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Alfred Sommer

Early Life and Education

Born on October 2, 1942 in New York City, Alfred Sommer went on to attend Union College in Schenectady, New York and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1963. Afterwards, Sommer attended Harvard Medical School and obtained his M.D. in 1967, and served as a medical intern and resident at Harvard University’s Beth Israel Hospital from 1967 to 1969. Subsequently, Sommer began his work at the Center for Disease Control (USPS) and then assumed a role as a medical epidemiologist at the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 1970 to 1972. In 1973, Sommer return to the United States and continued his education at the Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health where he completed his fellowship in epidemiology and obtained his Masters of Health Sciences Degree. Upon completing his Masters in Health Sciences at what is now referred to as the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sommer spent time as a resident and fellow in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute from 1973 to 1976. Having been founded in 1925, the internationally-renowned Wilmer Eye Clinic was associated with the Johns Hopkins Hospital and was the nation’s first university eye clinic. Following his time at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Sommer became the founding director of the Dana Center for Preventative Ophthalmology in 1980 and held this position until 1990 when he was promoted to dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Sommer served as dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health until 2005, when he returned to work as a professor and researcher of both epidemiology and ophthalmology. Sommers is currently working as an Epidemiology and International Health Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in addition to being an Ophthalmology Professor at the Wilmer Eye Institute. Sommer also currently serves as Dean Emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Research/Career

Following his fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Clinic, Sommer was appointed as a Visiting Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Padjadjaran, which is the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. He would then soon become the Director of The Nutritional Blindness Prevention Research Program in Bandung, and it was here that Sommer began his groundbreaking research on Vitamin A’s ability to combat blindness and disease and thus, the benefits of Vitamin A supplementation in third world countries. Alfred Sommer first garnered praise and attention for this pioneering research of his when he implemented studies involving the use of large and inexpensive Vitamin A capsules in an attempt to reduce the child mortality rates of Vitamin A deficient children. This Vitamin A capsule that was the focus of Sommer’s research only needed to be administered twice a year and was proven to reduce the child mortality rate (of Vitamin A deficient children) by as much as 34 percent. He also conducted studies in which he supplemented Nepalese women of childbearing age with Vitamin A/ beta-carotene and observed a 45% reduction in the maternal mortality rate. Sommer furthered this study by experimenting with vitamin A supplementation in newborns, and eventually discovered that this treatment can reduce neonatal mortality by 20%. This research was especially meaningful for impoverished area in the U.S. and worldwide that lack access to basic needs or adequate foundational resources such as clean water, staple foods, nearby medical care, etc. While serving as the Dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sommer successfully expanded both the faculty and student bodies and dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars (approximately 130 million dollars) to improving the school’s emphasis on research and developing world class research facilities. Sommer’s visionary efforts helped the school attain the #1 spot on the U.S. News & World Report Graduate Schools of Public Health ranking, a prestigious title it still holds to this day.

Sommer’s extensive work regarding large, inexpensive doses of Vitamin A and its potential to prevent childhood, infantile, neonatal, and maternal deaths due to vitamin A deficiency has resulted in significant strides in global health and a measurable reduction in mortality rates relating to Vitamin A-deficient patients. Many renowned scholars in both the fields of medicine and public health deemed Sommer’s research as being especially meaningful for third world countries and impoverished areas in the U.S. that lack access to basic needs or adequate foundational resources such as clean water, staple foods, nearby medical care, etc. This is evidenced by the multiple awards he’s received for his substantial work in epidemiology, nutrition, and ophthalmology including the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 1997 and the Danone International Prize for Nutrition in 2001 for his groundbreaking studies on Vitamin A and its ability to enhance eyesight and reduce child mortality rates when administered through an inexpensive yet high-dosage capsule. He was also awarded the Lucien Howe Medal by the American Ophthalmological Society and the Warren Alpert Research Prize by Harvard Medical School in 2003, in addition to the Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research in 2005 for his studies on blindness prevention. Sommer’s recent research interests include the diagnosis and management of glaucoma, improved child survival and blindness prevention strategies, and micronutrient interventions to vision impairment, in addition to other projects in both epidemiology and ophthalmology.

Private Life

Alfred Sommer is married to Jill Sommer and together they have one son, Charles Andrew Sommer, and one daughter, Marni Jane Sommer.

Peer Edit

Great details on Sommer's biography and I like that you have a plan to add more details. Consider making the introduction a shorter and more broad summary before getting into the details under specific headings. For example, give a brief overview of Sommer's major accomplishments but save the details on Vitamin A for a separate heading. Also, be wary of subjective phrases such as "highly accomplished" in the first sentence. The article should remain objective throughout to make it credible. And I'm sure you introduced ideas with "we intend"/"we will" because this is still a rough draft but just in case- make sure you replace those words with proper headings. I think it would help to organize your writing so far with headings. This would make your article easier to understand for the reader. Finally, make sure to add citations and cite appropriately. You have a lot of great statistics and detail that should be cited. Nice work overall. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jsong009 (talk • contribs) 16:41, 5 April 2017 (UTC)