In 2022 Peek Vision lost a friend and colleague, Karen Sparrow. Karen had a wide-ranging professional career that included time as an optometrist in practice and, most recently, as a global programme manager for Peek Vision—overseeing global training and development for new programmes, building up knowledge in the field, and translating it to enable sustainable implementation and scale up.
To celebrate her life, Peek has created a scholarship fund to support aspiring optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, ophthalmologists and eye care managers who are committed to providing quality eye care to those in need, just as Karen did throughout her career.
The scholarship invests in potential global eye health leaders and provides career-changing opportunities by sponsoring them to attend the LSHTM short course on Global Eye Health. The 2023 course will run from 13th - 16th November.
Applicants must be optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, ophthalmologists or eye care managers from, or working in, a low or middle-income country, with at least three years of experience in eye health and fluent in English.
To illustrate the impact that receiving the scholarship can have, we are sharing Dr Okolo’s story. Dr Okolo Oteri Eme is the National Coordinator of the National Eye Health programme in Nigeria. She was one of the first scholars to attend the course in July 2020 and received a full scholarship from LSHTM to attend the MSc in Public Health for Eye Care, which she completed in June 2022. Of the scholarship and subsequent masters, she said:
“It's been a rewarding experience and something that has changed my life forever. For me, it's been a journey, and it's been growth. It's increased my confidence in public eye care and my network in the public eye health space. Training one person or giving one person an opportunity, a scholarship, opens doors for so many other people because it's not about taking the knowledge for yourself alone. It's something you share and ensure that people around you and your country hopefully benefit from the knowledge you have gained."
Read Dr Oteri Eme’s story here
To apply for a scholarship, please register for the Global Eye Health course here and forward your email from The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) registry confirming your application to [email protected] stating that you wish to be considered for a scholarship. The closing date for applications for scholarships is 20th July 2023.
Successful applicants will be informed by the 18th of August, 2023.
Please contact [email protected] for further details
36 million people worldwide are blind. Four in five of them could keep their sight with simple surgery or treatment. Millions more can't see clearly, yet need no more than a simple pair of glasses. We won't stop until everyone has been linked to the treatment and services they need.
