UHCO Faculty, Alumni Earn Statewide Honors

The University of Houston, College of Optometry shone at the 2020 Texas Optometric Association (TOA) 2020 Summit in February, with several top honors going to UHCO faculty and alumni.

The TOA House of Delegates paid a heartfelt tribute to the late Judith Ann (Judy) Perrigin, OD ’77. When asked how many people in the room had been impacted by Judy Perrigin as an educator, about three-fourths of the attendees stood up.

An internationally renowned educator, Perrigin served as a full-time professor at UHCO from 1978 to 2019. She was the first recipient of the Cora and J. Davis Armistead Teaching Excellence Award, the highest award presented by UHCO to recognize faculty, in 2001 and received the TOA Educator of the Year Award in 2003. She was also UHCO’s director of cornea and contact lens residency.

Perrigin received the prestigious Garland Clay Award from the American Academy of Optometry for “the most significant clinical paper published in the American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics in 1987.” The paper focused on the control of myopia through a randomized clinical trial and the study served as the catalyst for the most recent multi-center clinical trial on the topic – the Correction of Myopia Evaluation Trial (COMET).

“Judy had an impact on almost every person that ever learned to fit a contact lens at the University of Houston, and she and Dr. David Perrigin are institutions, in and of themselves, and synonymous with the University of Houston College of Optometry,” read the resolution.

The assembled delegates rose and observed a moment of silence to honor Judy Perrigin’s memory.

The recognition of UHCO’s commitment to excellence in education and patient-centered care continued throughout.

Houston-area optometrist Sam Quintero, OD ’72, received the Optometrist of the Year Award. This honor recognizes a TOA member optometrist who has rendered outstanding cumulative service to the association and the profession.

He joined the UHCO faculty in 1972 and continues today as an adjunct associate professor. He received the TOA’s Educator of the Year Award in 2005 and earned the American Academy of Optometry’s Eminent Service Award in 1988. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.

Quintero has been practicing optometry for more than 40 years and is in private practice with his daughter – Michele Quintero, OD ’04 – at Lakeshore Eye Care in Cypress.

Pat Segu, OD ’92, received the Mollie Armstrong Leadership Award. This award is given to a TOA member optometrist, in practice at least 10 years, who has rendered service to the visual welfare of Texans. This award recognizes an optometrist who has performed significant public service for the visual welfare of others, for educational institutions and organizations, research programs or for civic and community groups.

Segu is a clinical professor and director of optometry services at the University Eye Center in the Heights for UHCO. She is also the founding medical director for See To Succeed – a collaborative Houston-based community vision project, which has provided eyes exams and care for over 71,000 school-aged children since 2011.

She has 20 years of extensive clinical experience in primary care, ocular disease and community outreach programs. Segu is a Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry, a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, and a Texas Optometric Glaucoma Specialist. She serves as American Optometric Association Faculty Liaison for the college, chairwoman for the Texas Public Health Association’s Vision Care Section and was the immediate past chair for the American Public Health Association’s Vision Care Section.

Previous accolades include: the TOA’s 2013 Educator of the Year Award, the 2013-2014 UH Teaching Excellence Award in community engagement and the 2015 Distinguished Service Award for vision care from the American Public Health Association. She was also an honoree for the Prevent Blindness Texas’ 2015 Eye Stroll for Vision and the Houston Delta Gamma Foundation’s 2014 Voices for Vision Fundraiser. The Mayor of Houston proclaimed May 15, 2019 as “Dr. Pat Segu Day” in recognition of her efforts and leadership in the advancement of childhood vision care.

Reid Robertson, OD ’10, was named Young Optometrist of the Year. This award recognizes a TOA member optometrist, 40 years of age or younger, who has rendered outstanding service and professional leadership on local, state or national levels; who has demonstrated by action the highest regard for the ethics and ideals of the TOA; and whose actions are a credit to the profession of optometry.

While at UHCO, Robertson was awarded the Zelda Schiffman Neuro-Ophthalmology Award for excellence in clinical assessment and patient care at the MS Eye CARE Clinic at UHCO’s University Eye Institute. He owns the Texas State Optical clinics in Allen and Rockwall.

This year, John Coble, OD ’86, of Greenville, received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor awarded to members by the TOA. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, an Optometric Glaucoma Specialist and Therapeutic Optometrist.

He received TOA’s Optometrist of the Year Award in 2004 and was recognized as the 2005 Distinguished Alumnae of the Year by UHCO. He serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the college.

All four received their awards at the 2020 TOA Summit on Feb. 1, in Austin.

For a full list of 2020 TOA Summit Award Recipients click here.