Protecting Sight #87: Bill and Melinda Gates: Why giving away our wealth has been the most satisfying thing we’ve done.

Welcome to my daily learning journal. My daily goal is to watch one Ted Talk and one cataract surgery. I also plan to read one journal article and read/listen to a book chapter, short story or significant work.

Here’s today’s list:

1. Ted Talk – Bill and Melinda Gates: Why giving away our wealth has been the most satisfying thing we’ve done. “In 1993, Bill and Melinda Gates took a walk on the beach and made a big decision: to give their Microsoft wealth back to society. In conversation with Chris Anderson, the couple talks about their work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as their marriage, their children, their failures and the satisfaction of giving most of their money away.” (ted.com).

A truly inspirational story. The work of the Gates Foundation has saved millions of lives worldwide.

2. Cataract Surgery – Uday Devgan MD – Mastering Stop-and-Chop phaco. Uday writes, “In the technique of stop-and-chop that I usually teach to my residents, we bring the hemi-nuclear pieces out of the capsular bag and chop them at the iris plane. In the video shown here, out guest expert is Prof. Wael Soliman from Assiut University in Egypt and he takes it one step more advanced: he performs the hemi-nuclear chopping within the capsular bag. This is a great technique and I encourage you to learn it from him.” Great case.

Clinical appearance of the lesion. A, Slitlamp photograph of a pigmented iris lesion distorting the pupil, with nasal sentinel vessels. B, On ultrasound biomicroscopy, the lesion had low-to-medium reflectivity and measured 4.0 mm in height (green caliper) and 9.1 mm in basal diameter (yellow caliper) on radial scan at the 4-o’clock position.

3. Journal – Schwartz TM, Walter SD, Mruthyunjaya P. Pigmented Iridociliary Lesion and Increased Intraocular Pressure. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;135(7):805–806. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2016.5128

4. Book Chapter – Pankaj Mishra – The Romantics: A Novel. Chapter 1. I picked up this book many years ago after speaking with a friend. Enjoyed Chapter 1, which mentions the Raga Yaman musical piece on the sitar. (Listen to a YouTube example, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar – Dhrupad – Raga Yaman” here.)

5. I was honored to participate in today’s webinar with the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. The webinar focused on COVID-19 and Global Eye Health with an emphasis on the Indian and American Scenario. Hosted by Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, Mumbai in association with National Eye Institute, NIH USA and Indo -American Chamber of Commerce.

Fascinating presentations and much opportunity for all attendees to learn and help advance a shared mission of moving medicine and patient care forward.The webinar included a guest appearance by Indian actor Mr. Boman Irani. He gave a most impassioned and inspirational talk.

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