Alumni Class News
Alan Chow, MD
Founder, COO & CSO of Optobionics Corporation
Alan Chow was born in Hong Kong in the early 1950s, and moved with his family to the United States in 1958. His father was a mechanical engineer, his mother a chemical engineer. Chow pursued a career in medicine. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and his ophthalmology residency from Loyola University's medical school. He continued his education and postdoctoral fellowships at George Washington University and the Johns Hopkins University Wilmer Eye Institute, where he studied eye genetics.
Dr. Chow, with his brother Vincent, invented a silicone retinal implant microchip to treat diseases of the retina, in particular, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). This artificial device has made possible significant visual improvements with virtually no adverse side effects. Thirty million people worldwide are afflicted with age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, two potentially debilitating eye diseases for which there is no cure. This device, which offers hope to patients that have gone blind as a result of AMD or RP, is thinner than a human hair and can be implanted during a two-hour operation.
Dr. Chow is currently the Chief Operating Officer – Founder of Optobionics Corporation. Dr. Chow has received honors, grants and awards from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Westinghouse Corporation, NASA, and the Heed and Knapp Fellowships. Venues highlighting his work include TIME, Newsweek, Fortune, ABC World News, NIGHTLINE, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Good Morning American and DATELINE. In January 2004, he was honored by the World Economic Forum’s G20 in Switzerland as a World Technology Pioneer. Chow is a practicing physician, as well as, a reviewer for multiple academic journals and a spokesman and faculty for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He is an active inventor and is a named author of 15 patents.
Lawrence S. Evans, MD, PhD
who was 60, died May 22, 2004 in Hinsdale Hospital due to cardiomyopathy and renal failure.
A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Dr. Evans earned a BS in mathematics in 1965 from Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, Ohio and a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1971 from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Roosevelt University, Chicago from 1969-1972. He left Roosevelt University to pursue a degree in medicine, but returned to the faculty as a part-time lecturer in the Departments of Mathematics and Economics from 1977-1979.
Evans began his medical education at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, earning a degree in medicine in 1975. He entered the combined Ophthalmology Residency Program at Loyola University Medical Center/Hines VA Hospital, graduating in 1979. Evans was Board-certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology in 1981, and completed a fellowship in uveitis/inflammatory disease at the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago in 1987.
Evans joined the faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology at Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood as a part-time clinical instructor in 1979. Upon his Board certification, he was appointed assistant professor of ophthalmology, where he served as a full-time faculty member specializing in uveitis and inflammatory disease and director of the low vision service until his retirement in 1996 due to ill health. During his medical career, he also served on the staff of the Hines Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, Ill., Dreyer Medical Clinic, S.C. in Aurora, Ill., and DuPage General Hospital in Elmhurst, Ill.
An accomplished researcher and dedicated educator, Evans authored more than 16 articles and book chapters, 14 abstracts, and presented numerous lectures at local, regional and national meetings.
He served on several departmental and hospital committees while at Loyola and was a member of the Illinois Association of Ophthalmology Board of Directors. During his career he served as a consultant to various corporations and scientific institutes and is credited with the invention of the capsule forceps with iris retractor, manufactured by Karl Ilg Company.
Evans was a member of the Institute of Mathematic Statistics, the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Chicago Medical Society, the Illinois Association of Ophthalmology, and was a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
In his leisure time, Evans was a model train enthusiast. He enjoyed geometry and did volunteer work in both locally and abroad, participating in a variety of vision screenings and low vision fairs as well as mission trips to the Mercy Hospital in Abak, Nigeria with FOCUS, Inc. (Foreign Ophthalmic Care from the U.S.).
Dr. Evans is survived by his daughter, Katherine Evans of San Francisco, Cal., and his sister, Margaret King of Strongsville, Ohio. At the family’s request, donations in Dr. Evans’ memory may be made to the Low Vision Fund of the Department of Ophthalmology at Loyola University Medical Center.
photo from 2010
John J. Golden, MD
The Department of Ophthalmology mourns the passing of John J. Golden, MD. Born September 4, 1930 in Chicago, who was 77, died Monday, January 7, 2008, at Edward Hospital in Naperville. Dr. Golden worked as an ophthalmologist at Edward Hospital.
Golden began his medical education at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, earning a medical degree in 1955 and has been in the profession for 53 years. He began his ophthalmology residency at Cook County Hospital.
A regular “weekly” attendee of our department grand rounds and educational conferences, faculty, residents and medical students all benefited from his many years of experience and contributions to the education of the residents during these conferences.