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Board of Regents
The Board of Regents reviews applications for Beta Sigma
Kappa research grants and makes recommendations to the CWC.
Willard B. Bleything, OD, MS, FAAO, FCOVD, FNAPO
Chair
Dr. Willard B. Bleything holds the rank of
Distinguished Professor of Optometry and Public Health and
is assigned additional administrative duties as Director of
Graduate and International Programs within the College of
Optometry, Pacific University, Oregon. Prior to this he
served for 17 years as dean of Optometry at Pacific
University that practiced in Central Oregon for 16 years.
His research interests center around health care delivery
issues including international optometry as well as
pediatric optometry. He has over 40 publications in various
professional journals and has lectured widely in countries
such as China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and
Germany. Along with serving as the president of his state
optometric association, he has been a state board president
and president of the schools and colleges of optometry. He
currently holds the position of Secretary-General,
Asia-Pacific Council of Optometry and as Member, Education
committee of the World Council of Optometry. The WCO named
him 2002 International Optometrist of the year.
Ann E. Clark, OD, FAAO
Dr. Clark has been on staff at the Wheaton Eye
Clinic in Wheaton, IL since 1993. She is certified by the
Illinois Board of Optometric Examiners for the practice of
optometry and in the use of diagnostic and therapeutic
pharmaceutical agents. Her specialty areas include
pre-operative and post-operative co-management of cataract
and refractive surgery patients, visual rehabilitation
following retinal surgery and geriatrics.
Dr Clark did her
undergraduate training at Michigan State University, where
she was a member of the Honors College. She graduated
cum laude from the Illinois College of Optometry, where she
received her Bachelor of Science in Visual Science degree in
1976 and Doctor of Optometry degree in 1978.
Dr Clark is a member of
the American Academy of Optometry and was made a Fellow in
1987. From 1988 through 2010, she served as an officer
for the Primary Care Section of the AAO, acting as section
chair from 2004-2008. In addition to the national
level of the AAO, Dr Clark is a member of the Illinois
Chapter and is a member of the Beta Sigma Kappa
International Honorary Fraternity.
She serves as a course
reviewer for national educational programs through the
Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry (ARBO) and the
Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE).
Dr Clark is a reviewer for grant proposals for Beta Sigma
Kappa and the American Optometric Foundation (AOF).
Anthony P. Cullen, MSc, OD, Ph.D., DSc, FCOptom, FAAO,
DipCLP
Dr. Tony Cullen is a Distinguished Professor
Emeritus at the University of Waterloo where he taught
full-time in the School of Optometry from 1978 to 2004 and
also served as Director of the School. He was
cross-appointed to the Departments of Biology and Systems
Engineering. He holds academic credentials in optometry,
ophthalmology, vision science, radiation biology and ocular
therapeutics. His clinical experience includes private
primary care and contact lens practice, hospital and
military optometry, and academic optometry and
ophthalmology. He is a Past President and Life Fellow of the
American Academy of Optometry and a Life Fellow of the
College of Optometrists (UK). Dr. Cullen has served as an
advisor to optometric organizations and universities in a
number of countries around the world, and acted as a
consultant to government agencies and industry. Dr. Cullen
has been an invited lecturer in more than thirty countries
worldwide and was named the 2001 International Optometrist
of the Year by the World Council of Optometry. He has an
extensive list of publications including several key
textbook chapters. He has been a member of the Editorial
Board or referee for more than a dozen journals devoted to
optometry, ophthalmology, vision science, physics,
photobiology and toxicology. He was designated a Noteworthy
Educator by BSK in 1983 and has served on the Board of
regents since 2002.
Thomas F. Freddo, OD, Ph.D, FAAO
Before coming to the University Waterloo School of Optometry
as Director of the School in 2006, Dr. Freddo served for 25
years as Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology at Boston
University School of Medicine where he also served as
Director of the Eye Pathology Service and maintained a
hospital-based practice of optometry. He also directed an
NIH-funded research program in anterior uveitis and glaucoma
for over 20 years. He has served on the editorial boards of
Experimental Eye Research and Optometry and Vision Science,
and on several federal and foundation grant review boards
and is the Immediate Past President of the International
Society for Eye Research. He has won numerous teaching
awards at Waterloo and The New England College of Optometry
and was the 1992 recipient of the Glenn A. Fry Award for
excellence in eye/vision research. He has served on the
Board of the American Academy of Optometry and in 2010 was
honored by the Academy with the Carel Koch Medal for his
contributions to the enhancement of relationships between
optometry and other professions. He has received honorary
doctorates from the State University of New York and theUniversité
de Montréal and was most recently appointed to the
Scientific Review Panel of Prevent Blindness America.
Elizabeth Hoppe, BS, OD, M.PH, DrPH
Dr. Elizabeth Hoppe received her B.S. and O.D. at
Ferris State University College of Optometry, M.PH at Yale
University, and Dr.PH at the University of Michigan, School
of Public Health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of
Optometry and a Diplomate Public Health and Environmental
Vision. Her teaching appointments took her to University of
Houston College of Optometry, Pennsylvania College of
Optometry, New England College of Optometry, Southern
California College of Optometry, and Western University of
Health Sciences as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor,
and Professor with Tenure Awarded. While at SCCO she was
faculty advisor for student senior research projects and
supported research programs in her prior role as the
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at The New England
College of Optometry. She currently serves as the Founding
Dean of the College of Optometry at Western University of
Health Sciences. She has presented an extensive number of
papers to the AAO, American Public Health Association Annual
Meetings and numerous other organizations and has authored
material appearing in a long list of publications.
Gerald E. Lowther, OD, Ph.D
Dr. Lowther received his B.Sc, O.D., M.Sc., and
Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio State University. He has been on
the faculties of The Ohio State University College of
Optometry, the Michigan School of Optometry and the School
of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham. He was
professor of Optometry and then dean of Indiana University
School of Optometry. Following retirement from Indiana
University he was Chair Professor of Vision Science
(part-time) under the Distinguished Scholars Program of the
Hong Kong Polytechnic University for two years. He is a
past-president of the American Academy of Optometry, the
National Board of Examiners in Optometry and the
International Society for Contact Lens Research and past
chair of the Association of Optometric Contact Lens
Educators. He served as the chair of the Education Committee
of the World Council of Optometry from 2011 to 2017.. He was
co-editor of both the International Contact Lens Clinic
journal and the Contact Lens Update series. He has carried
out an active clinical research program in the areas of
contact lens materials, contact lens design, aftercare
problems, care systems, and dry eye. He has served on FDA
panels. He received the John Neill Medal from the
Pennsylvania College of Optometry, Award for Distinguished
Research on the Cornea and Contact Lenses from the
University of Houston College of Optometry, the
Distinguished Faculty Award from the Michigan Association of
Governing Boards, and gave the 1994 Max Shapero Memorial
Lecture at the American Academy of Optometry meeting. Dr.
Lowther was elected as a distinguished scholar to the
National Academies of Practice and Life Fellowship in the
American Academy of Optometry and inducted into the
Optometry Hall of Fame. He received an honorary Ph.D. degree
from the Ramkamhaeng University in Bangkok, Thailand. He has
authored three books, numerous chapters for other books and
has over 100 published papers. He has lectured extensively
nationally and internationally including in Europe,
Australia, Africa, South America, Thailand and China.
Joan A. Stelmack, OD, MPH
Joan Stelmack received her OD from Illinois College of
Optometry and her MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health. At the Hines VA Hospital Blind Rehabilitation
Center, Dr. Stelmack serves as Co-Director of the Optometry
Residency in Ocular Disease/Low Vision Rehabilitation,
Preceptor of a Low Vision Rehabilitation Rotation for ICO
students, Supervisor of the Low Vision Rehabilitation
Outpatient Clinic and Director of the Low Vision Research
Program. Dr. Stelmack also serves a Director of the Low
Vision Service at the University of Illinois at Chicago,
College of Medicine.
Dr. Stelmack has faculty appointments at Illinois College of
Optometry and the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual
Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College
of Medicine. Dr. Stelmack is a past Chair of the AOA Low
Vision Rehabilitation Section. She is a fellow in the
American Academy of Optometry and a Diplomate in the Public
Health Section.
Dr. Stelmack’s research focuses on the outcomes of vision
rehabilitation. She directed development and validation of
the 48-item and the 20-item Low Vision Visual Functioning
Questionnaires used by patients with low vision to
self-report the difficulty they have performing daily
activities before and after vision rehabilitation. Dr.
Stelmack is the principal investigator for two clinical
trials measuring outcomes of low vision rehabilitation for
patients with macular diseases, VA Low Vision Intervention
Trial and VA Low Vision Intervention Trial II.
David Troilo, PhD, FAAO, FARVO
David Troilo joined the SUNY College of Optometry in
July, 2008 as Professor, Vice President and Dean for
Academic Affairs from The New England College of Optometry,
where he was Professor of Biological Science and Director of
Graduate Studies. He is a fellow of the American Academy of
Optometry and The Association for Research in Vision and
Ophthalmology. Dr. Troilo received his Ph.D. in biology from
the City University of New York. He did post-doctoral
research training at the University Laboratories of
Physiology at the University of Oxford, and the Departments
of Neurobiology and Behavior and Psychology at Cornell
University. His research interest is on the visual control
of eye growth and development of refractive state. As chief
academic officer at SUNY Optometry, Dr. Troilo is
responsible for the professional degree program in optometry
and the graduate degree programs in vision science. His
other areas of responsibility include faculty development,
residency programs, library services, and continuing
professional education. Dr. Troilo has made growth of
research at the college an institutional priority and has
helped develop collaborative, translational, and clinical
research initiatives. Working with the University Eye
Center, the college’s clinical institution, Dr. Troilo
helped create SUNY Optometry’s Clinical Vision Research
Center. He is also a founding member and co-director of the
SUNY Eye Institute, which brings together the vision
researchers from across the university’s Academic Health
Centers.
Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
Karla Zadnik is the Associate Dean at The Ohio State
University College of Optometry. She received her OD and PhD
degrees from the University of California , Berkeley School
of Optometry. She was on the clinical faculty of the
University of California , Davis School of Medicine for 14
years. In 1999, she became the Glenn A. Fry Professor in
Optometry and Physiological Optics at Ohio State . She
chairs the Biomedical Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB)
and the IRB Policy Committee for Ohio State. Professor
Zadnik is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a
Diplomate of its Section on Cornea and Contact Lenses, the
Immediate Past President of the Academy, and chair of the
American Optometric Association’s Council on Research. She
received the American Optometric Foundation’s Glenn A. Fry
Award in 1995 and the Ohio Optometric Association’s Warren
G. and Ruth P. Morris Optometrist of the Year Award in 2009.
She served on the National Advisory Eye Council of the
National Eye Institute (NEI)/National Institutes of Health
from 2000 to 2004.
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