University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry Welcomes Dr. Ruth Shoge
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University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry Welcomes Dr. Ruth Shoge
Berkeley Optometry is happy to announce that Dr. Ruth Shoge is joining the school as Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, and Associate Clinical Professor. Many know Dr. Shoge through her DEI Workshops and her frequent appearance on national panels.
Dr. Ruth Shoge received her Doctor of Optometry degree from and completed a residency in Pediatrics and Vision Therapy at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO). She received her Master of Public Health from Temple University with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Science. During that time, she developed a special interest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which includes addressing health disparity concerns through cultural competency training, recruitment and retention strategies, and curriculum reform. Her final master’s project was titled “Social Experiences of Underrepresented Minority Optometry Students.” She currently serves as Chair of ASCO’s Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee, which promotes racial and ethnic diversity and inclusion initiatives at optometric institutions. Dr. Shoge started her own consulting company to deliver lectures and workshops to academic, research, corporate and student members of the optometric industry.
She has recently been nominated by the AAOptometry to the AAOphthalmology’s Disparities in Eyecare Task Force and co-chair of the Access to Eye Care sub task force.
As a clinical educator, Dr. Shoge’s specialties include pediatric care, binocular vision disorders, vision disorders related to TBI and vision therapy. In the clinical setting, Dr. Shoge aims to provide and model clinical competence and cultural humility to her students as they care for their patients. She serves as an investigator in several federally funded research studies that investigate pediatric and adult visual conditions such as amblyopia, strabismus, myopia and concussion-related vision disorders. She has also had the opportunity to present nationally and internationally about binocular vision, vision therapy, and the management of concussion-related vision disorders and has delivered cultural competency workshops.
