Dr. Terri Gossard graduated from The Ohio State University College of Optometry in 1992 with her Doctorate of Optometry and Masters Degree in Physiological Optics. She moved to Cincinnati upon graduation and shortly thereafter began practicing in a multidisciplinary group, providing comprehensive eye and vision care for the past 15 years. She has served on the Ohio Optometric Association’s (OOA) Board of Directors since 2007 and is currently the President-Elect. She will become the Association’s fifth female president in October of 2014. Dr. Gossard has served on the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Professional Relations Committee, collaborating to present the AOA’s School Readiness Summit in 2011 that contributed to the “essential” designation of the vision benefit within the Affordable Care Act. She now serves on the AOA’s Health Center Committee.
Starting in 2010, as the OOA’s Children’s Vision Task Force Chair and the Ohio Optometric Foundation, Dr. Gossard began serving on the Executive Team of the nation’s first self-sustaining, school-based vision center at Oyler School. During the conclusion of the 2013-2014 school year, the center provided 2,766 patient encounters and 1,830 pairs of glasses (a 70% need) to the at-risk population of students within Cincinnati Public Schools. The vision center serves as a national model for other cities throughout the country. Dr. Gossard was privileged to present the project to the National Assembly of School Based Health Centers and the AOA Advocacy Meeting celebrating the first 100 days of the pediatric essential vision benefit.
Dr. Gossard is married to Ted, a family physician, and has a daughter Maggie (12) and a son Will (10). Having grown up in Columbus, she bleeds scarlet and gray but is also a fan of both the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals. She is thankful to Ohio State for both a superior education and lifelong friendships, including those of three of her bridesmaids, and she still wonders about the leaf room from time to time.