NECO Celebrates the Next Generation of Optometrists

NECO conferred Doctor of Optometry degrees to 128 students in the four-year OD program, as well as six students who were awarded a Master’s Degree in Vision Science concurrently with their OD degree. Three students were awarded Accelerated Optometric Degrees and five students completed the Advanced Standing International Program and received their Doctor of Optometry degree.

Drs. Nicole Ross, Thomas Andrea, and Jennifer Reilly served as faculty and student marshals and led each processional. In attendance were NECO faculty, staff, senior leadership, members of the Board of Trustees, alumni board members, honorees, as well as over 1,000 family and friends of the Class of 2025.

Dr. Howard Purcell, NECO President and Chief Executive Officer, welcomed the Class of 2025 and introduced the faculty, staff, Board Members, and special guests in attendance. He took a moment to acknowledge and honor the late Dr. Maureen Hanley, whose absence was palpable. He then shared his congratulations for the new graduates who demonstrated their resilience right from the start of their NECO journey in 2020. 

Dr. Howard Purcell

“The pandemic may have shifted where you were learning,” Dr. Purcell recalled. “However, the commitment to providing you with the skills and knowledge was always focused on enhancing the curriculum, and your experiences, to prepare you for tomorrow’s opportunities in optometry.”

Dr. Purcell’s words were followed by a warm welcome from Richard Heller, Esq., Chair of the Board of Trustees, who applauded the graduates’ dedication and acknowledged the significant contributions they will continue to make in people’s lives.

“You will become trusted partners in the healthcare community, making a real difference in people’s lives,” highlighted Mr. Heller. “As a person who has visual limitations, I have personally experienced what a difference you, members of the eye care community, can make in one individual’s life serving as advocates and health care providers.”

Next to the podium was Alumni Association President and Assistant Professor of Clinical Optometry Thomas Andrea, OD, FAAO who welcomed the Class of 2025 to the alumni and optometric community. He reminded the graduates how much of an impact they can have as professionals.

Dr. Thomas Andrea

“As new doctors of optometry, you’ve been trained to diagnose disease, preserve sight, and enhance patients’ quality of life,” Dr. Andrea said. “But it is important to recognize that your influence extends far beyond the exam room. You are now leaders and advocates in your communities.”

Honorary Degrees and Presidential Medal Awards

NECO’s Honorary Degrees are granted upon recommendation by the Board of Trustees to distinguished individuals who have furthered the body of knowledge in eye care, expanded access to eye care in underserved communities, and have made outstanding contributions to the welfare and development of NECO or communities in which we serve. Barry S. Kran, OD, FAAO, Professor Emeritus presented the Degree to this year’s recipient, D. Luisa Mayer, PhD, MEd, and spoke of her tremendous contribution to not only NECO, but to the greater community of visually and multiply impaired children and families.

Dr. Mayer is an innovator whose ability to foster interdisciplinary collaboration has advanced the understanding of visual function and established a transformative clinical model that empowers educators, caregivers, and families to better understand and support the visual development of individuals with disabilities. Dr. Mayer founded the Visual Function Clinic (VFC) at Boston Children’s Hospital, with the mission of formalizing and supporting clinical assessments grounded in research-based vision testing techniques. NECO later welcomed Dr. Mayer and the VFC to the New England Eye Low Vision Clinic at Perkins School for the Blind where her expertise established the clinic as a trusted referral center for ophthalmologists, optometrists, neurologists, and pediatricians.

D. Luisa Mayer, PhD, MEd

Reflecting on her career, Dr. Mayer recalled the many places she went and titles she held. “If there is any wisdom to be passed on from my experiences, it is to be flexible and open to new opportunities,” she shared. “Whatever your career choice now may change, possibly, several times during your career. ”

The NECO Presidential Medal is awarded to eye care professionals or groups who have made a unique impact on the College and its constituencies. Dr. Howard Purcell and Dr. Alan Glazier introduced Lois Schoenbrun, CAE (Ret.), FAAO as this year’s recipient.

Lois Schoenbrun is a distinguished nonprofit and association executive who served for 23 years as Executive Director and CEO of both the American Academy of Optometry and the American Academy of Optometry Foundation. Under her guidance, Academy membership more than doubled and annual meeting attendance broke new record highs. Driven by a deep commitment to equitable access to vision care, Ms. Schoenbrun assumed the role of Executive Director of Optometry Giving Sight (OGS), an international nonprofit dedicated to providing eye care services to underserved populations.

Lois Schoenbrun, CAE (Ret.), FAAO

Ms. Schoenbrun described her experience working with optometrists over the years, and just how committed they are to their patients and everyone in the optometric community. 

“Unlike other professions, where too few step up to serve, the pervasive spirit of volunteerism in optometry is remarkable, delightful, and so important,” she shares. “It moves the profession forward, and to use the language of the Academy, it advances ‘the art and science of vision care.’ People see better, because optometrists give back.”

This Year’s Class Valedictorian

This year’s Valedictorian, Shannon Gavin, took to the podium and received a standing ovation from her classmates. Shannon has not only completed NECO’s OD program with a 4.0 grade point average over her four-year journey, but has also combined her passion for patient care, problem-solving, and the application of scientific principles in a clinical setting with grace and curiosity.

Shannon Gavin

While at NECO, Shannon pursued the pediatric concentration where she gained extensive hands-on experience across a variety of pediatric-focused clinical sites. Among her most memorable experiences was performing contact lens fittings for aphakic infants at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida during her fourth-year externship. Following graduation, Shannon plans to advance her expertise through a residency in Ocular Disease and Cornea/Contact Lenses at the Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Georgia beginning in July.

Her speech detailed the powerful lessons she learned throughout her fourth-year rotations, recalling that her clinical and diagnostic skills were put to good use, but so too were the patient-centered and compassionate care skills.  

“My time at Bascom Palmer in Miami taught me how to prescribe atropine to a progressing myope” she shared. “But it also taught me how to teach and build up the confidence of a mother who was worried about inserting her infant’s contact lenses.” 

Hooding and Diplomas

Before the conferring of degrees, Dr. Purcell recognized the individuals who received awards for clinical excellence, personal achievement, academic excellence, and scholarship awards. In addition to the award winners, candidates for Residency Certification were also recognized. NECO has one of the largest affiliated post-graduate residency programs in the country and a formal ceremony will be held at a separate event in June after the completion of their training.

Dr. Erik Weissberg

After this recognition, candidates lined up to be called one by one to the stage. They were hooded by NECO faculty members Drs. Thomas Andrea and Jennifer Reilly, Associate Professor of Optometry. Dr. Erik Weissberg, Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, took to the podium to congratulate the Class of 2025 and read the names of each degree recipient.

“Today is an important day in your personal and professional lives,” Dr. Weissberg stated. “I urge you to take a moment to appreciate this moment, this exact moment. Your hard work and dedication was meant to bring you to this precise moment and it is an honor for me to be a part of it.” 

After the 128 graduates received their doctoral hood and degree, Dr. Timothy Bossie, Senior Director of Owned Clinics & Outreach Affiliations and Attending Optometrist at NECO Center for Eye Care led the new doctors in reciting the Optometric Oath.

The graduates then stood and applauded their loved ones in the audience as they cheered their achievements together for the first time as doctors. The ceremony concluded with the newly-minted doctors exiting Symphony Hall to greet family and friends and to embark on the next phase of their personal and professional lives.

Watch the recorded livestream of the ceremony.

Please note: We apologize for the lags in the video, due in part to technical difficulties with the WiFi signal in Symphony Hall.

 

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Class of 2025 Awards and Achievements

 

Personal Achievement Awards

Dow Smith Award: Carissa Fleming

Dr. Hyman R. Kamens Award: Clarice Bouvier

Dr. Edward Joseph Troendle, Jr. Award: Carissa Fleming

David A. Huebner, OD ’86, Scholarship for Teaching Excellence: Anna Konstantinidis

Faculty Scholarship Award: Clarice Bouvier

Alumni Association Scholarship: Carissa Fleming

 

Academic Achievement Awards

Valedictory Award/BSK Medal: Shannon Gavin

Salutatorian Award: Eleanor McGeary

Advanced Standing International Program Scholastic Achievement: Yakout Jade Hatoum

William R. Baldwin Award: Yuchun Liu

 

Low Vision Awards

Eschenbach Award for Excellence in Low Vision: Peter Kemble

William Feinbloom Low Vision Award: Phillipa Dorling

Optelec Excellence in Low Vision Award: Bethany Arabic

Ned S. Witkin Leadership in Low Vision Award: Rachel Harmon

 

Contact Lens Awards

GP Contact Lens Clinical Excellence Award: Alexandra Baillie

 

Outstanding Clinical Performance Awards

Class of 1969 Scholarship: Peter Kemble

New England College of Optometry Clinic Award: Peter Kemble and Clarice Bouvier

William C. Barrett Memorial Scholarship: Emely Minimo Soto

 

Pediatric and Vision Therapy Awards

COVD Award for Excellence in Vision Therapy: Toby Wercberger

Ira Schwartz Behavioral Vision Award: Eleanor McGeary

Good-Lite Equipment Award: Purva Atreay

 

Scholarship Awards

VSP/AAOF Practice Excellence Scholarship: Alexandra Baillie & Rachel Harmon

Beider Scholarship: Joanna Liu, Jessi Wieck, Grace Whalen, & Shana Yun

Monthe N. Kofos Scholarship: Alexandra Baillie & Carissa Fleming

Joseph and Judith Ann Feldberg Scholarship: Rachel Harmon & Eleanor McGeary

Dr. Richard Laudon Scholarship: Toby Wercberger

 

Teaching Excellence Awards

Foster Namias: Dr. Jennifer Reilly

Carroll Martus: Dr. Thomas Andrea