Celebration Profiles — March 27-30
In honor of our centennial anniversary, we are featuring members of our optometry community — past and present — each day of 2023!
See below for this week’s profiles.
This Week, We Are Celebrating…
Edwin Mehr, OD, FAAO
Dr. Edwin Mehr graduated from Berkeley Optometry in 1941. He then served in the military during World War II from 1942–45. In 1962, Berkeley Optometry recruited Mehr as a Clinical Instructor in its Low Vision Clinic. From 1968, he was an associate clinical professor, working part-time in the clinic until 1972.Dr. Mehr was inspired to specialize in low vision treatment and education when he heard a lecture given by the eminent Dr. William Feinbloom (1904–1985) in the late 1960s about an albino child given sight with the optical aid of a telescope. Soon after, Mehr started lecturing on low vision nationally and internationally. Dr. Mehr established a groundbreaking low vision clinic in Palo Alto called the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center (WBRC). Mehr’s successful low vision treatment programs and educational work was complemented by his publications.
As an eminent figure in the field of low vision, Dr. Mehr made key contributions to the expansion of optometry. Even so, he maintained a successful practice in Santa Clara throughout most of his professional life. He is remembered as a popular teacher, a respected researcher and writer, and a community leader. Dr. Mehr received many awards and much recognition for his achievements in low vision treatment and education.
Lu Chen, MD, PhD
Dr. Lu Chen received her MD in 1992 in an advanced six-year program of medicine from Shandong Medical University, China. She completed her ophthalmology residency at the Shandong Eye Institute & Hospital, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, and from the headquarters of the China Eye Bank in 1992–95. In addition, Chen also served as a bilingual translator for overseas foreign visiting scholars during their lectures and surgeries, and she translated manufacturers’ brochures for US pharmaceutical and medical instrument companies.In 2001, Chen obtained her PhD degree in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the School of Medicine, University of Louisville, and the Kentucky Lions Eye Research Center. She completed three years of postdoctoral training (2001-04) at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, first as a National Eye Institute trainee in the Molecular Bases of Eye Diseases Program, and later as a recipient of an individual National Institutes of Health National Service Research Award fellowship. This work was followed by junior faculty appointments in 2004–07, both as an investigator at the Schepens Eye Research Institute and an instructor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School.
Chen joined the faculty at Berkeley Optometry in fall 2007 as a Professor of Optometry and Vision Science, where she has established a Center for Eye Disease and Development. She was also appointed to the Morton D. Sarver Endowed Chair (2007–10). In addition, Dr. Chen is an adjunct scientist (faculty member) at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco. Being an MD and PhD, Dr. Chen has accumulated rich experience and broad knowledge in ophthalmology and visual sciences, and has a particular interest in molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular inflammation and immunity.
Clayton J. Radke, PhD
Dr. Clayton J. Radke received his BS degree in chemical engineering at the University of Washington in 1966 and his PhD in 1971 at UC Berkeley. He spent 18 months as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bristol studying colloid chemistry under Professors Douglas Everett and Ron Ottewill. In 1973, he joined the chemical-engineering faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, returning to the faculty at the University of California in 1976. He rose to full Professor in 1984 and was appointed Professor of Vision Science in 2003. Dr. Radke has held a number of visiting professorships including the Universite de Poitiers, University of Minnesota, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University, and was Benjamin Maeker Distinguished Professor at the University of Bristol in 2007.Dr. Radke won the Proctor & Gamble Colloid Chemistry Award of the American Chemistry Society in 2003, the John Franklin Carl Award of the Society of Petroleum Engineering in 2011, the Chemstations Research Lectureship Award of the American Society for Engineering Education in 2013, and University of Washington Alumnus of the Year in 2015. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering also in 2015. Dr. Radke has lectured at well over 100 university and industrial laboratories. His lectures are appreciated for clear presentation of new technical advances sprinkled with humor and illustrative anecdotes. He currently serves on the editorial boards of 4 technical journals, several company technical boards, and is Chair of the Board of Trustees of New College in the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. In addition, Dr. Radke is a much-beloved mentor and advisor for over 60 PhD students, over 30 MS students, and enumerable undergraduate honors research students.
