During the first half of the 20th century, pediatricians generally believed that children's eye problems were largely self-corrective that a child would grow out of his or her crossed eyes or poor vision. But they were wrong.

Unless a vision problem is detected and corrected early, the child will have vision problems in that eye for the rest of his or her life. Subsequent studies have shown that 2% to 5% of preschool children have vision problems, many of them not apparent.

In the late 1940s, a small group of physicians began to recognize this problem. One of them was Dr. Leonard Apt, a pediatrician who spent most of his career at UCLA. "During my pediatric training, I would request a consultation for a baby who was having a vision problem and the ophthalmologists would ask, 'How do you get information from a baby?'" he said. "That's when I realized I could adapt my pediatric techniques to ophthalmology."

PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2013

Apt stepped aside from his pediatric work and learned ophthalmology, becoming the first person to have a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology at the National Institutes of Health and the first physician to be board-certified in both pediatrics and ophthalmology. At UCLA, he established the first division of pediatric ophthalmology at a U.S. medical school and was one of the five founders of the Jules Stein Eye Institute.

Apt died Friday at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center after a brief illness, the university announced. He was 90.

Innovations pioneered by Apt saved the eyesight of hundreds of thousands if not millions of children. "He was truly one of a kind," said his colleague Dr. Sherwin Isenberg of UCLA.

Apt is probably best known for the Apt test, developed while he was a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School in the early 1950s. When a pregnant woman exhibits vaginal bleeding or a newborn infant has bloody stools or vomitus, it is crucial to determine whether the blood belongs to mother or child.

Apt developed a simple test to distinguish between the two types of blood, focusing on hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying portion of blood. Fetal hemoglobin has a slightly different composition than that of adult hemoglobin and is substantially more resistant to degradation by a base, such as sodium hydroxide.

The Apt test involves isolating hemoglobin from a small amount of blood, then exposing it to sodium hydroxide and examining it under a microscope. If the hemoglobin then appears pinkish, it is from the fetus; if it is yellowish-brown, it is from the mother. The Apt test "was a major breakthrough," Isenberg said. It is still widely used, but it is being supplanted by a newer test that determines proportions of fetal and maternal blood.

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Leonard Apt dies; UCLA pediatric ophthalmologist was 90

''Reinvent Yourself!'' That's the title of one issue of the Alumni Magazine of one of the best business schools in the world, the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. I was fortunate to have been closely associated with the professors of this business school, which year in and year out appears among the top five to ten business schools in the world in listings of the The Economist, the Financial Times, Bloomberg and other business publications. The good news is that many of the top professors of IESE will be teaching in an Advanced Management Program (AMP) that is specifically tailored to the needs of top executives who will be at the forefront of the ASEAN Economic Community that will come to its own in the next twenty years. The message that the IESE professors are sending about reinventing oneself is especially relevant to Filipino entrepreneurs and corporate executives who will still be actively involved in business in the next ten to twenty years during which the Philippines will finally be one of the fastest growing economies in the Asia Pacific region, thanks to its educated, young and growing population.

If you are a businessman in your forties and have been operating in the Philippine business environment over the last ten to fifteen years, during which our country still had the reputation of being the ''sick man of Asia,'' you could have developed a mind-set and business practices that will be most probably unsuited to the ''breakout nation'' or ''tiger economy'' that the Philippines is expected to be in the next decade or so. One of the professors of IESE with whom I worked, Mike Rosenberg, said something especially relevant to the circumstances that Filipino businessmen are facing today: ''Too many companies pretend that tomorrow is going to be the same as today. But we know that tomorrow will be different.'' For example, it would be unwise for business people in their forties to assume that the trend towards the demise of most manufacturing activities that resulted from failed industrialization polices of the last century and the increasing service-orientation of the Philippine economy are a foregone conclusion. On the contrary, manufacturing is making a strong comeback in the Philippines because of the acute labor shortages being experienced by Northeast Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and even China, thanks to its one-child policy. Ask PEZA Director Lilia de Lima, the longest staying and most valuable government official in the field of industrialization. After literally dozens of trips to Japan, she has been receiving scores of requests for more space in our export processing and other industrial zones. That is why she is asking developers of industrial zones to expand their operations and to be much more active in helping TESDA and other private technical schools to increase significantly the pool of electro-mechanical workers and other skilled technicians that will be in great demand.

IESE professors like Mike Rosenberg, Carlos Cavalle, Bruno Cassiman, and Pankaj Ghemawat are experts in helping experienced business people to reinvent themselves. They are constantly issuing the following reminder: ''Necessity is the mother of invention and reinvention, and it was necessity that drove Apple to reinvent itself from a struggling computer concern to become the world's coolest brand. The companies that have successfully reinvented themselves - Dell, Apple, Cisco, IBM, 3M, Philips - have done so because they haven't let the grass grow beneath their feet, whereas the tens of thousands of businesses that failed to read the writing on the wall are both gone and forgotten. Revolutions tend to be led by visionary individuals, and the same is true when it comes to innovative companies, witness Steve Jobs at Apple and John Chambers at Cisco, for example.''

Reinvention applies both to the company and to the individual. I would like to see many Filipino professionals in such traditional fields as law, medicine, engineering, accounting and architecture, for example, venturing into the sunrise industries of agribusiness, tourism, knowledge process outsourcing, fashion and furniture, entertainment and health care. As the IESE professors advised their students and alumni: ''The pace of change means that individuals, too, have to be prepared to make a radical shift at least once in their career. Career makeovers are commonplace among politicians. Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger both started out as actors; Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, trained as a physicist while Margaret Thatcher was a chemist. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, studied architecture before going on to a course in political science It is hardly surprising that the United States, where individualism and the idea of starting anew is built into the national DNA, is the cradle of reinvention. The lawyer John Grisham became a best-selling novelist, disgraced junk-bond dealer Michael Milken remade himself as a respected philanthropist, and when HIV forced Magic Johnson to quit basketball he went on to become an even more successful entrepreneur. F. Scott Fitzgerald said there is no second act in American lives--but he couldn't have been more wrong.''

An outstanding example of reinvention is Evgeny Kaganer, a Russian professor who teaches technology to MBA students at IESE. According to him, he has changed his career path several times: ''The question is, did I do it because I'm that kind of person or because of the circumstances I found myself in?... I finished medical school but I started working in financial services in my third year. I knew that I would not become a practising physician. A large number of people in the Soviet Union suddenly found they could no longer do what they'd been doing, and a lot were unable to make the transition.'' He does not claim that it is easy to prepare individuals for change. It is a matter of opening the eyes of people to the vast opportunities they can find in the business environment: ''Our approach at IESE is to point out different options. We try to make people understand that uncertainty exists. When you come to a business school where there are people from many different cultures and no single culture dominates, that forces you to reassess the norms you carry with you from home. We can't teach this but we can create an environment where people learn that diversity and uncertainty exist and about the different ways in which they can handle issues. I think business schools are doing a better job on this front than medical or law schools, maybe because we don't have such specialized content to teach, so we focus more on soft skills.''

Owners of business (especially family enterprises), CEOs and senior executives of large and medium-scale corporations and budding entrepreneurs are invited to seriously consider taking the Advanced Management Program (AMP) being offered by the University of Asia and the Pacific in tandem with IESE professors The first offering is already ongoing with some twenty top executives coming from the Philippines and Indonesia. Coming from diverse sectors like construction and real estate, investment banking, infrastructures, agribusiness, garments, entertainment, insurance, executive search, management consulting, retailing, tourism and energy, the participants for the next six months will be taking a close look at themselves and their organizations as well as the business environment in the whole Southeast Asian region with the objective of reinventing themselves and their organizations to take full advantage of the transformation of the Philippine economy from the ''sick man of Asia'' to the new Asian tiger. The next offering will be in September 2013. Those interested may get in touch with email address amp@uap.asia or 63 2 637 0912, loc. 207. For comments, my email address is bernardo.villegas@uap.asia.

Originally posted here:
Reinvent Yourself

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) If colleges were automobiles, the University of Texas at Austin would be a Cadillac: a famous brand, a powerful engine of research and teaching, handsome in appearance. Even the price is comparable: Like one of the luxury car's models, in-state tuition for a four-year degree runs about $40,000.

But in an era of budget-cutting and soaring tuition, is there still a place for "Cadillacs" elite, public research institutions like Texas, Michigan, California-Berkeley and Virginia that try to compete with the world's best? Or should the focus be on more affordable and efficient options, like the old Chevrolet Bel Air?

It's the central question in a pointed clash of cultures in higher education. And when Gene Powell the former UT football player and San Antonio real estate developer who chairs the Texas board of regents raised it with precisely that automotive comparison, reaction was swift and angry.

Convinced the state board was hell-bent on turning their beloved "university of the first class" required by the Texas constitution into a downmarket trade school, faculty, students and alumni have rallied behind campus president Bill Powers in protest.

Powell insists he wants UT-Austin to be great but also accessible, and for students to have options. Republican Gov. Rick Perry and many of the reform-minded regents he's appointed have made clear they think UT's quest for global prestige has produced too much ivory-tower research, and too little focus on teaching and keeping college affordable for Texans.

In Perry's push for accountability and productivity, many here see something nefarious: a campaign, rooted in a longstanding anti-intellectual strain of Texas politics, to gut a university that shouldn't have to apologize for being "elite."

"I just don't understand why they want to dumb down a public institution of this magnitude," said Machree Gibson, chairman of the Texas Exes, UT's powerful and independent 99,000 member alumni society, which has pushed back.

With Perry due to appoint three new regents this month, the fight is set to flare up again. But the debate is bigger even than Texas.

Like-minded governors in Florida, Wisconsin and elsewhere are watching how Perry and his allies fare. Unusually, it's political conservatives who are the radical reformers, and their opponents the ones digging in to resist upending well-established institutions.

Along the way, career casualties are piling up. Over the last 18 months, presidents of 11 of the 35 leading public research universities have quit or been fired. That doesn't include the University of Virginia, where a reform-minded board fired President Teresa Sullivan, only to reinstate her two weeks later after a faculty revolt.

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Texas fight highlights higher ed culture clash

It was early 1964 when Lois Schoemehl enrolled at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. It was an unlikely landing spot for someone who'd just six months earlier passed up Washington University in favor of a smaller private college in Springfield.

The fledgling UMSL was just a few years removed from its life as the Bellerive Country Club golf course. The school touted a small selection of degrees, 26 faculty members, fewer than 700 students and a single building.

But Schoemehl, then 18, was a refugee of sorts. She'd started her college life at Drury College only to realize she wasn't ready to be so far from St. Louis.

It was in the fall that John Kennedy was assassinated, Schoemehl said. I just wanted to be home.

So she parked herself at UMSL, thinking she'd stay for a semester and then switch to Washington U. to start her sophomore year.

But she quickly became attached to the makeshift school.

The book, The Emerging University by former UMSL Chancellor Blanche Touhill describes the early years encountered by Schoemehl and her classmates.

Classrooms and office spaces were carved here and there out of the golf course's former club house. A ballroom dance floor was covered with carpet and converted to a library, featuring a meager offering of some 3,000 books. A cafeteria in the basement was lined with vending machines along the walls. Off to one side, a cold-storage room was converted to a conference room. Tennis courts and volleyball courts sat off in the distance.

The first-floor hallway was lined with hooks, for students to store their jackets and lunch bags. Faculty offices had steam pipes overhead. One still had the drain left from its days as a shower stall.

Schoemehl, who would later serve as the school's first alumni association director, remembers the quirkiness of those early days: One classroom had a fireplace and french doors.

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From country club to university, UMSL marks a milestone

The Jackson High School Alumni Association has announced four new members for the Wall of Fame, class of 2012. The official induction will take place at the Jackson vs. Akron Garfield basketball game Feb. 16.

In the early 1970s, inductees honored in the Jackson High School Hall of Fame were outstanding football players. The award ceremony was set up by then-head football coach Jim Laut. Poster-size photos of the members were displayed on a wall in the high school. When Laut left Jackson, then-athletic director Bill Dessecker organized a formal election committee. The committee set up guidelines and opened elections to all athletes, both male and female.

Inactive for several years, the Jackson High School Alumni Association, with the cooperation of JHS administration, assumed responsibilities in 2002 and renamed the honor The Wall of Fame. The original pictures have been replaced with individual plaques with the inductees photo and the alumni association logo and slogan, Once a Bear, always a Bear.

New guidelines and categories were established that, in addition to outstanding athleticism, now include Community Contribution, Education, Professional Accomplishments, Political Leadership and Humanitarian Contributions.

The class of 2012 Jackson Wall of Fame members are detailed below.

Glen (Butch) Lanzer- Athlete, Class of 1971

During his high school career, Glen Lanzer received nine varsity letters: three football, two basketball and four baseball. He was 1st Team Federal League in 1969 and 1970 in football. He was awarded 1st Team All-Stark County and 3rd Team All-District in 1969 in football and also was named to the All-Federal League Team in basketball and baseball during the 1970-71 seasons.

After high school, Lanzer entered the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Aviation training program. After graduating in 1976, he was designated a naval aviator and flew the A-4 Skylark and A-6 Intruder. He also was an instructor pilot for both aircrafts. Lanzer retired as a lieutenant commander in March 1987 and started a new career in 1987 as a pilot for Delta Airlines. He retired as a captain in 2005.

Lanzer resides in Texas with his wife, Tammy, and their three sons, Glen III, and Tanner,

Taylor, and grandson Tanner (Ayden). He enjoys spending time with his family.

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JHS Alumni Association inducts new Wall of Fame members

Gift establishes "The Perlman Prize" and operational support for the Wharton Business Plan Competition

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) January 31, 2013

The Wharton Business Plan Competition is an ongoing seven-month platform that helps student entrepreneurs to launch new business ideas. Created in 1998, the four phase process is open to all University of Pennsylvania students, who receive feedback and guidance on their entrepreneurial plans from Wharton faculty, Penn alumni, and industry professionals serving as judges, mentors, and workshop presenters. The Competition awards more than $100,000 in cash and prizes to participants, which helps them to jumpstart their ventures, and each year approximately 400 students and 250 judges become involved. The top eight teams compete in the Venture Finals, where they present their ideas live in front of a judging panel. The Perlman Prize will be awarded to the students whose business plan is judged at the Finals to have the greatest potential, and carries a total winnings purse of $45,000.

Wharton School Dean Thomas S. Robertson said, Wharton is honored to have the support of Ellen and Richard Perlman, whose transformative contribution will help to grow and secure the long-term vitality of the Wharton Business Plan Competition. This exciting program has proven itself to be an invaluable asset for Penns aspiring entrepreneurs, and by helping them to develop their ideas into successful endeavors, the Competition benefits the broader landscape of global business.

The Perlmans contribution represents the largest endowed gift to the Wharton Business Plan Competition and, as such, will provide continuing funding in perpetuity. Entrepreneurship is in the Perlman DNA, says Richard Perlman. From my father Abrahams main street Five and Dime to my son Andrews company, VRINGO, we have created and built businesses of which our family is proud. Ellen and I are extremely excited about the opportunity to support Whartons program to teach and encourage Americas future entrepreneurs.

Perlman received his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School in 1968, and also holds an MBA from the Columbia Graduate School of Business. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of the Board for ExamWorks Group, Inc., which he co-founded in 2008, the leading global provider of independent medical examinations, peer reviews, and bill reviews. Previously, since 1998, Perlman served as Executive Chairman of TurboChef Technologies, Inc., PracticeWorks, Inc., and VitalWorks, Inc., of which he acquired control or co-founded and subsequently sold. In addition, Perlman is Founder and President of Compass Partners, LLC, a financial advisory and merchant banking firm specializing in middle market companies, which he established in 1995.

Past Wharton Business Plan Competition Participants

Over the years, the Wharton Business Plan Competition has seen numerous student teams go on to build successful businesses. Last years grand prize winner, RightCare Solutions, closed a series A round in October. Winners from the 2010-2011Competition, Stylitics and baby.com.br, have closed various funding rounds and received extensive media coverage. A notable semi-finalist from the 2009 Competition is Warby Parker, which continues to diversify the eyeglass industry with their one-price, online only, fashionable eye glass brand with a social mission to give a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair sold. PetPlan USA, BuySafe and Innova Dynamics have also gone on to great success by building upon their foundations through participation in the Wharton Business Plan Competition.

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates ongoing economic and social value around the world. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and a powerful alumni network of 91,000 graduates.

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The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Announces $1.65 Million Contribution from Ellen Hanson Perlman ...

OAKLAND -- Dr. Joyce Boykin was born in Oakland, raised in Berkeley and was the first African American student to attend the Anna Head School for Girls, now known as Head-Royce.

"My mother said she'd seen a notice about admission to Anna Head placed in the UC Berkeley alumni magazine," said Boykin, who attended the school from first through 12th grade and graduated in the class of 1968. "Although my parents were not educators, they saw the big picture and knew that a good education would be essential for one to succeed in life."

Boykin went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California and a master's in public health from UCLA. After receiving her doctorate from Tufts Medical School in Boston, she returned to Southern California -- "which I love" -- and practiced as a general internist for 30 years until her retirement. She still lives there with her daughter, Lauren, and grandson, Dominik.

Boykin said her experience at Anna Head was generally good. As kids do, she remembers the small things, like the 10:30 a.m. snack period, which Boykin thinks was pretty innovative for the time.

"The bell would ring, and all the students from upper and lower classes would gather 'round the table for snack -- usually cookies and apple juice."

On the other hand, she recalled that some students were "racially intolerant."

"At times, it did not feel inclusive due to my race," Boykin said. "Occasionally, I would

However, she recalls, not all the families were intolerant and she was invited to other classmates' birthday parties and sleepovers.

"One of my classmates had an extra ticket to see the Beatles and invited me to go," Boykin said.

To be transitioning between white and African American cultures was a unique experience, Boykin recalled. During the week, she was attending an all-white girls' school, yet she would often visit her godmother in an all-black, working-class neighborhood in West Oakland, where she also attended church.

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Boykin was pioneer at Oakland's Anna Head

Whether it be improving the welfare of veterans and medical education in Vietnam, service to the judiciary, improvements to our approaches in medicine or accomplishments on the sporting field University of Sydney staff and alumni have a diverse impact on Australian society.

The University extends warm congratulations to those who have passed through its doors and those still with us, whose contribution to Australia has been recognised in this year's Australia Day Honours.

We offer particular congratulations to University alumnus, The Hon Tom Uren, who has been named Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia, the highest honour bestowed. Uren was named: "For eminent service to the community, particularly through contributions to the welfare of veterans, improved medical education in Vietnam and the preservation of sites of heritage and environmental significance."

This year's honours include:

The Honourable Justice James Leslie Allsop a graduate of the University who, in addition to his extensive legal accomplishments, has been a part-time lecturer in the University's Faculty of Law since 1981.

"For distinguished service to the judiciary and the law, as a judge, through reforms to equity and access, and through contributions to the administration of maritime law and legal education."

Ms Lynelle Jann Briggs, a graduate and former CEO of Medicare Australia from 2009-2011.

"For distinguished service to public administration, particularly through leadership in the development of public service performance and professionalism."

Mr Paul William Dyer, an alumni affiliate who founded the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and served as its Artistic Director.

"For distinguished service to the performing arts, particularly orchestral music as a director, conductor and musician, through the promotion of educational programs and support for emerging artists."

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Australia Day Honours 2013