Inez E. Wilber Alpert; Pioneering Ophthalmologist

Inez E. Wilber Alpert, 93, pioneering woman physician and ophthalmologist. A native of Los Angeles who grew up in Needles, Calif., Alpert decided at the age of 10 to become a doctor despite the difficulty women of that era had in attending college, much less medical school. Her brother’s early death from rheumatic heart disease solidified her decision. She earned an undergraduate degree from USC in 1927 and her medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1932. During her residency at Yale University (which she earned despite the “no women need apply” clause on the application), she met her future husband, the late pathologist Dr. Louis K. Alpert. She also decided to practice in the developing specialty of ophthalmology. The couple worked in Chicago, New York and during World War II moved to Washington, where Wilber founded and operated eye clinics for servicemen, FBI agents, glaucoma patients and children. She opened her private practice in Washington in 1942. The Alperts retired to Poway, Calif., in 1977, and after her husband’s death in 1993, she moved to La Jolla to be near their only daughter, Louise Pelan. On Saturday in La Jolla of a stroke.