Last Friday, July 18^th, ClipInfo announced the sudden passing of Dr. Francis Jean president founder of Iris The Visual Group.  See the link below to read the full story published on the 18^th.   

Ceremonies in his memory: 

July 30^th in Montreal

Centre Mont Royal

2200 Mansfield

3:00 – 5:00 pm (reception to follow)

 

 

According to the information M2L Media obtained, Dr. Francis Jean, founder and president of IRIS, The Visual Group, died suddenly yesterday. More details about the circumstances of his death and his career to follow.

 

Our sincerest condolences to his family, loved ones, and the IRIS team.

 

President and founder of IRIS The Visual Group, Dr. Francis Jean, died suddenly yesterday, July 17, in Jasper, Alberta, at the age of 56. Dr. Jean experienced discomfort while cycling in the IRIS Challenge, an activity he created to raise funds for cancer research.

 

In a press release, IRIS officials, naturally in a state of shock, expressed great sadness, describing Dr. Jean as an exceptional leader with a big heart, a passion for life, and remarkable generosity. “Thanks to him, IRIS was built on strong values,” they said.

 

A graduate from McGill University with a bachelor in Neurophysiology and from the University of Montreal with a degree in Optometry, Dr. Francis Jean opened his first practice in 1986 in his hometown of Baie-Comeau, Quebec. He always dreamed of creating the largest network of optometrists, opticians and ophthalmologists in Canada. And he pulled it off brilliantly, by first founding a buying group then adopting the IRIS trademark in 1990.

 

IRIS presently has 166 locations across Canada, with most being in Quebec and in the West, and is starting to expand into the Ontario market, where is has 14 places of business. Its network includes over 238 opticians, 280 optometrists and five ophthalmologists. The group also has two laser surgery clinics, one in Quebec and one in British Columbia. Annual sales in 2012 were $132 million.

 

Dr. Jean is survived by his wife, Denise; his sons, Jonathan and Guillaume, and daughter, Marilanie; his parents; his brother and sister-in-law; and his nieces and nephews.

 

We would like to extend our condolences to his family and friends as well as to the IRIS team. Funeral arrangements are being made in Baie-Comeau, Quebec.

 

For more details, click HERE to read the IRIS press release.

 

Click HERE to read an interview with Dr. Jean, published in the September 2008 issue of Opt!k Magazine, reproduced posthumously.

 

ClipInfo Express is taking a summer break. We will be back online Monday, August 4, 2014. Have a great holiday and we’ll talk to you soon!

 

Reduced vision and the brain’s processing speed could be linked, according to researchers from Tel Aviv University.

 

Visual crowding is the inability to recognize individual objects surrounded by other objects. This makes it impossible to read, for example, as single letters within words are rendered illegible, or the ability to recognize faces in a crowd is hampered. Until now, this phenomenon was attributed to a peripheral vision disorder.

 

Israeli researchers claim to have discovered a link between visual crowding and the accumulation of visual stimuli in the fovea. They studied 40 young individuals and 138 adults who were asked to situate the open part of the “E” to the right or the left of the letter, in various sizes and distances. The letter was surrounded by other letters.

 

People suffering from visual crowding had more difficulty identifying the right side of the “E” but were successful when they were exposed for longer periods. This means that they could be trained to reduce foveal crowding.

 

The researchers cited the case of a young subject who was having severe problems reading and who was unable to obtain a driver’s licence. After undergoing training, he was able to overcome the handicap. Not only did he get his licence but his academic results improved and he earned a university degree.

Source:

http://english.tau.ac.il/news/study_visual_crowding