Board of Directors

Jennifer Staple-Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Jennifer Staple-Clark founded Unite For Sight in her dorm room while a sophomore at Yale University in fall 2000. Under Jennifer's leadership and with her focus on entrepreneurial innovation, Unite For Sight is now a leader in providing cost-effective care to the world's poorest people. By investing human and financial resources into the social ventures of eye clinics in developing countries, Unite For Sight has provided eye care to more than 1,300,000 people living in extreme poverty, including more than 49,000 sight-restoring surgeries. Additionally, Unite For Sight's Global Health University and Global Impact Corps programs develop and nurture the next generation of global health leaders. Unite For Sight also coordinates an annual Global Health & Innovation Conference, which convenes 2,200 participants and is the world's largest global health conference and social entrepreneurship conference.

A visionary leader and social entrepreneur, Jennifer Staple-Clark has been featured twice in Nicholas D. Kristof's columns in The New York Times. She was also featured weekly on CNN International in 2007 and 2008. A cum laude graduate of Yale University, Jennifer frequently gives presentations and keynote addresses about social entrepreneurship, global health, and international development. Her most recent audiences have included Harvard School of Public Health, Yale Law School, Yale College, Yale School of Public Health, Duke, University of Virginia, Stanford University, York University, University of Miami School of Medicine, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola University, Lehigh University, MIT, Northwestern University School of Medicine's American Medical Student Association Conference, Brigham Young University's Global Maternal and Child Health Conference, and American Academy of Ophthalmology's Women in Ophthalmology Leadership Institute.

Jennifer is the recipient of the 2011 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, which is presented by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to "an individual whose contributions in the realm of community service, advocacy or grassroots activism have elevated the debate or changed the landscape with respect to a public issue or issues." Jennifer also received the American Institute of Public Service's 2009 National Jefferson Award For Public Service, which is regarded as the "Nobel Prize" for public service. In 2007, Jennifer was awarded a BRICK Award, which honors and funds change-makers who identify problems and do something to change the world. She has also been featured in the book Our Time is Now: Young People Changing the World, as well as in many other publications. She is the author of journal articles and book chapters about social entrepreneurship, best practices in global health, and community eye health. Additionally, Jennifer is a member of the Yale University President's Council on International Activities.

Eric J. Bertrand

Eric Bertrand has served on the Boards of OptiCare Health Systems, U.S. Vision, Control F-1 and Versura, Inc. Currently with EJB Capital Management, he holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Entrepreneurship with a certificate in the Digital Economy from New York University as well as Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bryant College.

Sachin Jain

Sachin Jain holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an MD from Rush Medical College. He is currently an attending hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. From surveying the homeless in inner-city Chicago about barriers to health care to working on a cataract surgery program in rural Tanzania, Sachin Jain has been working to increase access to needed health services and strengthen health care infrastructure in resource-poor populations internationally. Sachin first became involved with Unite For Sight when he founded a chapter at Rush Medical College. Sachin has received an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and a Health Award by the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group for his contributions to public health and work with underserved populations.

Yasha Modi

Yasha Modi holds an MD from Yale University School of Medicine, and he received his Bachelor's Degree from New York University. Currently an ophthalmology resident at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Yasha first became involved with Unite For Sight when he founded a chapter as an undergraduate at New York University. Yasha's interest in ophthalmology began at the LRBT Free Eye Hospital in Korangi, Pakistan where he spent two of his high school spring breaks as a volunteer observing cataract surgeries and comprehensive eye exams. His background in research started at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he used NMR resolution techniques to elucidate unusual DNA-quadruplex structures in solution. Since then, he has published his findings in the Journal of American Chemical Society and the Journal of Molecular Biology. He has also pursued research in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery/Cell Biology at New York University Medical Center. There, he studied the MAP Kinase intracellular pathway in balloon-injured arteries in a dog model.

Julia Nemiroff

Julia Nemiroff is in her final year of medical school at New York University School of Medicine. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) as a Biology major. Julia's grandmother is blind because her macular degeneration went untreated during the early stages in Russia. Julia's passion and commitment to eliminate preventable blindness led her to found a chapter of Unite For Sight as a senior at NYIT. Under her leadership, the NYIT chapter was awarded as the 2006-2007 Unite For Sight Chapter of the Year, and Julia was honored as the Unite For Sight Chapter Leader of the Year. The NYIT chapter also raised the most money in 2007, and was awarded Unite For Sight's Humanitarian Service Award.