Optometry Graduation Day23 students of the 2008 batch graduated as Bachelors of Science (Optometry) at the 9th convocation of LVPEI’s Bausch & Lomb School of Optometry (BLSO) on 30 October 2012. Mr Bandela Praveen Kumar won the Prof T Navaneeth Rao Gold Medal for best outgoing student. Ms Peguda Rajini received a certificate for securing the highest marks.

6 year old inspires6-year-old Neeraj Konda brightened young Praveen’s life this Diwali. Along with his friends Dhruv and Sai, he raised money by selling lemonade in their neighborhood to sponsor a 4X monocular handheld telescope for Praveen, a grade 3 student and a patient with LVPEI’s Centre for Sight Enhancement, who had pigmentosa with maculopathy, and whose agriculturist father Mr Veeraiah couldn’t afford the device crucial for Praveen’s academic pursuits. Neeraj’s inspiration came from his dad Mr Nagaraju Konda, a PhD student at the Brien Holden Vision Institute in Australia.

Wellcome Trust - LVPEI joint workshopLVPEI collaborated with Wellcome Trust, London, UK, for a two-day workshop Overcoming Boundaries: A Common Vision for Translational Eye Research, during October 31- November 2, 2012. The 50 representatives attending included Dr Diana Tay (who manages the R&D Affordable Healthcare in India scheme), Dr Ted Bianco (Director,

Technology Development, Wellcome Trust), Dr Shirshendu Mukherjee (Senior Strategic Advisor for implementing R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India) and Ms Saharla Ahmed (Manager for several Technology Transfer’s funded projects of the Trust).

The topics ranged from developing affordable medicines, new diagnostic and vision enhancing devices, clinical trials and gene therapy, stem cell applications in corneal repairs and in glaucoma, and the audacious goal of transplanting an entire eye ball! Focus group discussions were held on (a) enabling technologies to address the unmet needs in eye health, (b) assistive tool for the visually challenged, technology and tools for screening and diagnosing eye diseases, (c) science behind the art of vision restoration and (d) paradigm shifts in the way we look at eye care both research wise and translational wise. The sidelights included a tour of LVPEI’s Village Vision Complex at Thoodukurthy.

Awards & HonoursAditi Pujari, oculoplasty fellow, won the Best Video Gold Medal at the annual Oculoplasty Association of India (OPAI) meeting, October 26-28, 2012. Co-author: Mohammad Javed Ali.

Dr Aditi Watve won the Best Video award for her submission at the Oculoplasty Association of India (OPAI) meet in Amritsar.

LVPEI won two Best Poster awards at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting in Chicago. The first was by Pravin K Vaddavalli, co-authored by his collaborators at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, while the second was by Jatin N Ashar (co-authors: Pravin K Vaddavalli, Muralidhar Ramappa, Sunita Chaurasia and Somasheila Murthy).

Dr Mohammad Javed Ali won the Raghavachary Medal for his paper at the Andhra Pradesh Ophthalmological Society (APOS) meeting.

Dr Mohammad Javed Ali was awarded the Healthcare Leadership Award for research and innovation in Dacryology by KRDWG a national NGO in Delhi.

Alumnus Nagaraju Konda, research optometrist, University of New South Wales, won the Grand Prize in Ocular Photography, at the American Academy of Optometry in Phoenix, October 23-27, 2012.

Foundation DayThe 26th Foundation Day on October 17, 2012, was celebrated with verve. It was marked by a variety of cultural programs by staff and students, prizes distributed for the fortnight-long sports activities, and commendation certificates to the staff completing 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5 years of service.Building Community Support

Dr Anil K Mandal organized his hugely popular annual meeting Association of Parents of Children with Glaucoma (APCG) on 19th November. The forum creates an avenue for a parents’ support group, besides raising awareness about this disease with a surgical cure that’s crucially dependent on early intervention.

NEWS @L V Prasad Eye Institute

December 2012

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www.lvpei.orgExcellence Equity Efficiency

Bottom to top, left to right – Praveen, Neeraj, Sai, Dhruv, Nagaraju Konda, Veeraiah and Dhruv’s grandfather at their get-together on November 10, 2012

Mobility and Sensory Stimulation ParkLVPEI’s Rehabilitation Centres set up a ‘Mobility and Sensory Stimulation Park’ model at the Microsoft Corporate Office in Hyderabad from 10th to 12th October, 2012, as part of Microsoft’s “Giving Campaign”. The objective was to build awareness among visitors by giving them a sense of visual impairment.

Alumnus Dr Ramesh Murthy won the Bell Pharma Award for Innovation in Eye Surgery at ‘Moscon’ Maharashtra Ophthalmological Society meeting at Mahabaleshwar, October 12-14, 2012.

L V PRASAD EYE INSTITUTE Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad Tel: 91 040 30612020City Centre: 91 40 39171600/39171601Extension: 91 40 30484669/30484670E-mail: info.hyd@lvpei.org

Patia, Bhubaneswar, OrissaTel: 91 0674 3989202E-mail: info.bbsr@lvpei.org

GMR Varalakshmi Campus, VisakhapatnamTel: 91 0891 39892020City Centre: 0891 3016380/3016385E-mail: info.vizag@lvpei.org

Kode Venkatadri Chowdary CampusTadigadapa, VijayawadaTel: 91 0866 3062020City Centre: 0866 3064740/41E-mail: KVC-appointment@lvpei.org

Chirpy little two-year-old Rujul Vaibhav from Mumbai was brought to LVPEI Hyderabad by her mother Kavita as a last resort. Born with corneal opacity, Rujul had already been through three unsuccessful cornea transplantations in Mumbai.

A multispecialty team examined Rujul’s case. Dr Prashant Garg treated her for microbial infection on her first visit on 27 April 2012.; Dr Muralidhar Ramappa referred her to Dr Anil K Mandal for secondary glaucoma; and Dr Virender Sangwan suggested to Dr Bhupesh Bagga that she might respond well to Boston Keratoprosthesis (Boston KPro), an advanced treatment option when corneal transplantation fails. The institute also decided to waive off all medical expenses for the family.

Dr Bhupesh Bagga performed the intricate surgery. Amazingly, little Rujul went through each of her surgeries without crying. She also began to see immediately after the Boston KPro surgery in which an artificial cornea is implanted in her eye, one guaranteed never to become opaque. With a wee bit of vision restored, little Rujul immediately learned to walk, run and climb and respond well to other stimulating activities.

There was a lot of excitement with friends and family calling in now that the baby who was blind at birth had begun to see! In the last four months, Rujul has begun recognizing shapes around her and also on television. She excitedly points to her Mother’s reflection in the mirror, and moves around her home independently. Now Kavita is convinced that only good things will happen for little Rujul.

By M Shobha

Visitors BookDear Team at LVPEI,

I have decided to contribute in whatever small way I can, to say THANK YOU to LVPEI on behalf of so many who will benefit from LVPEI’s work. I have consulted some wonderful doctors and wish to donate a small amount in their name. Dr Subhadra is such a wonderful person and I was moved by her helping nature.

November 3, 2012 Manas Ranjan Nayak

Respected Sir (Dr Sangwan),

My stay at LVPEI Hyderabad for a month has brought about a sea change in me. I am more confident now, and have fallen in love with the subject. My approach to a patient is much more organized; I feel there is so much to do to provide quality eye care to a patient. I am grateful to LVPEI for instilling discipline in me and my sincere gratitude to you for being my Guru and Mentor!

October 30, 2012 Swarnima Basu (Short-term trainee, 1st year PG student, Jharkhand)

@ GMR Varalakshmi campus, Visakhapatnam

@ Kode Venkatadri Chowdary campus, Vijayawada

@ Bhubaneswar campus, Bhubaneswar

Patient Story

Our Support in November

An Amblyopia Clinic was launched at the City Centre branch on the occasion of Children’s Day. It was inaugurated by the Collector of Visakhapatnam, Mr V Seshadri on November 15.

An Illuminated Vision Self Test Chart designed in-house, enabled eye screening of school children to identify cases for early intervention. Financial support for this initiative was courtesy Mr O Naresh Kumar, CEO, Symbiosis Technologies.

125 primary school teachers participated in a Teacher Training Program starting November 1st to help with early detection of eye problems in school children. Mrs. G Rekha, pediatric optometrist, conducted the classes at various schools.

Free Screening for about 500 children was conducted on November 18th at the City Centre branch and at Jawahar Navodaya School.

The following activities were conducted as part of Children’s Eye Care Week, November 14 – 20, 2012.

Parents Support Group meeting for squint: This was a morale-booster for parents in managing their children with squint.

Special school screening: So what was different? This time, it was for the differently abled children – 175 of them – all screened during the course of the week. The

team had an Optometrist, a Rehab specialist, a Vision Technician and a Community Health Worker.

Street plays to raise eye health awareness: Scripts written especially to dispel myths about squint and cataract surgery, and a professional street theatre troupe enacting it in various parts of the city to deliver the key messages. Of course the audience took the message home!

Hands on workshop for Pediatrics postgraduates: Who better to deliver the message on children’s eye care than pediatricians? A workshop was held to sensitize them about their role and equip them with necessary skills such as performing a red reflex test, Hirschberg’s test and a basic torch light eye examination.

Painting competition: 45 schools submitted 1200 entries on a relevant eye health related topic for three categories of contestants: junior, senior and differently abled. But all were winners, nevertheless!

Child Eye Care Helpline: Inaugurated to provide 24X7 telephone helpline services to parents for queries related to children’s eye care.

Rajul with Kavita

The Twin Cities Clinico-Pathological Meet on 15th November discussed Challenges in Diagnoses of Ocular Adnexal Lymphoma. Prof Valerie White from University of British Columbia, Vancouver, was the faculty. It was well attended by Pathology Department representatives of all medical colleges in Odisha.

Prof Valerie White adopting a tree in the LVPEI garden

BhubaneswarDr Sanghamitra DashDr Devendranath DasMr K C MohantyMs Kirteemayee RoulMr Swachha Sisir SamantarayMr T Suresh Ku Rao

BellaryMr Y Mahabaleswarappa HyderabadSree SareesMs Harini VenkateshMr P Visheshwar RaoMr A Satyanarayana MurthyMr Rajan Mani

Mr P Kuppuswamy SaiprasadMr Ghanshyam SwarupMs K NukeshwariMs Leele SankaKolkataDr Monimoy GhoshMr Barun lamMr Satya Nam Baksh Singh

KhammamMr Dronamraju China Kameswar RaoKarimnagarMs Kola LavanyaMr Kola Anna ReddyMangaloreDr B Rekha

NigeriaDr Bade OgundipePuneMrs Marina Bijoy

USAMs Mahita