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| - M E S S A G E - |
Letter from the President
The summer has passed quickly and, on August 15th, we welcomed  88 new students into the Doctor of Optometry degree program as our Class of 2016. This year's class represents the first step in the College's 2020 Enrollment and Deployment Management Plan. Using workforce analysis data, this plan was developed to meet the eye care provider needs of New York State in the years ahead. In doing so, our admissions department has been able to expand this fall's enrollment by ten without compromising quality. The Class of 2016 is exceptional with an average GPA of 3.50 and average admission test (OAT) scores of 350 -- averages virtually identical to last year and which reflect our continuing status as a top tier institution.
David A. Heath, OD, EdM
President
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- M A I N F E A T U R E -
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The Lavelle Fund Awards Grant to SUNY for the Expansion of Clinic at Wenzhou Medical College in China
Last month, President Heath announced the receipt of a $421,160 grant from the Lavelle Fund for the Blind to expand the clinic at the Center of Excellence in Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation at Wenzhou Medical College in China. The grant, approved in July, "...will fund a training program at the medical college for faculty and staff from other locations throughout China".
Congratulations to Dr. Michael Heiberger, Dr. Qu Jia and the SUNY-WMC team on a fantastic job!
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- D I D Y O U K N O W ? -
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- C A M P A I G N U P D A T E S -
|  You Can Restrict Your Campaign Gift to a Special Project
Restricting your gift is one of many giving options available to support the Campaign. There is an array of specific patient care, education and research projects that your contribution can support. For example, the Homebound Program:
"I was happy with the visit because I am 98 year old and can't walk. He is a wonderful doctor who helped me very much. He brought everything with him except his chair." -- Homebound Patient
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- H I G H L I G H T S -
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Stewart Bloomfield, Ph.D. Named New Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research
 Dr. Stewart Bloomfield has been named the new Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research and the Director of the Graduate Center for Vision Research. He will hold the faculty rank of Professor.
Dr. Bloomfield brings more than 30 years of experience in research and graduate education to the College and an outstanding record of internationally recognized research on retinal neurophysiology. The NIH (National Institutes of Health), through the NEI (National Eye Institute), has continuously funded his research on retinal amacrine cell function since 1988, as well as other grants from NIH and NSF (National Science Foundation).
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New Chair of the Department of Biological and Vision Sciences
This past July, Dr. David Troilo announced the appointment of  Dr. Suresh Viswanathan as the new Chair of the Department of Biological and Vision Sciences. Currently an Associate Professor (tenured) at Indiana University School of Optometry, Dr. Viswanathan received his BS in optometry from the Elite School of Optometry in Madras, India; an MS from Pacific University College of Optometry and his PhD from the University of Houston where he worked with Dr. Laura Frishman.
His research involves animal models of glaucoma where he uses behavioral, electrophysiological, in vivo imaging and histology to examine the events contributing to neuronal cell death in experimentally induced glaucoma.
Dr. Viswanathan is scheduled to begin January 2013.
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Director of New Career Development Center is Named
 Francisco A. Lucio, JD, a 2006 graduate of St. John's University School of Law, joins the College staff as the new Director of Career Development and Minority Enrichment. In this new position, Mr. Lucio will help students identify career options and assess and understand their personal and professional competencies. He is also responsible for recruiting and selecting under-represented minority students for the College's internship program and Summer Academic Program.
He was Program Director at the Manhattan-Staten Island Area Health Education Center where he was responsible for overseeing nine health career programs for more than 200 underserved students a year.
Mr. Lucio is a graduate of San Diego State University where he received a BA degree in Political Science. He is also a member of the National Association of Medical Minority Educators and serves as its National Legislative Affairs Chair.
Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust Awards Increase Grant The Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust has awarded the Optometric Center of New York (OCNY) a $10,000 grant for general operating support. This is an increase in funding from grants received from the Trust in past years. The generosity of the Trust will enable the SUNY College of Optometry to continue to provide high quality eye and vision care to the most vulnerable New Yorkers; play a key role in training the next generation of knowledgeable and compassionate eye care providers and, help advance the body of research knowledge in the field, facilitating "lab to bedside" collaborations between basic and clinical research scientists. This is the fourth grant from the Trust.
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SUNY Welcomes the Class of 2016!
On August 16 and 17, SUNY Optometry welcomed the Class of 2016! The two-day orientation program began with a warm welcome and introductory remarks from President Heath, followed by remarks from the Dr. Philpott, VP for Student Affairs and Mr. Lucio, the new Director of Career Development and Minority Enrichment, along with a variety of other speakers consisting of senior managers, faculty and representatives from optometric organizations. Their first day of classes in the professional OD program began on August 20.
SUNY Wins Third Place in Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) 2012 Envision Video Competition
Mr. Konstantin Fishilevich, Class of 2013, won third place in the ASCO 2012 Envision Video Competition. Optometry students were invited to create and post an original 3-5 minute video about the profession of optometry on either YouTube or Vimeo. The competition was judged by members of the ASCO Student Affairs Committee on how effectively the videos educated potential applicants and the general public about the profession. This included its creativity, ingenuity and humor. Third place award was $1,000. First place prize of $5,000 went to New England College of Optometry and second place of $2500 went to The School of Optometry Inter American University of Puerto Rico. To see the video, click on the link:
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Fourth Annual Faculty & Staff Recognition Awards The Fourth Annual Faculty & Staff Recognition Awards were held on Friday, August 10th in the Schwarz Theater. Members of the faculty and staff were honored and recognized for 40, 30 and 25 years of service; community spirit; the President's Award for Merit and Excellence, along with the 2012 Recipient for the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service.
Dr. Jeffrey Cooper and Dr. John Picarelli were recognized for their 40 years of service with the College. Mr. Guy Bergere,  Mr. Michael Gomez, Dr. Steven Levy, Dr. David Libassi, Dr. Rochelle Mozlin and Dr. Rodolfo Rodriguez were recognized for 30 years of service, and Dr. Gregory DiSanto and Dr. Steven Levy for 25 years of service.
The President's Merit in Excellence Award was awarded to Mr. Robert Pellot; Ms. May Ellis was the recipient of the Community Spirit Award for Staff; Dr. Harriette Canellos received the Community Spirit Award for Faculty and Mr. Samuel Blankson received the Unsung Hero Award.
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Annual Residents' Farewell Ceremony Includes First Distinguished SUNY Residency Alumni Award
The Office of Residency Education held its Annual Residents'  Farewell Ceremony on June 22nd in the Alumni Commons. Thirty-one residents from 14 residency programs received their Certificate of Advanced Clinical competency for successfully completing their year-long residency programs. This year's ceremony was a more formal affair than past years. President David Heath and Residency Education Director, Dr. Diane Adamczyk, addressed the residents, residency supervisors and invited guests. Dr. Julia Appel welcomed the residents to the Alumni Association of the SUNY College of Optometry.
 During the ceremony, Dr. Adamczyk awarded the first ever Distinguished SUNY Residency alumni Award to Dr. Linda Casser. Dr. Casser completed a SUNY affiliated residency at Genesee Valley Group Health Association in 1980. she is a nationally and internationally known educator who currently serves as Dean at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University.
SUNY Participates in Math/Science Day at New Jersey Elementary School
As part of Math/Science Day at Wicoff Elementary School in  Plainsboro, New Jersey, Dr. Asima Cuevas, Assistant Clinical Professor, spoke with the school children about how optometrists use math and science in their every day work routine. She discussed with them the reasons people need glasses; how eye teaming and focusing is important for learning, as well as, a discussion of common medical eye problems. The children's interest lead to many questions about the eyes and were given insight as to why the eyes are so important. Each child participating in the event received UEC coloring books, crayons and bookmarks. |
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- R E S E A R C H -
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Scholarly Achievements
NIH K23 Grant Awarded to Dr. Cristina Llerena
Dr. Cristina Llerena was granted a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These awards are very competitive and difficult to receive as the grant provides up to five years of salary and research support for the development of clinician scientists committed to patient-based research. This is a great accomplishment for Dr. Llerena and her research mentor, Dr. Benjamin Backus, who collaborated with her on the development of the research proposal and the program. Together, Dr. Llerena and Dr. Backus will research "Binocular Approaches to Perceptual Learning in Adult Amblyopia".
Dr. Llerena's award is the third K23 grants at the College. Dr. Kathryn Richdale has a K23 grant as does Dr. Tracy Nguyen who will join the faculty January 2013.
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Publications, Posters and Presentations
Benavente-Perez, A., Nour, A. and Troilo, D. "The Effecto of Simultaneous Negative and Positive Defocus on Eye Growth and Development of Refractive State in Marmosets". Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science, August 2012, 10.1167/iovs 12-9822.
Dr. David Troilo has been invited to lecture at the Optical Society of America in Rochester, New York on October 17. The title of his talk is "Optical approaches for controlling myopia progression: Evidence from experimental models".
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- P E R S O N N E L -
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Welcome
New Clinical Research Faculty
 Dr. Tracy Nguyen will join the College as an Assistant Clinical
Professor in the Department of Clinical Education, effective January 2013. An OD, PhD, Dr. Nguyen currently is a Research Associate at Indiana University School of Optometry. She is an alum of the University of Houston School of Optometry and received her PhD from Indiana University under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph Bonanno. Her work on membrane transport mechanisms in corneal endothelium led her to conduct clinical research on corneal dystrophies. A two-time Ezell Fellow, she is currently funded by an NIH K08 clinical scientist development award. She will be a member of the College's Clinical Vision Research Center. Dr. Alexandra Benavente-Perez has been appointed to the  faculty as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Education. She is currently a Research Associate and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the College where she does research and teaches in the Optometric Theory and Procedures sequence. Dr. Benavente-Perez received her degree in optometry and optics from the College of Medicine and Science in Valladolid, Spain; her MS degree in Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in Manchester, UK, and her PhD in Vision Science from Aston University in Birmingham, UK. Dr. Benavente-Perez will be a member of the College's Clinical Vision Research Center.
Promotion
Ms. Betshally (Betsy) Torres is the new Associate Director of Continuing Professional Education. Formerly the Supervisor of Patients Accounts in the UEC, Betsy began her new post August 30th and replaces Ms. Stacy Weiss who left the end of June. She is responsible for the facilitation of all administrative aspects of the Office of Continuing Education which includes planning, development, budget, marketing, administration, evaluation and supervision of office staff. We wish Betsy well in her new role.
Retirement
Ms Kadri Niider retired July 31, 2012. Ms. Niider was the Assistant Librarian and part of the staff since 2002. We wish her good health and best wishes as she moves on to the next chapter of her life.
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*The College would like to remind everyone that all job openings are posted on the College website -- http://www.sunyopt.edu/HR/jobs.shtml.
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