Oct 02, 2009 - Claremont, Calif. -

Recent Harvey Mudd College graduate Brian Stock ’09 and mathematics Professor Talithia Williams traveled to Mombasa, Kenya, for the Ophthalmological Society of Eastern Africa 38th Annual Scientific Conference in late August to present results of an ongoing research project examining the incidence of cataract and appropriate treatment strategies in Africa. The pair is working with HMC alumna Susan Lewallen (HMC ’76), an ophthalmologist based in Tanzania and several other African ophthalmologists to provide more accurate estimates of target cataract surgical rates (CSR) in African countries.

The project is the brainchild of Lewallen, who had a hunch that current World Health Organization CSR targets might be unrealistically high for African countries. Stock explains “The World Health Organization has this big ‘Vision 2020’ initiative where they want to eliminate preventable blindness by the year 2020. Cataract is a common cause of avoidable blindness in the elderly, and there is a simple, cheap surgery to replace the lens and restore sight. So eye care providers in Africa were given target numbers of surgeries to perform each year, which would supposedly eliminate blindness due to cataract. But, Susan and others found it impossible to get their CSR up to the target levels.” 

Lewallen, the first recipient of HMC's Outstanding Alumni Award, reached out to the HMC Mathematics Department for help assaying the rate of cataract and appropriate surgical rates.  Prof. Williams, a statistician with a strong interest in real world applications, saw an opportunity to contribute to the project.  “Susan sent us this data from nine sites in Africa,” said Williams,  “then we calculated prevalence and incidence to come up with realistic estimates of target CSR in Africa and they were much lower than current World Health Organization targets.”

When the team realized the implications of their research, they felt compelled to travel to Africa to present their results. “It was important for us to communicate directly with the ophthalmologists in Africa to better explain our methods and discuss the possible implications,” said Williams. “They no longer need to be fruitlessly trying to increase their surgery rates. They can focus on other objectives, like increasing the quality of care.”

This trip and project was a perfect springboard for Stock’s post-graduate career plans. He leaves for Africa in February to teach math in the Peace Corps and was grateful for the ability to get a taste of what working in Africa might be like. “It was an incredible opportunity for a number of reasons, and the trip was just one of them. I also was able to talk with professionals working and living in Africa, which is something I’ll be doing soon. We got an interesting glimpse of how Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operate in eastern Africa as well.”

Travel funds for Stock were provided by the HMC Mathematics Department through the recently established Jonsson Travel Fund, which supports student and faculty travel. Lewallen also generously pitched in a plane ticket earned through her airline rewards program. HMC underwrote Williams’ travel and summer research support. The team is presently working on two papers based on this research, which will be submitted to the Journal of Opthamology.