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- M E S S A G E - |
Letter from the President
Watch your mail for the delivery of the College of Optometry's 2012 State of the College report. The 2012 Report, unlike previous years, is looking back over the past several years to assess the "Impact" of the College's 5-year Strategic Plan "A Shared Vision". As we enter the final year of the 2008 plan, it is essential that we examine our progress using meaningful outcomes data, reflect on our challenges and plan for the future. The results are impressive, yet, much remains to be done.
Over this past summer, the College's Institutional Research & Planning Committee began a new cycle of strategic planning with subcommittees conducting an environmental scan and SWOT analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats), while developing a new Institutional Values Statement. Over the next ten months, the extended SUNY College of Optometry community will engage in conversation about the future of optometry and vision science, professions-based higher education and health care in this country. The goal is an ambitious renewal of commitment to the future of this College, our ability to positively impact our profession and the care of our patients.
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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SUNY Optometry Fitness Center Opens!
After much anticipation, the Fitness Center of the SUNY College of Optometry officially opened October 1, 2012. The Center is part of the administration's commitment to the health and well-being of its faculty, staff and students. Located on the 3rd-Floor Mezzanine, the facility offers the use of weights, treadmills, exercise balls and aerobic equipment. The Center can be accessed by the south-side passenger elevators or the "D" stairs. Hours of operation are Monday - Friday from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Saturday hours are 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Faculty, staff and students are permitted to use the Center. A new campus ID card is needed in order to use the facilities and must first be obtained from the Media Center. In addition, anyone who wishes to use the Fitness Center must read and sign the Fitness Center Waiver of Liability, after which, the new ID card will be activated.
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- D I D Y O U K N O W ? -
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- The US Census Bureau released data showing that 48.6 million Americans did not have health insurance, a reduction of 1.3 million from the prior year (The Nation's Health, Nov/Dec 2012)
- According to the Institute of Medicine, the United States Health Care System wasted $750B in 2009 on expenses that are unnecessary services and administrative costs.
- Students graduating from SUNY Optometry have the second lowest average debt obligation nationally as compared to other Doctor of Optometry degree programs.
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- C A M P A I G N U P D A T E S -
|  Student Scholarships Help Support the Campaign
In support of The Vision and the Promise Campaign, several faculty members, as well as Trustees of the Optometric Center of New York (OCNY), have made generous contributions in the form of outright gifts and endowed pledges toward student scholarships.
OCNY Trustee scholarships include: the Dennis and Lesley Gehr Scholarship, the Barbara Saltzman Scholarship and the Harold M. Spielman Scholarship. These awards will provide much needed support to students. Each of the scholarships has different specific criteria, but all are awarded based on academic merit and financial need. These and other scholarships were presented at an annual luncheon hosted at the College on October 17th.
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- H I G H L I G H T S -
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College in Process of Developing a New Strategic Plan
The College's most recent five-year strategic plan, "A Shared Vision", was launched in 2008. The successful implementation of this plan has allowed the College to make substantial strides in key areas, including education, patient care, research and community service. These accomplishments are documented in the State of the College reports which can be viewed at: http://www.sunyopt.edu/about/state_of_the_college_reports
and also in Factbook at
Dr. Kathryn Richdale Is First Appointee to Dr. Alden N. Haffner Innovation Chair
Dr. Kathryn Richdale is the first appointee to the Dr. Alden N. Haffner Innovation Chair at the State University of New York College of Optometry. Named for the founding President of the SUNY College of Optometry, the Haffner Innovation Chair is a partially endowed position. The Chair is generously endowed by Mr. Richard Feinbloom, President of the Board of Trustees of the Optometric Center of New York (OCNY), the College's foundation, along with generous donations as part of a challenge grant. This is the College's first endowed chair.
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Partners for Sight Foundation Renews Support for SUNY Homebound Program
The Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation has awarded the Optometric Center of New York (OCNY), the College's campus-related foundation, a renewed $30,000 grant for its homebound program. This support is critical for the continuation of homebound eye and vision care to residents of the borough of Queens, and to providing lamps, eyeglasses and low vision devices to Manhattan homebound patients. This is the fifth grant from the Foundation.
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SUNY Faculty Donate Honorarium to Support NYSOA Student Association
Drs. Scott Richter, Ida Chung and Andrea Thau, faculty members at SUNY College of Optometry and long-time members of American Optometric Association/New York State Optometric Association, have donated their honoraria from their recent joint publication to fund SUNY students through the NYSOA Student Association to attend the AOA Congressional meeting in Washington, DC. The contribution is to encourage and support student involvement early in their optometric careers in the hope that it will inspire them to become politically involved in AOA and NYSOA. Mr. Anthony Zarella, SUNY student and NYSOA student representative, received the check.
Dr. Richter, Dr. Chung and Dr. Thau believe that active involvement as students will result in life-long members and supporters of the AOA and the state optometric associations. An investment now in their future colleagues is an investment in the future of the associations and profession.
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Rear- U N I V E R S I T Y E Y E C E N T E R - |
Major League Baseball and SUNY University Eye Center Partners at the East Coast Pro Showcase
Dr. Arnold Sherman, Director of the Sports Vision Center and Mr. Tim Osbouorne of the Major League Scouting Bureau, arranged and scheduled a vision screening for 154 of the best high school baseball players on the East coast of the US. The showcase was attended by over 300 scouts from all major league teams. In recent years, the showcase produced many current baseball stars including Josh Hamilton, Brian McCann and, the current American League batting leader, Mike Trout.

The screening team was comprised of SUNY students Clint Sugnet, Mikilyn D'Angelo, Kathleen Maloney, Lamess Alshawkani, Chelsea Ashlaw, Charles Bong along with faculty members Dr. Bob Byne, Dr. Brian Rodriguez and Dr. Arnold Sherman.
Read More!
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- R E S E A R C H -
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Scholarly Achievements
SUNY Students Receive Fellowships from American Academy of Optometry (AAO)
Ms. Preethi Thiagarajan
received an Ezell Fellowship from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) for her research on vision rehabilitation in patients with traumatic brain injury. Preethi is studying for her PhD under Dr. Kenneth Ciuffreda. The Ezell Fellowships are among the most competitive and prestigious awards made by the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Foundation (AOF) to acknowledge outstanding scholarship and research by students. It provides an award of $8,000 plus two travel awards to the Academy and ARVO meetings. The award is to encourage talented students to pursue full-time careers in optometric research and education. Preethi is a PhD student working with Dr. Kenneth Ciuffreda on vision rehabilitation in patients with traumatic brain injury.
Mr. Kevin Willeford (Class of 2014) and a candidate for the MS degree has published a paper in the November Optometry and Vision Science journal with Dr. Jerry Rapp. This is the first time a student has published in this competitive journal. In addition, his publication is not typical of someone who is not recognized as a leader in the field. Kevin's paper, "Smoking and Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Biochemical Mechanisms and Patient Support", addresses the impact of smoking with ocular disease, specifically, age-related macular degeneration. His article states that "Age-related macular degeneration has strong epidemiological associations with smoking and so serves as an appropriate model for the adverse effects of cigarette smoke on the eye. This article aims to provide basic scientific information to optometrists and optometry students so that they can better understand the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration and provide education and support to their patients."

Mr. Naveen Yadav
was selected to receive a $750 Irvin M. Borish Student Travel Fellowship to attend the AAO 2012 Meeting in Phoenix. Naveen, a PhD student working with Dr. Kenneth Ciuffreda, will receive his award at the Monroe J. Hirsch Symposium during the Academy meeting.
Ms. Olga Kochurova has received a travel award of $750 from the New Jersey Chapter Student Travel Fellowship to attend the 2012 American Academy of Optometry (AAO) that will be held in Phoenix, AZ at the end of October. Olga's presentation at the Academy is entitled "Is the 3X Rule Appropriate for Computer Users?". She will receive her award at the Monroe J. Hirsch Symposium during the Academy meeting.
The following students and residents also received travel awards in recognition of the presentations on their study at the American Academy of Optometry (AAO):
Amy Lam - AAO New Jersey Chapter Travel Award Dan Epshtein - AAO New Jersey Chapter Travel Award Jennifer Gould - Essilor Private Practice Fellowship Joanne Malek - SIVR Travel Award Olga Pikus - Resident Travel Award Yi-San Lee - AAO New Jersey Chapter Travel Award Shannon Santapaola - AAO Board Travel Award Rosie Ghazanfari - Cornea, Contact Lens & Refractive Technologies Resident Travel Grant Kaira Kwong - Ocular Disease Residents Travel Fellowship Richard Wu - Academy Travel Fellowship Anuradha Veerappan - Academy Travel Fellowship Marina Su - Allergan Ocular Disease Travel Grant Divya Nandwani - WOLD Travel Grant
Clinical Vision Research Center
The new Clinical Vision Research Center is participating in a study called CLUE whose aim is to learn more about children's and teens' success with soft contact lenses. One of the Center's goals is to engage faculty, staff, students and alumni in vision science research. Your support is appreciated by referring healthy soft contact lens wearer, age 6 - less than 14 years to participate in the study. It involves a single visit about an hour in length during which the participants will have their visual acuity checked. These participants will then fill out an online survey. Participants are reimbursed $100 for their time in the study.
To learn more about this and other studies at the College visit the following site: www.sunyopt.edu/research/CVRC . You can also call 212-938-4052 or email clinicresearch@sunyopt.edu.
Publications
Benavente-Perez, A., Nour, A. and Troilo, D. "The Effect of Simultaneous Negative and Positive Defocus on Eye Growth and Development of Refractive State in Marmosets". Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science, September 2012, 21, 53(10):6479-87.
Mroczkowska, S., Benavente-Perez, A., Negi, A., Sung, V., Patel, S.R., Gherghel, D. "Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma vs Normal-Tension Glaucoma: The Vascular Perspective". Archives of Ophthalmology, September 2012, 10:1-8.
Mroczkowska, S., Ekart, A., Sung, V., Negi, A., Qin, L., Patel, S.R., Jacob, S., Atkins, C., Benevente-Perez, A., Gherghei, D. "Coexistence of Macro- and Micro-vascular Abnormalities in Newly Diagnosed Normal Tension Glaucoma Patients". Acta Ophthalmol. 2012, September 23.
Portello, J.K., Rosenfield, M., Bababekova, Y., Estrada, J.M., Alvarez, A.L. "Prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) and Dry Eye in Office Workers". Ophthal Physiol Opt 2012; 32:375-382.
Benzoni, J.A., Rosenfield, M. "Clinical Amplitude of Accommodation in Children Between 5 and 10 Years of Age". Optom Vis Dev 2012; 43:109-114.
Rosenfield, M., Howarth, P.A., SHeedy, J.E., Crossland, M.D. "Vision and IT Displays: A whole New Visual World". Ophthal Physiol Opt 2012; 32:363-366.
Posters and Presentations
The following faculty and students will give present a poster or a presentation at the annual American Academy of Optometry Meeting held October 23 - 27 in Phoenix, Arizona:
Yadav, N.K., Ludlam, D.P., Willeford, K.T., Ciuffreda, K.J. (2012). "Objective Assessment of Visual-Attention State Using the Alpha-band Component of the Visual-evoked Potential (VEP)". American Academy of Optometry (AAO), Phoenix, AZ.
Yadav, N.K., Ludlam, D.P., Ciuffreda, K.J. (2012). "Binasal Occlusion (BNO) Enhances the Visual-evoked Potential (VEP) Amplitude in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)". American Academy of Optometry (AAO), Phoenix, AZ.
Gould, J., Ciuffreda, K.J., Yadav, N.K., Thiagarajan, P. (2012). "Retinal Defocus and Eye-hand Reaction Time in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)". American Academy of Optometry (AAO), Phoenix, AZ.
Willeford, K. and Rapp, J. "Smoking and Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Biochemical Mechanisms and Patient Support". Optom Vis Sci, 2012;89.
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 Assistant Librarian
Ms. Jill Locasio is the new Assistant Librarian in the College's Harold Kohn Vision Science Library. Ms. Locascio was a member of the Rutgers University library system, where she gained expertise in a variety of library technologies and was instrumental in working with a faculty committee to establish electronic reserves. She earned her Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from Rutgers and worked in a variety of public and academic libraries. Her position at SUNY entails the responsibility for electronic resources and acquisitions. We welcome Ms. Locascio to the College community.
_____________ *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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