Loretta Szczotka-Flynn, OD, PhD, FAAO – Class of 1992 – Notable Alumna

Loretta Szczotka-FlynnDr. Loretta Szczotka-Flynn is a Professor at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in the Departments of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Epidemiology & Biostatistics. She is Director of the Contact Lens Service at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland where she has been in practice for 21 years. She received her Doctor of Optometry and Master’s of Science in Physiological Optics degrees from The Ohio State University College of Optometry in 1992 and her PhD in Epidemiology from Case Western Reserve University in 2009. She is a Diplomate in the Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies of the American Academy of Optometry and is currently serving as Vice-Chair of the Section. .

Dr. Szczotka-Flynn serves on the editorial boards of Optometry and Vision Science and Eye & Contact Lens. She is also a Contributing Editor for Contact Lens Spectrum and CL Today. Her research interests include contact lens complications, extended contact lens wear, silicone hydrogel contact lenses, keratoconus, post-surgical contact lens fitting, and corneal imaging. She has authored or co-authored 55 peer-reviewed articles and 10 book chapters. She is a skilled and popular presenter of optometric continuing education world-wide. .

Her major research grants include the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study from 1996 to 2004 for which she served as the Principal Investigator (PI) at the CWRU Participating Clinic, the Longitudinal Analysis of Silicone Hydrogel (LASH) Contact Lens Study for which she was the PI, and the Cornea Preservation Time Study for which she serves as Director of the Coordinating Center, all funded by the National Eye Institute. She has also received grants from Prevent Blindness America, the American Optometric Foundation, and industry to support her contact lens research.

Her awards include the Ohio Optometric Association’s Young Optometrist of the Year in 1997; the Nissel Award from the British Contact Lens Association; a two-year Ezell Fellowships from the American Optometric Foundation; a Female Scholar Award from Prevent Blindness Ohio, the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists Educational Research Foundation Award; and the Nathanial Springer Award from the University of Alabama College of Optometry.