who has served there?
Please email me and let me know if you would like to talk about your
experience there.

Thank you.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Steering Committee Meeting

Date: Monday, July 11, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 7:30PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Border's Book Store Lover's Lane at Greenville Ave, Dallas

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Steering Committee Meeting

Date: Monday, July 11, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 7:30PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Border's Book Store Lover's Lane at Greenville Ave, Dallas

A short reminder that the summertime pool party at Tim Chaney's home
is  Saturday, July 23 around 6 PM.

Tim is providing the grill, condiments and bread.   Just bring some
burgers or hot dogs and your favorite, non-glass beverage.

Tim's house is at 7044 Royal Lane -- just east of Hillcrest. Additional
parking is around the corner on St. Jude Street. Tim Chaney's telephone
number is 214-502-9426.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Swim Party

Date: Saturday, July 23, 2005
Time: 6:00PM - 9:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Swim Party at Tim Chaney's home; 7044 Royal Lane, Dallas.
Bring Burger/dogs and non-glass beverage.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, July 28, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Happy Hour at Gloria's, 5100 Belt Line, Addison

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Swim Party

Date: Saturday, July 23, 2005
Time: 6:00PM - 9:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Swim Party at Tim Chaney's home; 7044 Royal Lane, Dallas.
Bring Burger/dogs and non-glass beverage.

First,  the Dallas Peace Corps Recruiting Office has a temporary job
opening for a semi-clerical position involving communications,
posting info to Internet, etc.  Call Sharon at 214-253-5400.

==============================================================

Second, we would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, July 28, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Happy Hour at Gloria's, 5100 Belt Line, Addison

First,  the Dallas Peace Corps Recruiting Office has a temporary job
opening for a semi-clerical position involving communications,
posting info to Internet, etc.  Call Sharon at 214-253-5400.

==============================================================

Second, we would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, July 28, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Happy Hour at Gloria's, 5100 Belt Line, Addison

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, July 28, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:00PM CDT (GMT-05:00)

Happy Hour at Gloria's, 5100 Belt Line, Addison

Hi there,

I am a RPCV (Casablanca, Morocco 99-01/University ESP Teacher)that is
now in Irving on business until November. I work for Caterpillar and
am only here temporarily but would love to make some new friends while
in town. While in Morocco, I met my wife and she is here in Irving
with me. Please drop me a line and introduce yourself.


Randall Evans
Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc
Irving, TX

From: Kenneth Hill [mailto:kenhill@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 12:31 PM
To: NPCA Group Leaders
Subject: Getting Up To Date on the Military Recruitment issue...



Dear Colleagues, please know that NPCA is well out front on this
issue!



Since this "new" military recruitment program was noted in a very
brief Washington Post article on May 13, we have been working to
learn the facts, dialogue with Peace Corps, develop an effective
strategy and inform our community!    The issue has been featured on
the website since May, noted in newsletters and in the Chair's
report for the Annual General Meeting.  The Post article of
yesterday features NPCA prominently as a primary source and key
player on the issue



For many more details and a chronology, please check out the NCPA
website (www.rpcv.org) which provides pertinent communications
(including our letter of several weeks ago to the Peace Corps
Director and his response).  Yesterday afternoon the public
broadcasting program "Marketplace" featured an interview with the
correspondent who wrote the Post article and this morning Kevin was
a panel guest on the nationwide "Democracy Now" program of Pacifica
Radio.  Both of these interviews reinforced our position on this
issue. We anticipate more media opportunities and coverage.



You should know that last week both the NPCA Board of Directors and
Advisory Council agreed that this was an important issue for Peace
Corps and for NPCA and confirmed that we should address it
aggressively.



Our goal is to have Peace Corps excluded from this military
recruitment program.  We are now revising our strategy in
consideration of the Post article and will communicate regularly
with Group Leaders and our community.



As we go forward, we'll suggest ways that the groups and individual
members may impact the resolution of this issue.



Finally, I want to emphasize a point we made in our initial letter
to the Director of the Peace Corps. "…the National Peace Corps
Association honors those who serve America in the U.S. Armed
Services, and notes that many have served our nation both in the
military and as Peace Corps volunteers or staff.   Our opposition to
a linkage between Peace Corps and U.S. Military service is in no way
intended to denigrate U. S. military service. Our serious concerns
relate to the well-being of the Peace Corps; the ability of Peace
Corps Volunteers to do their job effectively and in an environment
conducive to their good health and safety."



Stay tuned and please take the opportunity to peruse the information
on the NPCA web site.



Thanks!



Ken Hill, NPCA Chair





---





Peace Corps Option for Military Recruits Sparks Concerns

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 2, 2005; A11

The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is
offering to allow recruits to meet part of their military
obligations by serving in the Peace Corps, which has resisted any
ties to the Defense Department or U.S. intelligence agencies since
its founding in 1961.

The recruitment program has sparked debate and rising opposition
among current and former Peace Corps officials. Some welcome it as a
way to expand the cadre of idealistic volunteers created by
President John F. Kennedy. But many say it could lead to suspicions
abroad that the Peace Corps, which has 7,733 workers in 73
countries, is working together with the U.S. armed forces.

"Does this raise red flags for the Peace Corps community? I'd say
yes -- emphatically so," said Kevin Quigley, president of the
National Peace Corps Association, an organization of returned
volunteers, staff and supporters. "We think a real or perceived
linkage between the Peace Corps and military service could damage
the Peace Corps and potentially put the safety of Peace Corps
volunteers at risk."

Congress authorized the recruitment program three years ago in
legislation that drew little attention at the time but is stirring
controversy now, for two reasons: The military has begun to promote
it, and the day is drawing closer when the first batch of about
4,300 recruits will be eligible to apply to the Peace Corps, after
having spent 3 1/2 years in the armed forces. That could happen as
early as 2007.

Two longtime proponents of national service programs, Sens. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), devised the legislation "to
provide Americans with more opportunities to serve their country,"
said Bayh's spokeswoman, Meghan Keck. When it stalled as a separate
bill, aides to the senators said, they folded it into a 306-page
defense budget bill, where it did not attract opposition.

Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez, who was appointed in 2002 by
President Bush, said in a recent interview that the Peace Corps was
unaware of the provision until after it became law. Vasquez declined
to say whether he would have opposed the legislation, had he known
about it in time.

"There might have been a discussion, there could have been some
dialogue on this, but obviously that didn't happen," he said.

Several former Peace Corps leaders said they hope that Congress and
the Bush administration will reverse course and scuttle the program.
They include former senator Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who helped found
the Peace Corps as a young aide in the Kennedy White House; Carol
Bellamy, the former New York City Council president who headed the
Peace Corps from 1993 to 1995; and Mark L. Schneider, who was a
volunteer in El Salvador in the late 1960s and headed the Peace
Corps during the last two years of the Clinton administration.

"Democratic and Republican administrations alike have kept a bright
line separating the Peace Corps from short-term foreign and security
policies," Schneider said. "Blurring that sharp line is a bad idea,
particularly now, given the unfortunate rise in anti-American
sentiment following the Iraq war."

After the law went into effect in 2003, the Defense Department was
slow to promote the option of combining military and Peace Corps
service, but it is now energetically flogging the "National Call to
Service" program, recruiters said. The Army, which began a pilot
project in 10 of its 41 recruiting districts in October 2003,
expanded it into a nationwide effort this year. The Air Force, Navy
and Marines offer identical programs, said Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a
Pentagon spokeswoman.

In all of the services, recruits are eligible for a $5,000 cash
bonus or repayment of $18,000 in student loans if they agree to
spend three months in boot camp, 15 months on active duty and two
years in the Reserves or National Guard.

After that, they can fulfill the remainder of their eight-year
military obligation in the Individual Ready Reserves -- available
for call-up, but without regular drilling duties -- or by serving in
the Peace Corps or Americorps, the domestic national service program
created in 1993.

Vasquez emphasized that recruits have no guarantee that they will be
accepted into the Peace Corps. Once they complete their active duty
and Reserve or National Guard service, they can apply to the Corps.
But they will not receive any preferential treatment, and the Peace
Corps is not changing its admission standards, he said.

"Ultimately, the impact to Peace Corps in terms of how we recruit,
who we accept into service, remains very much intact and consistent
with what we've done for 40-plus years," the Peace Corps director
said. "I am an individual who embraces a very important facet of
Peace Corps, and that is the Peace Corps' independence as an agency
within the executive branch."

Wofford, who worked in the White House with Sargent Shriver, the
Kennedy brother-in-law who became the Peace Corps' first director,
said the Corps historically has shown "passionate determination" to
maintain that independence. At the outset in 1961, Shriver appealed
to Kennedy to keep the Peace Corps from being placed under the
Agency for International Development. Later, the Corps fought to
uphold rules barring intelligence officers from joining the Peace
Corps and prohibiting former Peace Corps volunteers from working for
U.S. intelligence agencies.

Several current Peace Corps volunteers said they opposed the
military recruitment option but were reluctant to speak out
publicly, because the Peace Corps forbids volunteers from talking to
the media without permission.

"We are already accused on a daily basis of being CIA agents so I
don't see how this [link to the U.S. military] could help," a
volunteer in Burkina Faso said by e-mail.

"It is hard enough trying to integrate yourself into a completely
different culture, convincing people that . . . Americans are not
these gun-toting sex maniacs . . . without having a connection to
the U.S. military," another volunteer in Africa wrote.

Former volunteers expressed a variety of reservations. Pat Reilly, a
former chairwoman of the National Peace Corps Association who served
in Liberia from 1972 to 1975 and spent several years as a full-time
Peace Corps recruiter, said she worries about the motivation of
people who enter the Peace Corps to fulfill a military service
obligation.

"The magic that makes the Peace Corps work is motivation, and when
you tinker with that, then it won't work for the applicant and it
won't work for the people it serves," she said.

John Coyne, who served in Ethiopia during the 1960s and was a
regional director in the Corps' New York office from 1996 to 2001,
said numerous military veterans have joined the Peace Corps and been
superb volunteers. But he said there has always been a "clear
separation" between the two kinds of service. The new recruitment
program "eats away at the purity of the Peace Corps as designed by
Kennedy, which is that it was not going to be military," he said.

So far, the number of enlistees is tiny compared with the 1.4
million men and women serving in the military, but large compared
with the Peace Corps, which receives about 12,000 applications to
fill about 4,000 openings each year.

In 2004 and the first five months of this year, 4,301 people entered
the armed services under the National Call to Service program. Of
those, 2,935 enlisted in the Navy, 614 in the Air Force, 444 in the
Army and 308 in the Marines. Pentagon and Peace Corps officials said
they have no way of knowing how many will apply to the Peace Corps
when they become eligible to do so in 2007 or 2008.

In his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush called for doubling the
size of the Peace Corps, from 7,000 to 14,000 volunteers, within
five years. That same year, the administration named a career Navy
officer with 12 years of experience in military recruiting to head
the Peace Corps' recruitment and selection office.

Since then, however, the Corps has grown by little more than 10
percent. Barbara Daly, a spokeswoman for the Corps, said that tight
budgets -- rather than a shortage of qualified candidates -- were
the reason.

"The president has been very supportive of the Peace Corps and has
requested budget increases each fiscal year that would allow for
this" gradual doubling, she said. "Congress has not approved our
budget at the levels requested by the president."

 

There has a been lengthy blogs on the NTPCA leaders email line lately about Returned Peace Corps Associations groups that have mandatory dues and those that optional dues. 

 

On a related topic, we reflected on the low number pf paid members at our last Steering Committee meeting.  Let combine of those two items and let me hear your reactions and thoughts.

 

Although I had been the President of the RPCV group in 1980-1981 (that subsequently died in 1985), Gary Zimny told me in the early 90s to come to some of the new RPCV group's activities and I could decide to pay dues at a later date if I wanted to do so.  Thus, I got involved again and eventually became a dues paying member.

 

When in the mid-90s I agreed to do the NTPCA's data base, there were about 450 RPCVs on the North Texas mailing list, but only about 110 or 120 were actually dues paying members of NTPCA.  However, eventually North Texas Peace Corps Association decided to become a "mandatory dues" paying group (when I was not routinely involved in what evolved into the Steering Committee). 

 

Moreover, when I became "Facilitator" of the NTPCA last February, our North Texas RPCV group had fallen down in 40 some odd paying members.

 

In short, the argument for mandatory dues membership is that "free loaders" are taking advantage of those who are financially supporting the group; that is not fair and equitable.

 

The argument for optional dues is that  the group is giving a service to the betterment of the Peace Corps ideals,  the non-payers frequently support the group in others ways, like come to International Fund Raiser or help on Service projects, and the non-dues payers frequently eventually decide to pay dues.

 

I am basically a pragmatist,  not an ideologue.   I am observing that current basic policy of semi-requiring RPCVs to pay dues to come to North Texas Peace Corps Association events has not work very well.  We are losing members and our people are burning out and are losing interest.

 

Personally I believe that it is time to go back to being an optional dues group.  I think it is best to reach out and find the 600 -1000 RPCVS in North Texas again.  I think it is in the best interest of NTPCA to again invite non-dues payers to all NTPCA events.  But I may be all alone on this topic.  Do you agree or disagree?  That is,  I want to start a dialogue on this topic and want some input from others.  

 

Further,  I am not sure how to relocate those RPCVs who have not pain and to which we have lost contact.  It is easy to switch from a optional dues group to a mandatory dues group, but it is hard to relocate those non-paying RPCVs after so many years.

 

I also think that such a major change should be  voted by the membership at the annual meeting,

 

Best wishes,

 

Ed Hromatka
972-722-5254  -  home
214-767-2169 - work
214-564-7201 - cell

Abstract Categories - Submission Deadline August 15

1. International Medicine and International Health
2. Public Health
3. Scientific Research
4. Advocacy and Health Policy
5. Nonprofits in Health

FEATURED SESSIONS - Additional Speakers To Be Announced

Keynote Address
"Environment, Behavior and Health: Societies Matter" Al Sommer, MD, MHS

The Health of Women and Children: A Global Overview

"Women's Health: A Global Overview," Allan Rosenfield, MD
"Strengthening Community Capacity for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health," Charles MacCormack
"The Challenges of Pediatric AIDS in Africa - A Lesson in Hope and Humanity" Shaffiq Essajee, BMBCh

Strategies in Global Health

"Global Health Governance in a Time of Rapid Change: Opportunities and Concerns" Derek Yach, MBChB, MPH
"Community Approaches to Achieve Global Health Goals," Jacob Kumaresan, MD, MPH, Dr.PH
Andre-Jacques Neusy, MD, DTM&H
Nora Groce, PhD
"Public-Private Partnership as a Strategy for Addressing Global Health Issues: Lessons Learned from The Mectizan Donation Program," Brenda Colatrella

Community Strategies to Improve Eye Care

"Update on Vision 2020: the Right to Sight," Louis Pizzarello, MD
"Barriers to Eye Care: Results of Qualitative Research," Rosie Janiszewski, MS, CHES
Ilene Gipson, PhD
"Teaching the Teachers: Empowering Refugee Communities Through School-Based Education," Valda Ford, MPH, MS, RN
"Community Strategies To Improve Eye Care," Satya B. Verma, OD, FAAO
Janet Leasher, OD, MPH
"Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity Globalizing Eye Care" Harry I. Zeltzer, OD
"Strategic planning for trachoma control in nine endemic countries," A. Sam-Abbenyi, MD, MSc

Building Capacity Through Surgical Eye Care

"Sustainable Surgical Eye Care Delivery," Victoria Sheffield and John Barrows, MPH
Harry S. Brown, MD
"Challenges and Successes of Surgical Eye Care in Africa," Cathy Schanzer, MD

Refractive Error: From Needs To Eyeglass Empowerment

"Estimates of Functional Blindness and Impaired Vision Due To Uncorrected Refractive Error," Brien A. Holden, PhD, DSc, OAM
"Community-Based, Self-Sustaining, Easy-to-Replicate InFOCUS Vision Stations: Helping to Meet and Increasing Need for Primary Vision Care, Head-On" Ian B. Berger, M.D., M.P.H. Dr.PH
"Social Entrepreneurship and Presbyopia" Jordan Kassalow, OD, MPH
Joshua Silver, PhD

Glaucoma Angles and Approaches

Vision Screening Strategies

Bruce Moore, OD
Erik Weissberg, OD

Vision and Clinical Research

Shachar Tauber, MD
"The Ethics Behind Clinical Research in Developing Nations," Matthew D. Paul, MD

Breakout Workshop Sessions

Cultural Competency

"Lessons from the Camps: Why You Should Not Hug the Monk and other Faux Pas," Valda Ford, MPH, MS, RN

Best Practices: Microfinance's Role in Sustainable Development

Jordan Kassalow, OD, MPH
"Fonkoze: Providing Financial and Educational Services to Haiti's Poor" Sharmi Sobhan and Anne Hastings, PhD

Lessons from India: Health Outreach and Capacity Building

"Lok Swasthya Sewa, a Model Health Cooperative in Ahmedabad, India." Chirag Shah, MD, MPH
Jacqueline de Chollet
Keith Tauro

Clinical and Public Health Approaches to Eye Care

"From Eye Charts to Eye Clinics: Building Community Health Infrastructure," Sachin Jain, MD, MPH Candidate
"A Vision of Possibilities: Merging Clinical and Public Health Perspectives in Ocular Health," Rohit Ramchandani, MPH
"Eye Health Among Internally Displaced Persons in Northern Uganda; Restoring the Lost Hopes," Kenneth Daniel, MD Candidate