UHCO’s Muriel Martinez Represents Optometry to High School Students
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UHCO’s Muriel Martinez Represents Optometry to High School Students
Muriel Martinez, OD ’13, FAAO, clinical assistant professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry, can add a new title to her long list of titles – “Ambassador of Optometry.”
In 2018, she was one of three doctors of optometry from around the country chosen to represent the “Optometry Gives Me Life” campaign run by the ASCO. This year, Dr. Martinez shared her love and knowledge for her chosen career with high school students.
ASCO participated in a Cue Career Live Stream panel and asked Dr. Martinez to be one of three panelists. This was a free event and 12 high schools from across the nation signed up to participate in the live session. The panelists shared insights about optometry and answered questions.
“When I was in high school, I had no idea I was going to be an eye doctor. Many of these children have no idea what optometrists do,” Dr. Martinez said. “With this live stream they got to hear from eye doctors and ask them questions in real time. How cool is that? Events like this help bring optometry to the forefront for these teenagers.”
She hopes the encounter plants an idea in the students’ minds and leads them to consider optometry as a career choice.
“We are trying to reach younger and younger populations and give them all sorts of resources and information about optometry,” she added. “I want them to know how rewarding and fun this career can be, but most importantly that we put our patients first.”
Dr. Martinez also serves on the newly-formed Diversity Task Force with the American Academy of Optometry.
Cue Career is a website that aggregates the resources of industry associations to provide students easy and effective ways to access information about careers and professional development opportunities.
ASCO’s “Optometry Gives Me Life” campaign aims to raise awareness of optometry as a career choice among students and increase the diversity and quality of the applicant pool.
