|
- A M E S S A G E F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T -
|
|
As warmer spring weather begins to invade the New York area, the appearance of a respite is illusory as we await the outcomes of the New York State budget negotiations in Albany. Budget proposals from the Senate and the Assembly contain cuts as did the Governor's budget proposal announced in January. The three recommendations all point to a minimum additional reduction of $109M+ for the SUNY State-operated campuses alone. All told, during the coming year, the three-year impact of progressive budget cuts will exceed 20% of State-based support for public higher education.
The State University of New York's future will be defined over the coming weeks as Chancellor Nancy Zimpher launches SUNY's new Strategic Plan (next week) and we await the fate of the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA). Direction (strategic planning), resources (financial support) and autonomy-with-accountability (PHEEIA), are all essential ingredients if the University is to increase its contribution to the economic resurgence of New York State and if we are to emerge as one of the country's leading public university systems in the years ahead.
I would urge all members of the College community to raise their voices and urge your representatives in Albany to support SUNY and New York Public Higher Education.
David A. Heath, O.D., Ed.M.
President |
- M A I N F E A T U R E - |
New Vice President for Student Affairs
Dr. Jeffrey L. Philpott has been appointed the new Vice President for Student Affairs, effective July 1, 2010. Dr. Philpott was highly recommended as the best candidate for the position, not only by the Search Committee, but also by the students, staff and faculty. He brings a wealth of experience in the area of student affairs and a demonstrated history of leadership, strategic planning and assessment to the College.
In his most recent position, Dr. Philpott served as Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment at Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) in Honolulu, Hawaii where he was responsible for maintaining enrollment along with the development and implementation of student development programs and services. During his tenure there, he worked to enrich the lives of the students from recruitment and admission through matriculation and graduation. Dr. Philpott led the University's first strategic enrollment management initiative designed to increase student enrollment and heighten the prestige of the academic programs. In addition, he enhanced HPU's co-curricular programming, built strong collaborative ties with universities in Asia and Northern Europe, and increased the number of international students matriculating to Hawaii Pacific. Prior to his position at HPU, Dr. Philpott served as Dean of Student Affairs at Earl Warren College of the University of California, San Diego where he was responsible for the administration and management of Student Affairs; strategic planning; assessment and evaluation; and budget management.
Dr. Philpott received his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Bowling Green State University in Ohio; a M.A. in English from Idaho State University in Pocatello and a B.A. in Psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
We join Dr. Heath in welcoming Dr. Philpott to the SUNY State College of Optometry. |
- H I G H L I G H T S -
|
Dr. Richard Madonna Appointed Director of Continuing Professional Education
 Dr. Richard J. Madonna has been appointed Director of Continuing Professional Education (CPE). Dr. Madonna is Chief of the Ocular Disease and Special Testing Service. He joined the faculty full-time in 1999 and holds the title of Associate Professor. Prior to this, he was the Director of the Optometric Residency Program at the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System and Chief of the Optometry Section of the VA Medical Center in Castle Point, NY. Dr. Madonna will oversee the restructuring of the CPE office while expanding the College's professional education role across New York State in collaboration with the New York State Optometric Association (NYSOA). Dr. Madonna has lectured nationally and internationally on topics related to ocular disease (glaucoma, therapeutic drugs, and retinal vascular disease). He is co-author of several texts, including Emergency Care in the Optometric Setting. Dr. Madonna is a recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Marc Lay '10 Recipient of Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence
Marc Lay of the Class of 2010 has been selected as a recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence. This special award honors SUNY students who have best demonstrated and have been recognized for their academic excellence along with other areas of their lives which may include leadership, career achievement and community service. SUNY honored the students and their guests on April 6, 2010 in Albany.
Congratulations to Marc on receiving this distinguished award!
SUNY Strategic Planning Process
Over the past several month, members of the College Community have been active in the SUNY-wide Strategic Planning Process. At the Strategic Planning Symposium on Research and Innovation, held March 3, 2010 at the Stony Brook campus, President Heath participated in a panel discussion on "Growing Federal Support" along with Dr. Bruce Stillman (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Dr. David Lavallee (Interim Provost, SUNY), Dr. John Marburger III (former President of Stony Brook), and Mr. Joseph Sarubbi (Hudson Valley Community College). Also participating in the symposium from SUNY College of Optometry were Ms. Sarah Harrison (Post-doc), Dr. Ben Backus (Associate Professor) and Dr. David Troilo (Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs).
|
6th Annual Residents' Majors Program
 On March 10 - 11, the 6th Annual Residents' Majors took place at the College. All residents from 13 SUNY residency programs, including SUNY-based and affiliated programs, presented 30 hours of COPE-approved continuing education courses. The lectures provided the audience with the latest information on a wide variety of topics. A requirement for completion of the residency program is to present a formal lecture. Six years ago, the format of the presentations was changed to a more formal setting and opened  to a wider audience. Not only are the lectures attended by the College community, including doctors and students, but also adjunct faculty, alumni and doctors from the community. The event has grown to be the second largest continuing education event at the College, with well over 300 attendees.
Annual "Eyes On New York" Gala Held at Cipriani's
On Friday, March 19th, the College's Foundation, the Optometric Center of New York (OCNY) held its annual "Eyes On New York" Gala at Cipriani's on 42nd Street in New York City. Over 300 people attended this fundraising event whose honorees were Ms. Valerie Scott, Vice President at Strategic Accounts of Reed Exposition and Pfizer Ophthalmics. Dr. Ilise Lombardo represented Pfizer. Total receipts grossed $218,000.
|
| - U N I V E R S I T Y E Y E C E N T E R - |
|
Dr. Neera Kapoor appointed Chief of Rehabilitation Services
 After an extensive search, Dr. Neera Kapoor has been appointed Chief of the Rehabilitation Services of the University Eye Center (UEC), effective July 1, 2010. Dr. Kapoor's wealth of experience in the area of head trauma rehabilitation makes her an ideal candidate to head up the entire rehabilitative service.
Dr. Kapoor received her M.S. in Vision Sciences and O.D. degree from SUNY as well as completing her residency program in vision therapy at the College. She provides patient care in the UEC, supervises UEC residents, teaches in the professional program and does research. Her numerous publications span both optometric and non-optometric journals. She has received several grants in the area of acquired brain injury.
The UEC's Rehabilitation Service provides visual therapy, head trauma, learning disabilities and low vision under one major service.
Electronic Health Records
Although the University Eye Center (UEC) has been using an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for many years, both health care insurers and the Federal government are recommending that all health care providers utilize EHRs that perform certain functions in the near future. Over the next several years, the Federal government is even offering financial incentives to doctors who utilize EHRs in their offices as long as certain criteria are met. Computer software must be "certified" to perform specific functions such as e-prescribing and computerized order entry for requesting lab tests. There is also an extensive list of other functions that will be required to obtain these incentives. In addition, providers must demonstrate "meaningful use" of their EHR system which refers to the way documentation and data exchange can enhance efficiency and quality among providers, payers and patients. Providers who want to determine if either their current system or a system they are considering for purchase is currently deemed "certified" can obtain this information on line at http://cchit.org/products .
Typical advantages of utilizing an EHR include the following:
- EHRs will result in the elimination of paper charts which can be incomplete, torn, misplaced or lost. In addition, extensive storage space of paper charts is reduced and, in time, even eliminated.
- EHRs can improve the quality of care for patients by promoting more accurate diagnosis and quicker critical treatment in addition to decision support systems which can help reduce adverse drug interactions. Clinical quality will be improved by enabling providers to have greater and immediate access to relevant clinical information at the time of the patient encounter.
- EHRs will improve communication between providers and give clinicians greater access to data and documentation. Clinical alerts and monitoring patient outcomes are greatly enhanced through the use of an EHR.
- Information such as vital signs, including blood pressure and intra-ocular pressure can be analyzed over the course of many years in numerous ways (graphically, statistically, etc.)
- Patient education instruction sheets and handouts can be printed easily and the EHR can document that these were given to the patient.
- A list of problems can be updated efficiently and more accurately.
- Patient reminders of upcoming visits, missed visits, and new treatment options can be monitored more efficiently.
- EHRs will ultimately allow health care providers to access a patient's health care record from any computer (health care portability).
All EHRs will require compliance with HIPPA rules and regulations to protect patient confidentiality. At the UEC, we will be updating our current system within the next year or two. This update will enable us to offer the most up-to-date care by expanding the capability of our current system. Health care is dramatically changing and the UEC will be ready with an updated electronic health record.
|
|
- R E S E A R C H -
|
A New Researcher Joins the College Faculty
Dr. Robert McPeek has joined the faculty as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Dr. McPeek is a widely recognized visual neurophysiologist who studies the neurophysiological control of eye movements and visual attention. His work is both experimental and has clinical applications particularly with regard to vision rehabilitation in patients with certain types of brain trauma. His research complements the research currently being done at the College in visual neurophysiology, eye movements and perception.
Dr. McPeek received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University, magna cum laude, in the field of Computational Neuroscience in 1991, and received his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1997, also from Harvard, under the tutelage of Dr. Ken Nakayama. Since then, he has held a research scientist position at the Smith-Kettlewell Vision Research Institute in San Francisco. In addition, hs has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2004 to study the cortical and subcortical control of visual attention and will continue this work at SUNY.
He is married to Dr. Natalka Freeland who has a Ph.D. in English Literature from Yale University.
We welcome Dr. McPeek and his family to the SUNY Optometry community.
Invited Talks & Publications
Dr. Qasim Zaidi gave the 2010 W.S. Stiles Memorial Lecture at the University College of London on March 3rd. The title of his lecture was "Cortical decoding of shapes and couours: costs and benefits of expanding neural dimensionality".
Dr. Robert McPeek will present the following papers at the Vision Science Society conference May 7-12, 2010: "Neural substrates of target selection for reaching movements in superior colliculus" .
Patel, S., Schwartz, S.H. and Swanson, W. (2010). "Differential vertical visual latency as determined with a simultaneity paradigm". Vision Research, 50, 534-40.
Conway, M., Wevil, Benavente-Perez, A., Hosking, S.L. (2010). "Ocular blood flow heamodynamics before and after application of laser in situ keratomileusis ring". J. Cataract Refractive Surgery, 36(2), 268-272.
Yu, J.O., Gundel, R.E. (2010). "Use of Acular LS in the pain management of keratoconus: A pilot study". Opt & Vis. Sci., 87(2), 125-130.
Stark, L.R., Kruger, P.B., Rucker, F.J., Swanson, W.H., Schmidt, N., Hardy, C., Rutman, H., Borgovan, T., Burke, S., Badar, M. and Shah, R. (2009). "Potential signal to accommodation from the Stiles-Crawford effect and ocular monochromatic aberrations". Journal of Modern Optics, 56(20), 2203-2216.
Dr. David Heath was an invited speaker at Vision Monday's 2010 Global Leadership Summit here in Manhattan on March 17, 2010. Participating on a panel discussing, "New Mandates: Eye Health Transforms Eye Care Delivery", Dr. Heath spoke on the new American Board of Optometry and the role of the board certification in health care.
|
- P E R S O N N E L -
|
|
WELCOME
 The College and the Office of Business Affairs is pleased to announce the hiring of Mr. Roger D. Cruttenden in the capacity of Associate Director. Mr. Cruttenden brings to SUNY State College of Optometry a wealth of experience in the procurement area, especially within SUNY. He comes from SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn (Downstate Medical Center) where he was a procurement administrator for the past five years. Prior to Downstate, Roger was employed for seven years at SUNY Upstate Medical Center as a Purchase Associate and was with Upstate for a total of 18 years. He was the Director of the University-wide SUNY Purchasing Association and currently serves on that organization's Board of Directors. Besides the duties of the recently vacated position of Purchase Associate, his duties will also encompass compliance issues; extensive data systems involvement and policy development within the Business Affairs Office. Mr. Cruttenden's start date was March 4, 2010. Join us in welcoming him to the SUNY College of Optometry community.
 |
Ms. Delia R. Mitchell has joined the staff of the Office of Institutional Advancement and the Office of Continuing Education as Senior Staff Assistant. She will provide support to the two offices. Ms. Mitchell was formerly a Communications Assistant at the Children's Health Fund (CHF) where she provided on-site event support for their annual benefit; coordinated the design and printing of marketing materials, signage and publications; and updated the CHF website. She received her B.A. from Pace University's Dyson School of Arts and Sciences where she graduated cum laude. We welcome Delia to the SUNY College of Optometry.
___________________
| |
|
|
|
|
