Meet NECO’s Distinguished Alumni

Each year NECO proudly awards the Distinguished Alumni title to deserving graduates who have exemplified excellence, embraced their role as compassionate caregivers, exhibited an unwavering dedication to the field of optometry, and made a profound impact on their communities.

These distinguished alumni have furthered the optometric profession through their leadership and belief in the role optometrists can play in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. They each have taken a different path, yet one theme is constant, they collaborated and worked with others to move our profession forward and influenced future optometrists growth and development.

Dr. Karen G. Carrasquillo, OD, PhD

Class of 2005

Dr. Karen G. Carrasquillo ’05 has contributed a vast amount of knowledge to the scleral lens industry based on her years of clinical and medical device design experience. She is the current Senior Vice President of Clinical and Professional Affairs at BostonSight. Prior to this position, Dr. Carrasquillo led BostonSight in the research and development of the patented BostonSight SCLERAL FitKit®. She has been vital to the product’s success over the years and continues to lead product innovation. 

Beyond product development, Dr. Carrasquillo is also passionate about education. She founded and leads the annual FitAcademy®, a training program on ocular surface disease management and scleral lenses. She travels the world delivering lectures and workshops to educate optometrists globally on the benefits, challenges, and troubleshooting of scleral lenses. 

Because of her vast knowledge and innovation, she is the key international opinion leader with close to thirty published articles on scleral lenses, contributed to several scleral lens books and industry resources, and is also the author of several patents. Dr. Carrasquillo leads the team of prosthetic replacement of the eye surface system (PROSE) providers and treats PROSE patients in Needham, Massachusetts.

She is the past Chair of the 2024 Global Ophthalmic Women (GLOW) congress and past planning committee member for the International Congress of Scleral Contacts (ICSC) congress. 

In addition, she is an adjunct clinical professor here at NECO and at the school of optometry, MCPHS University. Dr. Carrasquillo also acts as Advisory Board member for the Gas Permeable Lens Institute (GPLI), Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO), Fellow of the Educational Society of Scleral Lenses (FSLS), Fellow of the British Contact Lens Association (FBCLA), and Global Ambassador of the BCLA. 

Prior to completing her doctorate degree in Optometry and her residency in Cornea and Contact Lenses, she completed a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico and a postdoctoral fellowship in ophthalmological research from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Dr. Eli Peli, OD, MSc

Class of 1983

Dr. Eli Peli ’83 is a leading expert in vision rehabilitation research, he was the first to propose and test the use of computerized image enhancement as a visual aid, and has developed numerous optical visual aids used around the world.

Dr. Peli earned a BSc in Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. He then received his OD degree from NECO in 1983. Since graduating in 1983 he has been caring for visually impaired patients at the New England Medical Center Hospitals, where is now the Director of Vision Rehabilitation Services. 

He is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and the Moakley Scholar in Aging Eye Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at NECO and Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Peli is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, the Optical Society of America, the  Society for Information Display, the International Society of Optical Engineering, and ARVO. 

He was presented the 2001 Glenn A. Fry Lecture Award and the 2009 William Feinbloom Award by the American Academy of Optometry, the 2004  Alfred W. Bressler Prize in Vision Science by the Jewish Guild for the Blind, the 2006 Pisart Vision Award by the Lighthouse International, the 2009 Alcon Research Institute award, the 2010 Otto Schade Prize from the Society for Information Display, the 2010 Edwin H Land Medal award from both the Optical Society of America and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, the 2017 Charles Prentice Medal by the American Academy of Optometry, and the 2020 Oberdorfer Award in Low Vision by ARVO. He was awarded an Honorary Master’s in Medicine degree by Harvard Medical School in 2002 and an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the State University of New York in 2006. 

Dr. Peli’s principal research interests are image processing in relation to visual function and clinical psychophysics in low vision rehabilitation, image understanding and evaluation of display-vision interaction. He also maintains an interest in oculomotor control and binocular vision. Dr. Peli consulted to over 50 companies in the ophthalmic instrumentation area and to manufacturers of head mounted displays (HMDs). 

He served as a consultant on many national committees, including the National Institutes of Health, NASA’s Aviation Operations Systems advisory committee, US Air Force, Department of Veterans Affairs, US Navy Postdoctoral Fellowships Program, US Army Research Labs, and US Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 

Dr. Peli has published more than 250 peer reviewed scientific papers and has been awarded 23 US Patents. He edited a book entitled “Visual Models for Target Detection” with special emphasis on military applications and co-authored a book entitled “Driving with Confidence: A Practical Guide to Driving with Low Vision.”

Dr. Charles F. Mullen, OD

Class of 1969

Dr. Charles F. Mullen ’69 is widely recognized as a trailblazer in the field of optometric education and community-based health care. His vision and leadership were instrumental in establishing optometry’s first program to collaborate with community health centers. Such collaboration led to both improving access to eye care services and enriching the clinical training of optometry students. This groundbreaking initiative at NECO sought to integrate optometry as an interdisciplinary health care practice and provide care for under-served populations.

Recognizing the limitations of traditional teaching clinics, Dr. Mullen pushed the idea of embedding optometric training within high-quality health care environments. By forming innovative affiliations with community health centers, Dr. Mullen’s program allowed students to encounter complex ocular and vision conditions and learn alongside other health care professionals, fostering a collaborative and patient-centered approach to care.

By the mid-1970s, the program was delivering over 45,000 eye visits annually to under-served communities and transforming the professional aspirations of NECO graduates. Many students went on to pursue careers in public health, community health centers, and health care policy. The model also inspired other institutions, leading to partnerships that integrated optometry into broader health care networks across the country.

Dr. Mullen’s legacy extends beyond his pioneering work with NECO. He led the expansion of optometric state laws in Rhode Island in 1972, authorizing the use of pharmaceuticals and advanced clinical procedures that gave optometrists a greater ability to care for their patients.

By 1990 Dr. Mullen led the Optometry Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, DC. With this post, he became the highest-ranking civilian optometrist employed by the government. Under his stewardship, he implemented protocols for clinical privileging and standardized the educational component system-wide at the VHA. These guidelines are the principle force driving policy decisions today. 

From 1996 to 2002, Dr. Mullen led the Illinois College of Optometry as their President and CEO. During these years the school saw notable growth in clinical placements and expansion of student access to diverse patient populations.

By emphasizing the role of optometry over many decades, Dr. Mullen has increased awareness of eye care, improved the training of all providers, and greatly improved the quality of patient care across the country.