NG News
April 2022
Nearsighted Globe co-founder Dr. Gang Luo continues to innovate access for low vision populations in and around Boston and the world. His new App helps visually impaired people find the bus stops!! Watch/Listen to his recent interview on NECN. Lou is Improving the lives and life opportunities of low vision and blind people around the world!
February 6, 2022
NG is moving forward with its partners MUSO Health in Mali, disseminating the Refractive kit (RK) in two communities. NG is now set to train its collaborators in Bangladesh on the use of the RK!
Welcome to 2022
2021 was a challenging year around the world. Yet despite the many challenges NG was able to adapt to and strive forward. The difficulties of 2021 made us proud of the strides we made forward, meeting challenges with opportunities, moving successfully into 2022. In 2021, we made progress on the research areas related to the refractive kit, and the findings bolster the efficacy of our device. NG is again a part of the Venture incubation program at the Harvard Innovation Labs (ILab).
In 2021, we completed our validation study at the New England College of Optometry (NECO) with exciting results on the efficacy of our Refractive Kit for diagnosing nearsightedness. NG presented the findings of the validation study in the prestigious peer-reviewed ARVO annual meeting. Despite the challenges due to the pandemic and internal political unrest, our partners Muso Health was able to move forward with the first phase of the RK pilot study in Mali.
On the device development side, NG partners BB7 fine-tuned the design of the RK for mass production, and also developed designs for the MK in collaboration with Jett development. BB7 also improved the design for the tape measure of RK and NG has successfully ordered the first batch for mass production.
NG’s first fundraising campaign in 2021 was successful allowing us to begin 2022 with our eyes towards Uganda and Bangladesh! We are very grateful to those who contributed to the campaign and believe in the work NG is doing to bring the best of vision science to hard-to-reach rural communities in low-middle-income countries!
December 1, 2021
The Nearsighted Globe Refractive Kit (the RK): Accuracy within a half diopter
Throughout 2021 Nearsighted Globe continued expanding the Refractive Kit (the RK) pilot studies in Ethiopia and Mali, ran validation studies in India and at New England College of Optometry – Boston, MA, strengthened its partnerships with BB7, MUSO Health, and Sight for Souls, embarked on a new partnerships with Jett Development Group, and increased fundraising by 200 percent.
Join NG journey to bring the best of vision science to hard-to-reach rural communities in low-and-middle income countries, transforming the way the world see by providing access to myopia diagnosis.
January 2021
Nearsighted Globe Welcomes Peter McKelvey
Peter McKelvey has joined Nearsighted Globe as Business Admission; on loan to NG through Harvard Innovation Labs. Peter is the President Emeritus of the Americas region of L.E.K. Consulting, a global strategy consulting firm. Peter was with L.E.K. for 29 years and specialized in corporate strategy development and merger and acquisition advisory services. He has broad expertise in evaluating new investment opportunities and in providing strategic enhancements for business organizations. The NG Team is delighted and honored to have Peter on the NG Team!!
NG Holiday News
It has been said so often that it has become a mantra: “2020 has been a year like no other!” While this mantra calls attention to a world under the weight of the COVID 19 pandemic, it also brings into focus a world filled with ills that are played out in the political, economic, and health arenas – sharply dividing the human family into ‘the valued’ and ‘the rest’. On the borders of these binary divides is where NG is located, joining a cadre of like-minded professionals and institutions committed to shifting and reshaping the health and wellbeing outcomes of those designated as “the rest”.
2020 has demanded that NG, along with the rest of the world, lockdown. As frustrating as it has been, NG values the lives and wellbeing of all along the NG chain – particularly the unique and complex burden of our low-and-middle income countries colleagues and end-users. In 2020, NG increased collaboration networks in India, Mali, and Ethiopia – innovating delivery of the NG Refractive Kit to rural hard-to-reach communities and delivering prescription glasses.
As 2020 quickly rushes to an end, NG wishes communities everywhere safety, health, and joy; and, peace in mind and heart in the welcoming in of 2021!
December 1, 2020
NG is among the winners of the Harvard Innovation Lab – SPARK Grant. The Grant will be used to support NG’s partnership with New England College of Optometry (NECO) in a research study on the NG Refractive Kit!
September 20, 2020
NG collaborator at Sight for Souls to receive Humanitarian award.
John H. Kempen, MD, MPH, PhD, MHS, will be honored with the 2020 Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) during the annual meeting in November. The award recognizes Dr. Kempen’s deep commitment to charitable work that aims to reduce blindness worldwide by improving access to patient care and establishing much-needed ophthalmology sub-specialty training programs in developing countries. Read More Here.
September 3, 2020
NG Team Member, Nish Mohith Kurukuti, will begin his PhD program in fall 2020 at Northwestern University. Congratulations!!
In the very difficult months of lockdown, NG focused on team building and exploring innovative ways to deliver nearsightedness testing to rural communities in Mali and Ethiopia.
May 1, 2020
Congratulations to NG Team members for their well deserved accomplishments!!!
NG Team Member, Nish Mohith Kurukuti, has been offered place in four fully-funded PhD programs, including one in Canada. An extraordinary product design engineer, Nish intends to apply his skills and talents to the design of adaptive prosthetics. We look forward to sharing his decision on which offer he accepts.
Unexpectedly a frontline COVID 19 health care professional in Canada, NG Team Member (the now) Dr. Radhika Shankar, MD, has been matched to the prestigious University of British Columbia (Vancouver) for her residency, which will begin fall 2020. She will undertake specialization in pediatrics.
April 13, 2020
The world in the era of coronavirus (COVID 19) is in a global pause, and we are all challenged do our part to stay healthy and safe by staying home, washing our hands, wearing masks, and engage in the practice of social distancing. During this global pause, Nearsighted Globe is exploring innovative strategies for helping hard-to-access rural communities on the journey to their 20/20.
January 24, 2020
“Congratulations!! We’re thrilled to inform you that Nearsighted Globe has been accepted into the Venture Program as a Semi-Finalist in the 2020 President’s Innovation Challenge.”
The Nearsighted Globe Team is super excited to be accepted into the Venture Program as Semi Finalist in the 2020 President’s Innovation Challenge at Harvard. Thank you judges!
Happy Holidays
December 25, 2019
Dear NG Community (present and potential):
However you celebrate the season, Nearsighted Globe (NG) wishes you the beauty of the best the season offers!
You have joined NG on our bold mission to transform lives through accessible high science/low tech low cost diagnosis and the distribution of prescription glasses to those affected by nearsightedness in low and middle income countries. It is an honor to share this journey with you; your support and thoughts of goodwill fuel NG’s success in reaching each milestone. NG aims to reach remote rural communities, providing vision possibilities to those who never imagined they could see better. With this NG invites each individual to take part in the beauty of their home. NG helps our target communities on their journey to 20/20 vision and toward more engaged, likely new, participation in beauty where they are.
NG cofounders, Dr Mojtaba Moharrer and Gang Luo, along with the NG team send our deepest respect and gratitude to NG’s community of supporters and well-wishers. for being on board on this journey to help others on their journey to better sight: vision is a right.
Wishing you and your loved ones beauty and delight throughout the season.
Gang Luo Mojtaba Moharrer
Co-founders of Nearsighted Globe
November 19, 2019
It is with delight that Nearsighted Globe welcomes Dr. Richard Jamara, Diplomate Low Vision and Professor of Optometry at New England College of Optometry (NECO), to NG Advisory Board.
Dr. Jamara is a renowned low vision optometrist with vast experience in both teaching and practice in the field of low vision. Read an overview of his career here.
This week NG founders Dr. Moharrer and Dr. Luo met and engaged in lively discussion with Dr. Jamara about ways to impact global vision health.
Bringing with him his passion for making the world a better place, Dr. Jamara is enthusiastic about helping NG transform access to myopia testing in low and middle income countries.
September 25, 2019 – Nearsighted Globe’s co-Founder Gang Luo, PhD is also the creator of the SuperVision app. Luo and the SuperVision app are featured in Massachusetts Eye and Ear‘s Blog Focus: Dr. Luo notes, “People with low vision know what they’re looking for. The challenge is finding the item in a crowded scene, and that’s where this app comes in.”
August 29 2019 -Nearsighted Globe is honored to receive the prestigious Allergan Foundation Community Grant Award!
August 2019 – Nearsighted Globe accepted to the Fall 2019 Harvard Innovation Labs’ Venture Incubation Program.
July 2019 – Nearsighted Globe now collaborating with Sight for Soul – Dr. John Kempen (pictured) to run NG pilot study in Ethiopia.
July 2019 – Nearsighted Globe now collaborating with Stanford University- Rural Education Action Program (REAP) to run pilot studies in China.
July 2019 – Nearsighted Globe invited to apply to the prestigious Allergan Foundation Community Grant.
May 2019 – Nearsighted Globe accepted to the Summer 2019 Harvard Innovation Labs’ Venture Incubation Program
January 2019 Nearsighted Globe is a semi-finalist in the 2019 President’s Innovation Challenge.
January 2019 – Nearsighted Globe accepted to the Spring 2019 Harvard Innovation Labs’ Venture Incubation Program