ASCO hosted a virtual Town Hall meeting with the Deans and Presidents of its member institutions and representatives from its corporate contributor community on Friday, March 31st. The virtual Town Hall events allow ASCO’s Corporate Contributors to interface directly with leadership at ASCO’s member schools and colleges in a group setting. In addition, these events also enable the eye care community to showcase new programs in development for the schools and colleges of optometry.

ASCO’s Diversity & Cultural Competency and Students Affairs committees partnered on April 21st to host an ASCO Diversity Town Hall to share details behind two cases recently considered by the U.S. Supreme Court that question whether institutions of higher education can use race as a factor in admissions.

Date: June 2, 2023

Time: 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. ET

Where: Zoom Webinar

Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3N9I3ON

Cost: FREE to join

ASCO’s Board of Directors came together on the campus of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University on March 23 & 24 for its Spring Board Meeting.

This year’s Future Faculty Program (FFP) ended on March 15th with the final session focused on the two topics: Publishing and Grant Writing and Breaking Bad News to Students.

The second in a series of four sessions that make up ASCO’s Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Summit was held on April 14th and covered Mentoring, Development, and Making your Mark: Interprofessional Education Optometry.  

ASCO announces a theme edition of the journal Optometric Education that will be dedicated to global optometric education. ASCO welcomes manuscript submissions that highlight research, curricula, pedagogy, public health initiatives and other projects that align with the theme edition’s mission of sharing ongoing efforts to advance the profession of optometry worldwide.

Bausch + Lomb and Novaliq Announce Publication of Second Pivotal Phase 3 Data on NOV03 (Perfluorohexyloctane) in American Journal of Ophthalmology

An Update to the EssilorLuxottica Eye Care Financial Freedom Application

Haag-Streit Launches 5th ‘Slit Lamp Imaging Competition’

Dr. Daniel Taylor, who had been serving as Interim Dean of the Michigan College of Optometry (MCO) since August 2021, is now officially MCO’s Dean. On Monday, April 17, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Bobby Fleischman announced Taylor has accepted an appointment as MCO Dean following a search process.

Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry (NSUOCO) is proud to announce that fourth year student, Aubry Tackett was recently selected as the recipient of the Dr. Frank D. Fontana Memorial Scholarship for demonstrating excellent clinical performance, empathetic patient care, and strong interest in developing and participating in the optometry community.

The State University of New York (SUNY) announced that Dr. Steven Schwartz, PhD has been appointed to the rank of Distinguished Teaching Professorship, SUNY’s highest academic rank. He joins a select group of professors who have earned this distinction.

The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence announced the recipients of its 2023 Oklahoma Medal for Excellence awards honoring five outstanding educators in Oklahoma’s public schools.

Four UAB School of Optometry (UABSO) students have been selected by the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship of Alabama (ASF) to serve as Alabama Schweitzer Fellows. This marks the first time that optometry students at UAB have been selected to participate in the program. 

Three Southern College of Optometry faculty members were recently honored for their research.

During his second year at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) in the 1980s, Mark Boas, OD ‘86, was elected class president. He would go on to be class president his third and fourth years as well, and after graduating from PCO, would continue to serve as Alumni Association president (1995-1999), faculty member (2001-2020) and on the Board of Trustees for many years.

Seeing her hometown area code pop up on her phone, Kelsi Jones, OD, ‘23 Resident, assumed it must be a hometown acquaintance trying to reach her. Answering the call, the other line was not a familiar friend, but rather Seidenberg Protzko Eye Associates in Havre de Grace, Maryland, which is located close to her home, offering her a primary care/ocular disease residency. 

Dr. Billie Beckwith-Cohen is a recent Vision Science PhD graduate from the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science who is currently in the 3rd year of a residency at the Michigan State University Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences. See below for an excerpt from the article, written by Zac Unger.

A virtual reconfiguration to the Optometry’s Meeting® poster session generates a second-straight year of record-setting participation, as well as the flexibility to drop in without ever leaving your office.

The American Optometric Association (AOA) Third Party Center has introduced the Health and Vision Plan Action Report, a daily log of AOA and affiliate efforts to support full reimbursement and fair coverage policies. The report details the plan, member doctor’s concern or complaint, action taken by the AOA or affiliate, and the outcome of the outreach.

The Scientific Program abstract submission window is now open and will close on May 31 at 5 p.m. ET. Paper and poster presentations will take place during Academy 2023 New Orleans, October 11-14, 2023.

The American Academy of Optometry Foundation is pleased to announce the request for applications for the 2023 Residency Awards.

 

The American Academy of Optometry is pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2023 ARVO Student Travel Fellowship Grants. These $750 travel fellowships provided funding for students to attend the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in New Orleans, LA on April 23 - 27, 2023.