Month: May 2014

Susan Gromacki Lathrop, OD MS – Class of 1993 – Notable Alumna

Susan Gromacki LathropDr. Susan J. Gromacki has been named to “America’s Best Optometrists,” the Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in the World, and The Leading Health Care Professionals of the World (International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England). She graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame and received both her OD and MS in Physiological Optics from The Ohio State University College of Optometry in 1993.

Dr. Gromacki lays claim to 450 professional lectures and publications and is a current or former editor of Contact Lens Spectrum, Review of Cornea & Contact Lenses,Contemporary Optometry, and CL Today, a reviewer for Eye & Contact Lens, and a consultant to industry and Wall Street. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and a Diplomate in its Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies. She has served the National Board of Examiners in Optometry in the capacity of item writer and case author, and as a member of the Part II Examination Development Committee, Part II Refraction Committee, Patient Assessment and Management (PAM) Patient Care Examination Committee, Part II Examination Council, Standard Setting Panelist, and Part III Patient Care Examination Committee, and as a Part III Examiner.

Formerly a faculty member of the New England College of Optometry and the University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, where she directed the Contact Lens and Low Vision Clinics, she specializes in difficult-to-fit contact lenses, refractive surgery, low vision and anterior segment disease. Her career has been a testament not only to achievement but also to personal and professional resiliency. As the wife of a military officer, Col. Scott Lathrop, she has lived in seven different locations during her 20-year career and has practiced clinical optometry in the following settings: private optometry practice, HMO, private ophthalmology group, military hospital, VA hospital, commercial practice, optometric college and university, and university medical school/ophthalmology department. “One great characteristic of the profession of optometry in the United States,” says Dr. Gromacki, “is that there are many diverse and quality opportunities for optometrists to practice. There are various ways for each and every one of us to make a difference in our patients’ lives and a positive impact on our world.”

Robert Newcomb, OD MPH FAAO – Class of 1971 – Notable Alumnus

Robert NewcombThe decision to become an optometrist was confirmed in Dr. Newcomb’s mind when all the cute girls in his high school began to get contact lenses in the 1960s. He received his OD degree in 1971 and then served in the US Navy for three years. During these three years, his early interest in contact lens patients changed to patients with ocular disease. In 1974, while pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he began a 23-year career with the Department of Veterans Affairs where he was given the opportunity to teach optometry students and residents. He retired from federal service in 1997 and accepted a faculty position at the college where he could continue to see ocular disease patients and teach students and residents in the clinic as well as in the classroom. He first served as the Director of Clinics and then later as the Residency Director. He was also the college’s inaugural Vision Service Plan (VSP) Chair for the Advancement of Professional Practice from 1997 until his retirement in 2012.

He maintains his ties with the college by serving on the BuckEYE Optometry Alumni Magazine staff, as a board member of Optometry Alumni and Friends, and as a member of the Centennial Events Planning Committee.

Gregory W. Good OD MS PhD Class of 1975

Gregory W. GoodDr. Greg Good graduated from The Ohio State University College of Optometry in 1975 and entered active service in the United States Army. After 30 months of active service at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, he returned to Ohio State to enter the Graduate Program in Physiological Optics. Dr. Good received his PhD in 1981, advised by Dr. Ron Jones, and immediately joined the College of Optometry faculty. Dr. Good began teaching courses in lighting, public health, and low vision; however, during his final 15 years at the College, he primarily taught photometry, color vision, and environmental vision. Dr. Good’s clinical focus was in serving the partially sighted, and he served as the Low Vision Clinic chief for 10 years. Over his last three years of college service, Dr. Good served as Assistant Dean for Clinical Services. Gregory W. GoodOutside the college, Dr. Good served as the AOA representative to the ANSI Z87 Eye Safety Committee and as an officer in the Public Health and Environmental Vision Section of the American Academy of Optometry.

Dr. Good’s primary research interests were in the development of vision standards and eye safety in industry. With the help of Dr. Arol Augsburger (OD/MS’71), Dr. Good developed vision standards for the Columbus Police Department and the Division of Fire. Dr. Good also served as a vision consultant for the Ohio Highway Patrol and Bureau of Motor Vehicles and played a key role in helping establish Ohio’s bioptic driving program. Nationally, Dr. Good served as a consultant and helped set vision standards for the US Secret Service, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US Customs and Border Patrol, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the US Forestry Service. Gregory W. GoodMemorable moments with these groups include: riding with a US Customs Special Agent who was putting on his protective vest over his head as he drove at 100 mph chasing a drug runner near the Mexican border; participating in an ambush on the “president” and his protective force at the Secret Service Training Academy; accompanying a border patrol agent to serve an arrest warrant to a non-citizen suspect at 5:00 A.M.; and, while flying in the cockpit of a US Customs radar plane over the Gulf of Mexico, hearing the pilot say “Whoa, that would have been bad,” as he veered to barely miss a flock of large migrating birds.