Dr. Lea Hyvarinen & LeaTest Intl, LLC

01/26/2026

Going through the archives and saving old photos from before cell phone cameras. Anyone know the date and location of this Prevent Blindness event? Great memories.

01/22/2026

Happy 86th birthday to Dr. Lea Hyvärinen! Today we celebrate her work and how it has influenced children’s vision assessment in clinical and screening settings worldwide. Dr Lea’s work is highlighted tonight at the Second Annual Dr. Lea Hyvärinen Pediatric Symposium on amblyopia outcomes in clinical practice at New England College of Optometry.

This year’s virtual program, Amblyopia: Outcomes Measured in Clinical Practice, features Michael Repka, MD, MBA—President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a global leader in pediatric ophthalmology. If you can’t join the live program due to time difference, the entire program will be available in about 2 weeks online on demand.

📅 January 22, 2026
⏰ 7:30–8:30 PM (ET)
💻 Virtually via Zoom
🎓 COPE Accreditation Pending

Register here: https://bit.ly/3LN3arP

01/22/2026

Drop a comment if you were at these lectures!

01/20/2026

We are looking back at some of Dr Lea’s experiences as we celebrate her 86th birthday this week.

01/20/2026

More memories from Dr Lea’s lecture travel files - these are from 1998!

🔍 What does amblyopia look like in real clinical practice?

Join the New England College of Optometry for the Second Annual Pediatric Symposium honoring Lea Hyvärinen, MD, PhD, FAAP, celebrating her legacy on her 86th birthday.

📅 January 22, 2026
⏰ 7:30–8:30 PM (ET)
💻 Virtually via Zoom
🎓 COPE Accreditation Pending

This year’s virtual program, Amblyopia: Outcomes Measured in Clinical Practice, features Michael Repka, MD, MBA—President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a global leader in pediatric ophthalmology.

👉 RSVP: https://bit.ly/3LN3arP

You’re also invited to honor Dr. Hyvärinen’s lasting impact on children’s vision with a gift to the Dr. Lea Hyvärinen Pediatric Optometry Endowed Fund.

01/19/2026

Dr Lea met her husband Juhani in medical school. When he first introduced himself to her he said: “My wife will be a stay at home mom.” Dr Lea responded: “Good luck with that.”

01/18/2026

Great evening at the Hyvarinen home when Dr Lea hosted Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology winner David H Hubel in 1981. Dr Hubel was in Helsinki after the Nobel award ceremony in Norway and spent a lively evening with his family at the Hyvarinen home. (Hubel is 4th from left.)

Hubel shared half the award with Torsten Wiesel for their discoveries on information processing in the visual system, explaining how the brain analyzes visual input like patterns, contrasts, and movements from the retina to form images. They revealed the specialized roles of neurons in the visual cortex and showed that visual development is shaped by early experience, work that significantly advanced understanding of vision.

Dr Lea is first from right and her husband Dr Juhani Hyvarinen is the first from left.

01/16/2026

As we get close to Dr Lea’s 86th birthday, here is a picture of Lea with Joe Marino of M&S Technologies working on how to put LEA Symbols in M&S’s products. Pictures is from around 2003.

01/14/2026

Time to sign up for the annual New England College of Optometry birthday lecture on January 22!

Use this link

https://bit.ly/4jEyTIl

IMPORTANT - if you do not have an OE tracker number, you can still sign up for the lecture. Just put N/A on that line as that does not apply to you. Please share far and wide within the vision community!

09/10/2025

From our friends at AER: WE NEED YOUR HELP!

On September 5, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education issued non-continuation notices to all three national Braille Training Grants under the 235E Demonstration Program: Braille Training. This means that for the first time in decades, there will be no federal support for developing specialized braille training resources in the United States.

The three programs that have been eliminated are:

California State University, Los Angeles – focused on braille and technology training
University of Massachusetts at Boston – focused on professional development across the lifespan
University of South Carolina Upstate – focused on preparing new teachers and service providers
This decision impacts the entire field:

No new training resources for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVIs) to provide braille literacy to their students.
No additional training for Vision Rehabilitation Therapists (VRTs) to serve adults.
No professional development or technology innovation to address the braille literacy crisis across the lifespan.
Why This Requires Your Voice
Each of the three universities is pursuing its own appeal through their institutional channels. At the same time, AER is opening a fourth front, mobilizing our membership to apply direct political pressure. Unlike the DeafBlind campaign, this effort is more nuanced and requires personal outreach. The Department's decision to terminate an entire braille program category cannot go unchallenged.

It is also important to note: all the programs that received non-continuation notices this cycle were related to sensory impairments. This is a targeted and disproportionate impact on children and adults who are blind, DeafBlind, or low vision.

Action Steps

Call your U.S. Senators' offices, especially if you live in West Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Texas.
Ask to speak with a senior staffer in the state or district office.
Stress that this is not a budget issue. It is a policy choice that wipes out all federal braille training programs nationwide.
Frame your message with these points:
Braille is literacy. Without it, students and adults lose access to education, employment, and independence.
Eliminating these grants means there will be no national support for specialized braille training for TVIs or VRTs.
This decision harms one of the most underserved disability groups, those with sensory impairments.
Some projects had a strong 6-year track record of success and impact.
The effect is national, not local, and every state benefits from the professionals trained in these programs.
Share this request with your networks. AER is working alongside our sister organizations to elevate this issue.


Why Calls Matter
Emails are too easily ignored. Calls to state offices of U.S. Senators carry weight. Especially when they come from constituents. We must ensure that Senators, particularly Republicans in the targeted states, intervene directly with the Department of Education.

AER stands with the California State University, Los Angeles, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the University of South Carolina Upstate. Eliminating these grants is unacceptable. Together, we must make clear that braille literacy is a national priority.

With urgency and appreciation,
Lee Sonnenberg, MA
Executive Director
Association for Education & Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired

07/13/2025

Organizing all of the scientific archives for their new home at New England College of Optometry. Even found the prototype for the LEA 3D puzzle.

04/25/2025

Just a quick reminder that you are not supposed to use your finger or a pen to point to the symbols on the LEA eye charts. Here is the proper way to use the chart.

Pediatric distance visual acuity eye chart featuring LEA SYMBOLS® for screening or testing individuals beginning at age 2 1/2. Lea Hyvarinen, MD show you how...