HelpMeSee Names Jon Pollack Chief of Training Operations

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Nov 13, 2014, 10:45 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- HelpMeSee is pleased to announce that Jon Pollack, former Director of Training Courseware and Business Development at FlightSafety International, has accepted the role of Chief of Training Operations, effective immediately. In this new role, Jon will oversee HelpMeSee's MSICS global learning centers that will use state of the art surgical simulators to train as many as 30,000 MSICS specialists by 2020.

Jon Pollack - Chief of Training Operations, HelpMeSee

"With HelpMeSee, Jon will focus his efforts on designing, building, and maintaining the world's premier surgical training organization dedicated to MSICS," said HelpMeSee Chairman, James Ueltschi. "I have known Jon since 1982 when he came to work for FlightSafety in Vero Beach, Florida as a primary flight instructor. His career at FlightSafety was one of accomplishment. Jon solves problems and is an inspirational leader."

From his time with FlightSafety International, Jon brings over 25 years of experience in the advanced simulator-training field. He worked at FlightSafety from 1982 to 2000, including roles as Product Marketing Manager, Director of Training and Center Manager. During that time he was promoted to the role of Director of Operations for the Boeing Business Jet training program, part of FlightSafety Boeing. From 2000 to 2005, he worked with AQT Solutions, based in Napa CA supporting the development and sales of the Aviation Training Management System (ATMS). Jon rejoined FlightSafety in 2006 as Manager of E-Learning Operations and later became Director of Courseware Support, a position that oversaw training and educational materials for both online and classroom use. Jon, who worked as an offshore helicopter pilot based in Mumbai early in his career, is an ATP rated pilot in both Airplanes and Helicopters and is type rated in the Falcon 2000EX EASy, Learjet, Sikorsky S-76 and Bell 212.

"Jon Pollack is joining a team of experts in Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery, Simulation Engineering and Learning," said Mohan Jacob Thazhathu, president and CEO, HelpMeSee. "He will be leading HelpMeSee Learning Centers Operations in the various regions of the world where cataract blindness is endemic and there is an acute shortage of trained cataract specialists. This is fundamental to the success of HelpMeSee campaign to eliminate blindness caused by cataract in remote and poor communities worldwide."

Working with MOOG (http://www.moog.com) and partners who are developing and manufacturing the HelpMeSee Cataract Surgical Simulator and Symphony Teleca (www.symphonyteleca.com) who is developing the courseware, Jon is leading the setting up of the HelpMeSee cataract specialists training operations.

Jon's grandfather was a Russian immigrant who grew a retail business from a single pushcart to the largest department store chain in Quebec City. His father was a lawyer who served as one of Canada's first representatives to the United Nations and later received the prestigious Order of Canada award. Jon looks forward to what he describes as the "a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the achievement of HelpMeSee's challenging and worthy mission" in a position that will allow him to build off of his experience across the development and management sides of simulation training. He sees the HelpMeSee mission as one "truly focused on a real and tangible goal."

About HelpMeSee
HelpMeSee is a global campaign to eliminate cataract blindness, a condition that affects over 20 million across the globe. Ninety percent of those visually impaired by cataract live in developing countries, often in remote areas that lack the necessary medical care. A low-cost, high quality procedure called MSICS can restore sight to those suffering from cataract blindness, but the lack of capable surgeons prevents most from ever receiving the care they deserve. To date, HelpMeSee has delivered over 160,000 surgeries through its partnerships with local surgeons in India, Nepal, China, Sierra Leone and Togo. By the end of 2014, HelpMeSee-sponsored operations will begin in Latin America and other West African countries.

In addition to partnering with local surgeons, HelpMeSee will train 30,000 MSICS surgical specialists who can address the shortage of cataract treatment. The centerpiece of this training program is a state of the art MSICS surgical simulator, a machine that will expedite the training process while ensuring that trainees reach the necessary proficiency. The simulator allows trainees to learn the MSICS procedure and practice on multiple surgical complications without ever endangering a single live patient. Under Jon's leadership, training centers housing the simulators and educational facilities will be developed around the world to train specialists from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

CONTACT: Perry Athanason, [email protected], 844-435-7637

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SOURCE HelpMeSee