Sandra E. Wang-Harris, OD, MPH, FAAO, is a 1997 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Optometry. After completing a residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, Dr. Wang-Harris founded and established the first eye clinic to serve HIV patients through the AAIDS Action Coalition in North Alabama in 1999. From 2002-2003, she served as a World Council of Optometry Fellow to the Kingdom of Nepal. In 2007, motivated by the dire need she saw in developing countries for human resource capacity in eye care, she resigned as a civil service optometrist with the US Army. Focusing on blindness prevention, optometric education, and public health advocacy in developing countries, Sandra has lived and worked in Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and currently in Dili, Timor Leste. In Dili, she works with the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand in curriculum development with the Ministry of Health and teaches post-graduate diploma studies and clinical eye care at the newly opened National Eye Centre. She also lectures via distance learning at the University of the West Indies Faculty of Medical Sciences, developing and teaching the first distance-based learning courses in low vision and binocular vision.
When Sandra is not teaching about the eyes, she teaches and performs classical music on her harp and flute. Sandra is married to Kevin Harris and has an eight-year- old daughter, Eileen. In November 2013, the family traveled to China and adopted their second child, a little girl. Sandra writes “She is keeping me busy!!”