Skip to main content

Absent from Photonics West -- but present for babies in Vietnam

Rox Anderson, who for many years has partnered with Jim Fujimoto of MIT as Co-Chair of the Biomedical Optics Symposium at SPIE Photonics West, won’t be in San Francisco for the event later this month.

Instead, this year Rox will be in Vietnam, putting to good use his teaching skills as well as laser medicine technology developed with the contributions of SPIE members and others.

Working as the Vascular Anomalies Center, Rox and other volunteers have opened a free clinic in Vietnam. There, babies receive laser treatments for treatment of vascular birth defects -- disfiguring pigmented lesions.

By eliminating this source of physical dysfunction, social stigma, and isolation, the lives of these children have been dramatically changed. The center has treated more than 500 children since 2009.

In past years Rox has been able to schedule his job at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard School of Medicine and his work at the VAC so that he can also attend Photonics West. But this year, he is training a Vietnamese physician who will take over full-time next summer to run the clinic.

“It has been quite an effort,” Rox said. “U.S. and European laser companies have donated a lot of equipment, doctors and nurses have volunteered their time, and we have raised enough support that the operation will become self-sustaining in 2011.”

The VAC is a collaborative effort of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Wellman Center for Photomedicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA: and  Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Learn more at the center’s website: http://vietnamvac.org.

And hear more about laser applications in medicine from Rox in a video interview:






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An International Inspiration: Attending the International Day of Light 2019 Celebration in Trieste

John Dudley and Perla Viera in Trieste Perla Marlene Viera González, an SPIE Early Career Professional Member working at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, represented the SPIE Student and ECP Membership at the International Day of Light 2019 celebration in Trieste, 16 May. She shares with this community her experiences at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the impact of taking part in this annual day of recognizing light. The International Day of Light brings together culture and science.  — SPIE John Dudley, Steering Committee Chair of IDL This phrase was part of the message given by John Dudley during the introduction to the International Day of Light 2019 at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. And it reflects the importance of bringing together the science, technology, culture, and art that involves light in this emblematic celebration. This year, the IDL celebration was about “Illuminating Ed...

Optics Does That? With Dr. Ashleigh Haruda, Zooarchaeologist.

Dr. Ashleigh Haruda is a zooarchaeologist. Dr. Ashleigh Haruda She examines animal bones found at archaeological sites to investigate the relationship between animals and ancient human societies. These bones reveal information about ancient societies including diet, trade, migration, and market forces. For her doctoral research, she studied pastoralists living in the Central Asian steppe in the Late and Final Bronze Age (1500-800 B.C.E.). These were people who did not practice agriculture, but lived off of their animals, including sheep. “Primarily these people are experiencing their world and their landscape through their animals,” said Haruda. “So, if they fail to move their animals in the right way, or they fail to understand how the weather is going to be that year, they could all die because there was no safety net for them.” By measuring the bones of sheep found in the steppe from the Final Bronze Age, she was able to determine that these pastoralists did not migrate exte...

#FacesofPhotonics: Optimax Director of Technology and Strategy, Jessica DeGroote Nelson

PITCH PERFECT: Optics expert Jessica DeGroote Nelson  SPIE Senior Member Jessica DeGroote Nelson works as the director of technology and strategy at Optimax Systems in Ontario, New York. She also teaches as an adjunct assistant professor at The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester (UR), and is a Conference Chair for SPIE Optifab 2019.  Nelson also teaches  Optical Materials, Fabrication, and Testing for the Optical Engineer  at SPIE conferences. This course is geared toward optical engineers who are hoping to learn the basics about how optics are made, and ways in which to help reduce the cost of the optics they are designing. It is also offered online. "Optical tolerancing and the cost to fabricate an optic can be a point of tension or confusion between optical designers and optical fabricators," Nelson says. "I teach this course to help give optical designers who are new to the field a few tools in their toolbelt as they navigate toler...