Sarah Deborah Appel,
OD
Chief of Low Vision
Center
Pennsylvania College
of Optometry
Philadelphia
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "She's a very
knowledgeable and incredibly caring doctor. Her work
with patients who have very limited vision and her calm manner
and patience with those with mental handicaps is
inspiring..."
As chief of the William Feinbloom Low Vision
Center, Pennsylvania College of Optometry and co-director of
the special populations assessment and rehabilitation center,
Appel is also associate professor of optometry at the college
and is a Diplomate in Low Vision Rehabilitation Optometry for
the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). She briefly went into
private practice back in 1980 but missed the rewards of the
college setting, a place where she feels, "you can accomplish
so much." Appel
feels her greatest professional challenge is to get future
optometrists to look beyond the visual disability and the
ocular disorder and to recognize the unique strengths as well
as needs of the person that has come to them for help. "When
you help parents, teachers and rehabilitation professionals to
understand the visual status of their visually and physically
impaired children so that they can better address their
complex needs, you have no doubt that you are doing a great
deal of good," she said.
SHE SAYS: "There's a saying in
Judaism that if you help one person, you help to repair the
world. I think that as a teacher and as a provider of
low-vision rehabilitative care, I have the honor and the
pleasure of doing my bit to repair the world."
Roxana F. Barad,
MD
Medical
Director
Pittsburgh Eye
Associates
Pittsburgh
CHOSEN BECAUSE..."She is an
excellent surgeon with a human touch for the sincere care
about her patients.... She is a great scientist and
technician."
Dr. Barad is the medical
director of Pittsburgh Eye Associates and Pittsburgh Aesthetic
Center. She is also on the staff at several Pittsburgh health
centers. A 19-year veteran of ophthalmology, Barad describes
herself as part businesswoman and supervisor of managed care
issues and optical shops. In addition to her practice
responsibilities, Barad is a member of the American Academy of
Ophthalmologists and the Wills Eye Hospital Society. Barad
wears another hat with a sub specialty in ocular plastic
surgery and cosmetic dermatology, which she describes as
"a dynamic area." She has pioneered several surgical
procedures in this field in addition to cosmetic surgery
dealing with the face and neck. "People are living longer and
want to take steps to feel better about themselves. I can help
make that happen," she said.
SHE SAYS... "The key to my success
has been mentors and networking along the way. Brainstorming,
absorbing information and the cross-pollination of ideas,
sometimes from different fields, has made it exciting. My
advice to other women is to be persistent and always be
passionate about what you do."
Ida Chung,
OD
Chief of Pediatric
Service
Assistant
Professor
SUNY College of
Optometry
New
York
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "She is very
dedicated to the profession and is also very active in
research and optometric organizations throughout the
community...."
As chief of pediatric
service, Chung oversees patient care activities in the
Pediatric Service, part of one of the largest out-patient
eyecare facilities in the nation, the University Optometric
Center. As a clinical professor she teaches the third-year
professional students a course titled "Pediatric and Special
Population Optometry." And as chairperson of Academic Services
Committee for the College of Optometrists in Vision
Development, Chung works with students, residents and faculty
at each of the schools and colleges of optometry to encourage
student membership, arrange speaker programs and expand
programs in the area of developmental optometry. As vice
president of student affairs for New York State Optometric
Association she helped implement a five-year strategic plan to
develop student programs and organized a practice management
program for students at Vision Expo East in 2006. "I
help graduate more than 65 optometrists yearly. By
reorganizing the subject matter, we are preparing students for
the 21st century of optometry and are encouraging them to
become life-long learners," Chung said.
SHE SAYS... "Some people may say
that vision is the art of seeing the invisible. I say for
others vision is seeing for survival, for living and for
learning. I became interested in optometry through my desire
to help others and what better way to help others than to help
preserve people's vision?
Kristine Eng, OD,
FAAO
Owner
Orinda
Optometry Group
Orinda,
Calif.
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "An outstanding
doctor who has chosen to give back....exhibited leadership
even as a student when she was student-body president for
UC-Berkeley's school of optometry."
Eng has been in private
practice for the last eight years, since graduating from UC
Berkeley's School of Optometry in 1998. At that time, she
joined the two family practices her father started, the El
Sobrante Family Eyecare Optometric Center and the Orinda
Optometry Group. She assumed management of both locations and
eventually sold the El Sobrante location to concentrate on the
Orinda office where she recently completed a major remodeling
and expansion, all while seeing patients full-time. In
addition to her office duties, Eng's professional activities
include: a Fellowship at the American Academy of Optometry;
member of the AOA's membership development committee;
president of the Bay Area Optometric Council, and charter
membership in Women of Vision. She was named the 2005 American
Optometric Association's Young OD of the Year. Her favorite
part of the job: she still gets to work with her Dad (who
recently retired) one day a week in the
office.
SHE SAYS... "I've been surrounded
by high achieving optometrists my whole life that have
continually empowered me as an individual to extend the
reaches of our profession. I am a third generation
optometrist, following a legacy that my grandfather started,
and my father continued. I have been fortunate to have
talented people surrounding me, always challenging me to go to
the next level."
Joan M. Exford, OD,
FAAO
Partner, Korb
Associates
Boston
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "She has been at
the forefront of optometry, serving in various leadership
roles in professional organizations. She maintains an active
role with optometric students, serving as a mentor to over 75
optometrists."
Joan M. Exford followed in
her father's footsteps and became an optometrist. Her father,
Donald Exford, OD, FAAO, was not only a role model, but also a
mentor who encouraged her to get involved with optometric
organizations early on. Exford has been very active indeed.
Amongst her accomplishments, she has served as the first woman
president for the American Academy of Optometry and currently
sits on the Board of Trustees for the New England College of
Optometry. She is on the board of directors for the American
Optometric Foundation. She is the past president of Prevent
Blindness Massachusetts and past chairperson for the
Massachusetts Board of Registration of Optometrists. Exford
currently serves on the Nominating Committee for the American
Academy of Optometry. She is a member of the Board of
Directors for the New England Eye Institute. And, in 2004, she
became a member of the National Optometry Hall of Fame. She is
also the first woman Diplomate for the Cornea and Contact Lens
Section of the American Academy of Optometry. Currently,
Exford is in private practice with her husband, Donald Korb,
at Korb Associates. Together they team up on patient care and
clinical research. Their practice provides a work environment
for optometric students as well as students considering
optometry school. One of Exford's goals as a president of the
American Academy of Optometry was to increase student
attendance at meetings and introduce them to the benefits of
continuing education and research. Providing a substantial
number of travel grants has helped students achieve these
goals. Her practice sends several students to meetings
annually.
SHE SAYS... "Volunteering in
optometric organizations and supporting students and research
are critical factors in continuing the advancement of
optometry. These activities not only benefit the
profession, but offer opportunities for great personal growth,
satisfaction and rewards."
Michelle Harrison,
OD
Co-owner, Camden
Eyecare Associates
Owner,
Harrison Eye Clinic
Camden,
Tenn. and Paris, Tenn.
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "What sets her
apart from the other doctors is her passion for helping young
women believe in themselves. She also has a strong belief that
young women should have equal opportunities at
work.
When Michelle Harrison, OD
was a teenager, she was always in an optometrists' office for
her own eyecare. So, when contemplating a career track (a
tossup between physical therapy and optometry), Harrison
decided on optometry. After Harrison graduated from Southern
College of Optometry in Memphis, she worked in various
commercial settings before buying into her first practice in
2000--Camden Eyecare Associates. In 2003, she opened up
Harrison Eye Clinic in her hometown, Paris, Tenn. Currently
she works full time, spending three days at one practice and
two days at the other. She has a full-service clinic with
ocular disease services and a dispensary. While juggling her
practices, she is involved with the community's Health
Occupation program, which addresses visual problems in school
children. She also serves as vice president on the Women's
Health Advisory Board for Henry County Medical Center; the
board provides education on health issues to women in her
community. In addition, she is involved in fundraisers with
her local Lions Club, providing glasses to people in the
community who can't afford them.
SHE SAYS... "For a successful
practice and to be a successful optometrist, take care of your
patients and do what is best for them. There are very few
practices where you actually balance treating diseases with
selling and fitting products. Learn as much as you can about
both the business side and the medical side. It's also
important to stay up on the technology side because it changes
daily."
Elizabeth Hoppe, OD,
DrPH
New England College
of Optometry
Associate Dean
of Academic Affairs
Boston
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "She is the first
woman chosen as editor of the Association of Schools and
Colleges of Optometry's peer reviewed journal, Optometric
Education. She has a strong background in education
administration, writing and reviewing manuscripts."
Elizabeth Hoppe is the first woman in
optometry to hold the OD, DrPh degree, a relatively rare
accomplishment among women. She graduated from Michigan
College of Optometry at Ferris State University in 1988 and
worked at the Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center in West
Haven Virginia for her residency in vision rehabilitation.
After, she received her masters at Yale University in public
health in 1991 and her Doctorate in Public Health in 1999. She
spent 13 years teaching at Southern California College of
Optometry. In 2003, she landed at the New England College of
Optometry. In her current position as Associate Dean of
Academic Affairs, she oversees the clinical education program
and classroom learning. She is actively involved in faculty
development and institutional assessment and works hard to
help the next generation of optometrists. Currently, she also
serves on the Governing Council of the American Public Health
Association and is on the editorial board of Optometry:
The Journal of the American Optometric Association. She
is also on the Diplomate committee for Public Health and
Environmental Vision of the American Academy of
Optometry.
SHE SAYS... "Say yes to as much as
you can. Don't set limits on yourself. Always try to look for
other opportunities."
Lorie Lippiatt,
OD
Founder and
President
Salem Eyecare
Center
Salem,
Ohio
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "A leading
contributor to the arena of electronic medical records...a
member of AOA's Health Care Technology Committee."
When Lippiatt hung out her
shingle 16 years ago, there were no computer programs to
provide electronic health records to optometrists. Today,
in addition to running the Salem Eyecare Center, a leading
technology integrated practice, Lippiatt collaborates with Ian
Lane, vice president of Professional Services at OfficeMate as
one of the four original developers of ExamWRITER. She
desribes herself as "a pioneer in getting the different pieces
of technology to work together. It was kind of amazing, but at
the time, there was no efficient electronic health records
available to optometrists." Lippiatt also serves as
a medical record consultant to OfficeMate, overseeing the
curriculum and the staff that trains optometrists in the usage
of ExamWRITER. In addition to her technology expertise,
Lippiatt has incorporated wellness into her Salem eyecare
practice. She is an executive president's Partnership Club
distributor for AmeriSciences, one of the nations leading
nutraceutical companies and joint partner with NASA in
developing nutritional supplements for the astronaut corps.
Lippiatt said her greatest challenge is finding the time to
implement all the improvements she can develop. "In addition
to seeing patients two days a week, I sometimes feel like I
need five more days in the week."
SHE SAYS... "Throughout my career,
I've learned to pick and choose what I want to use from my
mentors. But I've found you have to be open to change because
that's when change occurs. It's a lot of thinking outside the
box. For example, the idea to go paperless was a huge step
that showed the technology is sometimes ahead of our
thinking."
