Webinar Series 1. Vision
Introduction
Somayeh Heidarzadeh
Speaker 1 (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A)
Topic: The Eye and COVID-19
Synopsis: The novel corona virus behind the pandemic causes repiratory illness called
COVID-19. In upcoming webinar at VSA, I am going to briefly talk about the symptoms of
COVID-19 and the impact of it on the eye.
Speaker’s Bio: Somayeh obtained a Master in Optometry degree in 2010 from Bharati
Vidyapeeth University. She has been involved in ophthalmic clinical research since
2011. Somayeh was a Senior Faculty at Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra State Open
University in 2009 and a visiting faculty in health science department at Tilak
Maharashtra University in 2008. She was a full-time optometrist at Farabi Eye Hospital,
Tehran, Iran from 2013 to 2017. Somayeh has conducted several academic lectures in
ophthalmic nursing and progressive addition lenses for resident ophthalmologist’s at
Farabi Eye Hospital in Iran.
Speaker 2 (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A)
Topic: Concussions: An optometric approach
Synopsis: Concussions are a major public concern with a higher incidence rate. Evidence suggests that there are ocular and non-ocular consequences following a concussion. This talk will mainly cover the optometrist role in assessing such cases.
Speaker’s Bio: Pritam completed Bachelor’s in Optometry from Ridley College of
Optometry, Assam in 2013 and Masters in Optometry from Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai in 2019 and is currently working as a Lecturer at Ridley College of Optometry, Assam. He was recently recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO) in October 2020. His research interests include areas such as Visual Psychophysics, Binocular vision, and Neurorehabilitation.
Pritam Dutta
Marietjie Cilliers
Speaker 3 – Guest Speaker (20 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A)
Topic: Primary eye care’s essential role in the dry eye surge.
Synopsis: There have been many webinars and discussions about dry eye, and yet so few eye care providers spend the necessary time diagnosing and managing it properly.
And now, with an exponential increase in electronic device usage it can be expected that it will have an effect on our ocular surface health.
How big is this effect and are we looking for it in the right places?
In this webinar, I will show you what the newest research has revealed and what I believe the eye care provider’s essential role is.
Speaker’s Bio: Marietjie completed her bachelor’s degree in Optometry in 2008 at the
University of Durban Westville, South Africa. At the end of 2012 she completed her post
graduate diploma in diagnostics and advanced contact lenses (CAS) through NECO, USA and in October of 2017 she completed her post graduate certificate in Ocular Therapeutics (PGCOT) through SUNY, USA. She is now licensed to use and prescribe ocular therapeutic drugs as needed.
She has a special interest in ocular surface disease and pathology, speciality contact lenses and dry eye management.
She is the author of Visionstryt’s Practical Guide to Anterior Segment Conditions, now
available in kindle format on Amazon.
She has been a speaker at local optometry conferences, Webineyes (Finland) and numerous online webinars across the world.
She is also the founder of Gurumed, a unique and exciting international learning platform
that brings practical eye care training to you. Register for updates on upcoming training at https://mygurumed.com/
Speaker 4 (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A)
Topic: “Drosophila eye – Nature’s humble creation to answer complex questions of human diseases”.
Synopsis: “Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly has proven to be a powerful model
organism that can answer complex questions regarding the human disease pathology,
development and genetic disorders. Interestingly a wide range of human diseases like
neurodegenerative diseases, developmental and genetic disorders as well as cancers can be well modelled and studied by solely employing the eye of Drosophila. The visual system of Drosophila thus provides an elegant and simple platform to understand and find therapeutics to a wide range of complicated human diseases.
Speaker’s Bio: Megha is a doctoral researcher in Department of Zoology, University of Delhi. She is in her final phase of her PhD. Since the past 4.5 years, her research has been focused on cellular and molecular aspects of neurodegenerative diseases particularly Huntington’s disease. For her study, she has been employing transgenic Drosophila as the model system to analyse diverse neuronal and peripheral symptoms of this human disease. More so, several cellular aspects of the disease have been re-established and uncovered using only the Drosophila eye. You will get to know more about the range of complexities of human diseases that can be successfully addressed by this simple and elegant eye of a fruit fly.
Megha Chatterjee
Dr. Mukesh Jha
Speaker 5 (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A)
Topic: Optometry in Nepal
Synopsis: How Optometry started in Nepal, Optometry Association advocacy for
establishment in Nepal, current scenario & practice in Nepal.
Speaker’s Bio: Dr. Mukesh completed Bachelor in Optometry and Vision Science from
University of Technology in 2009. He worked as an Optometrist for one year in Janaki
Medical College in Nepal. He then moved on to pursuing Doctor in Optometry (OD)
from Southwestern University in Philippines. Following to completion of OD, Dr.
Mukesh joined back Janaki Medical College in Nepal and worked for another 2 years
before he moved on to completing Masters in Clinical Optometry from Bharati
Vidyapeeth Deemed University in 2015. He is currently working in Patan Academy of
Health Sciences, Eye department, Patan Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Dr Mukesh is
also running a private practice in Kathmandu from 2015. He is currently the Joint
Secretary of Nepalese Optometry Association and his interests are in academic
development activities.