The Association for Retinopathy of 
Prematurity and Related Diseases

ROPARD December 2007 News Letter

THE ASSOCIATION FOR RETINOPATHY OF
PREMATURITY AND RELATED DISEASES

Timely Clinical Management Yields Good Vision in Retinopathy of Prematurity
SAVE THE DATE:
The Children’s Vision Award and A Vision of the Future On May 31, 2008, ROPARD will honor Dr. Mark
Humayun with the Children’s Vision Award for his research in developing a retinal prosthesis
and his devotion to helping the blind to see. The award ceremony and dinner will take place at
the Rivera Court in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan. Dinner will be followed by an
extraordinary presentation by Ray Kurzweil— inventor, entrepreneur, visionary, futurist, philosopher,
and author. Appearing as a hologram, Mr. Kurzweil will show how technology’s accelerating power will
transform us and he will provide us with his “Vision of the Future.”

Artificial Vision For many years, several investigators have been working on techniques that use
sophisticated information technology, such as microchip technology, to create a visual
precept for people who have been blinded specifically by retinitis pigmentosa. Commonly
in retinitis pigmentosa, the outer retina does not function, but the inner retina does.
This feature is also common to other forms of retinal disease, such as retinopathy of
prematurity, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, retinoschisis, congenital retinoschisis,
macular degeneration, and other forms of retinal dystrophies. To generate such a visual
precept, a small camera is connected to a microchip device implanted on the front aspect
of the retina.The microchip stimulates the inner retina with a small electrical impulse that
sends a patterned message to the brain.The brain interprets the impulse as the object
viewed by the camera.

This design has been pursued by many investigators around the world. Much of the work
has been done by Dr. Mark Humayun, who will be the 2008 recipient of the ROPARD
Children’s Vision Award. Other techniques to achieve artificial vision have also been
explored, one of which has been advocated by Ray Kurzweil, who will be featured at
the dinner for the 2008 Children Vision Award event on May 31, 2008. Mr. Kurzweil
is a futurist and will be attending the dinner and making his presentation in the form
of a hologram. Following Mr. Kurzweil’s comments, he and Dr Humayun will discuss
artificial vision and take questions from the audience. It is heartening to see that so many
researchers are now focusing on techniques that may be able to enhance visual function
for patients with low or no vision.

Vision is a function of the brain, with the eye supplying information and the brain
processing it into a form that can be used for visual
function. This has many implications when applied to a
child, who may have had only a few weeks or no period
of vision prior to visual loss, as compared to an adult,
who understood visual function prior to visual loss. It
may be that children who have lost vision prior to any
significant visual experience will need to be educated in
terms of interpretation of visual precepts. These issues
will need to be dealt with as the technology evolves, and
they will provide significant challenges, but the degree of
success to date is extremely encouraging.
Holiday Cards


ROPARD is an association dedicated to eliminating the problems of low vision and blindness
in children caused by premature birth and retinal diseases.

Your Donation Can Make a Difference!!!


Susan Campbell,

Show your concern for this cause by donating to:

Editor

ROPARD, P.O. Box 250425, Franklin, Michigan 48025

Paula Korelitz,

Website Administrator

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Should you have any

Address

questions regarding
this issue, please

contact ROPARD at
1-800-788-2020
or visit our website at

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For further information, please call

http://www.ropard.org
or e-mail us at

1-800-788-2020

ropard@yahoo.com

Your tax-deductible contribution will be used to support the
highest levels of clinically relevant research.


Yael Helena Korc

Yael was born, rosy and kicking, in Lima, Perú on New
Year’s Eve 2002, fifteen weeks early. Being the youngest
and lightest preemie ever born in that clinic, at 740
grams (1.63 lb) it was as monumental an event for the
hospital as it was for her parents, Rebecca and Marcelo
Korc.

It was fortunate
that Lima had an
ophthalmologist
experienced in ROP.
Yael had hemorrhages
in her retinas from
birth. At six weeks,
the disease had
progressed to stage
3 plus. The doctor
performed laser
surgery; two months
later placed scleral
buckles, and a year
later recommended that Yael see Dr Trese. Even though
Yael’s ROP had progressed to stage 5, the vitrectomies
performed by Dr.Trese were necessary in preserving
her eye health. Since then, the Korcs make the trip to
Detroit twice a year. In addition to eye checkups, they
visit The Children’s Low Vision Resource Center, where
they stock up on advice, assurances and support from
Paula Korelitz.


Yael has light perception and projection and exhibits
some visually oriented mobility. However, she shows
a much stronger preference for her other senses. She
touches anything and everything—to feel more—to hear

more. She loves to examine everyone up close, hugging
and kissing kids and adults alike. Her family hopes that
the strength and affection that flows through Yael will
break down any barriers that she may confront.

Fiercely independent,Yael began walking at age two
using a bamboo cane. Now at age four, she can go
up and down steps unassisted, dress herself with
some assistance and get around home and school
independently. She attends a regular preschool with
kids her own age. She wants to learn everything, having
a sense of logic that goes well beyond her years. She is
fluent in English and Spanish and changes languages when
she needs to. She is excited to be learning Braille. Yael
takes yoga, swimming and music classes and she helps in
the kitchen. She adores animals, talking to her grandma
on the phone, playing with her baby brother, Itai and her
sister, Noa. Everyone is extremely proud of Yael.

A Vision of the Future 2008
Pediatric and Adult Retina Update

Sponsored by ROPARD and Associated Retinal
Consultants, A Vision of the Future, 2008: A
Pediatric and Adult Retina Update will take
place in May 2008 at the Dearborn Inn in Dearborn,
Michigan. The Pediatric Retina Meeting, on Friday,
May 30, 2008, will be led by ROPARD Lecturer, Dr. Mark
Humayun. Guest faculty also includes: Dr. David Coats
and Dr.William Good. The Adult Retina Meeting
takes place on Saturday, May 31, 2008. Dr.Andrew P.
Schachat is the Nachazel Lecturer.

Faculty from Associated Retinal Consultants will attend
both meetings and will include Dr.Thomas M.Aaberg,
Dr.Antonio Capone, Jr., Dr.A. Bawa Dass, Dr. Kimberly
Drenser, Dr. Bruce R. Garretson, Dr.Tarek S. Hassan,
Dr.Alan R. Margherio, Dr.Amy S. Noffke, Dr. Paul V.
Raphaelian, Dr.Alan J. Ruby, Dr. Ramin Sarrafizadeh, Dr.
Michael T.Trese, Dr. George A.Williams and Dr. Sunita
Yedavally.

The Scientific Program will be followed on May 31, 2008
by The Children’s Vision Award dinner at the Detroit
Institute of Arts.

Register on line at www.beaumont.edu for the
Scientific program and at www.ropard.org for the
dinner and presentation.

Recipient of 2008 Children’s Vision
Award: Mark Humayun, MD, PhD

ROPARD is honored to present Dr. Mark Humayun
with the Children’s Vision Award for his work to develop
a system for artificial vision.
Dr. Humayun
is Professor of
Ophthalmology at
the Keck School
of Medicine and
Associate Director
of Research at
the Doheny
Eye Institute at
the University
of Southern
California. He
holds a PhD in
Biomedical Engineering. His clinical interests include
macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal
detachment and retinal vascular occlusive disease. His
research interests include: electrical stimulation of
the retina, retinal prosthesis, retinal disease, retinal
transplantation and instrumentation for vitreoretinal
surgery.


Dr. Humayun combines knowledge of the visual systems
of the eye with advanced electronics and engineering
to implant a retinal prostheses which takes the place
of retinal cells damaged by disease. He leads a team
of researchers currently refining both materials and
techniques to move toward a clinical application that can
be made more widely available. In 2005, R&D Magazine
named Dr. Humayun “Innovator of the Year” for his work
on retinal implants.

Fundraising in Ohio and Michigan


Ray Kurzweil and A Vision of the
Future

Internationally
renowned futurist
Ray Kurzweil will
present his views on
the future of vision
at the ROPARD
Children’s Vision
Award celebration. He
will appear as a fully
interactive hologram.

Ray Kurzweil is the
consummate Renaissance man—author, scientist,
entrepreneur and inventor. In his three bestselling books
he makes out-of-this-world predictions based on the
explosive growth of real-world technology. The amazing
accuracy of his predictions has established his credibility
as a futurist.


Three common threads unite many of Mr. Kurzweil’s
inventions: pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and
commercial practicality. His interest in and development
of optical character recognition technologies ultimately
led to speech recognition programs which made the
“Blind Reader” of 2005 possible—a device he predicted
in 1990. A meeting with Stevie Wonder inspired him to
create a new generation of music synthesizers (Kurzweil
Music Systems). Other programs can be used to train
physicians, poets and graphic artists. Nanotechnology,
in his view, has the potential to solve both global
environmental problems and to transform the way we
treat disease.

In Ohio, the Trinity Rose Foundation held its second golf outing on September 17, 2007 at Cherokee Hills Golf Club
at Valley City. The Foundation was set up to provide financial assistance to individuals with eye disorders and their
families and to support innovative research and medical advances focused on curing childhood eye disorders. The
2007 recipients are Kelsey Nicolay and David Ziegler both of Medina Ohio and Raina Grace. ROPARD was honored
to receive the medical research grant.

The seventh annual 12 pack open golf outing on May 19, 2007 at Antrim Dells in Atwood, Michigan was another
success. The weather was a little cool but the rain held off and by the end of the day it was sunny. As always
everyone who attended had a great time and promised to return next year. Players from all over the state
participated with donations from as far away as England.