Captain Julie Long Miavez was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Upon graduation from The Ohio State University College of Optometry, Captain Miavez was commissioned by Navy veteran, Dr. “Buckeye Bob” Newcomb, as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. During her first eight years she worked at the Naval Hospital Pensacola Florida, Naval Hospital Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico, and Branch Medical Clinic Mayport Florida.

In 1998, she earned an Additional Qualifying Designator (AQD) in Aviation Optometry in Pensacola, Florida before reporting to Naval Hospital Beaufort, South Carolina. Captain Miavez served as Department Head for Tri-Command Beaufort Optometry, which included Naval Hospital Beaufort, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. She also served as Head, Extended Support Services at the hospital supervising the largest department of 14 separate medical specialties such as Dermatology, Ear Nose and Throat, and inpatient wards. While at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, Captain Miavez provided urgent care, vision examinations, and optical fabrication to Marine recruits. At the air station, she attained Mach 1.03 and pulled 6.9Gs while flying backseat in the fighter attack jet F/A – 18D Hornet courtesy of the Marine Corps squadron, VMFA (AW) 332, the “Moonlighters”.

She transferred to Naval Health Clinic, Hawaii in 2002 and earned designators in Executive Medicine and Managed Care. After six months of providing patient care, she was chosen to lead the Branch Health Clinic Kaneohe Bay, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. In June 2006, she transferred to Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River, Maryland as Head, Specialty Clinics.

In November 2007 to June 2008, she deployed to Camp Lemonier Djibouti, Africa as Officer in Charge of the Expeditionary Medical Facility team in support of Combined Task Force Horn of Africa and Operation Enduring Freedom. During her deployment, the Commanding General of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Army Hospital hosted Captain Miavez and a few in her unit to the military hospital in Addis Ababa. Her team exchanged medical knowledge with Ethiopian Army physicians to better serve both military health care teams in East Africa. Captain Miavez is the only optometrist in the Navy to have led a deployed medical force.

In June 2009, she was selected to lead the Naval Branch Health Clinic Key West, Florida, as Officer in Charge. In July 2012, she transferred to Naval Health Clinic Charleston, South Carolina, her last tour of duty before she retires from the Navy.

Captain Miavez was named Navy Optometrist of the Year in 2004. In 2009, she was recognized for being ranked in the top three of all Navy optometrists, civilian and military, for patient satisfaction through anonymous survey of beneficiaries. Her military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards), and tour and campaign awards.

Captain Miavez is Past President of the Armed Forces Optometric Society, a member of the American Optometric Association and Florida Optometric Association, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Optometry. She is married to David Miavez and they have two children, John (13) and Jeffrey (8). Of her experience while at The Ohio State University, she comments, “In addition to the best band and sports teams in the land, I am grateful and honored to have graduated from an optometry college that provides world-class education, employs compassionate and competent faculty, and yields a network of the best and brightest alumni. Go Buckeyes!”

Dr. Elizabeth Muckley has practiced at Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons in Kent, Ohio for over 13 years and is the Director of Optometric Services. She concentrates on medical glaucoma and management of anterior segment disease. She is an extern preceptor and Assistant Clinical Professor for The Ohio State University advance practice site extern program. Dr. Muckley is a Fellow in the American Academy of Optometry and was the third woman inducted into the International Optometric Glaucoma Society. She currently serves as Trustee on the Board of the Ohio Optometric Association (OOA). Prior to that, she was co-chair of the OOA legislative committee, where she testified before the Ohio House and Senate for the 2008 scope of practice expansion (HB 149). She was the 2007 recipient of the Jack T. Keith Young Optometrist of the Year award for Ohio and subsequently was named the Young Optometrist of the Year for the American Optometric Association in 2008. Dr. Muckley is married to Tim, who is an attorney and Director of Corporate Real Estate at Sherwin Williams. They have one son, Max, age 9. She enjoys spending time at their summer home on Lake Erie, gardening, and entertaining friends and family–especially for OSU football games!

Dr. Muckley writes, “Graduating from The Ohio State College of Optometry has provided me opportunities in my career that I am forever grateful for. I get up every day knowing that I can make a difference in the lives of patients. I have countless friends and colleagues from my experiences at Ohio State. Congratulations on 100 years! I am proud to be a BuckEYE!”

Dr. Cynthia Heard received her Doctor of Optometry degree in 1992 from The Ohio State University College of Optometry. She completed a postgraduate residency in Geriatric Vision and Visual Rehabilitation at the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center, which is affiliated with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry.

Dr. Heard taught at The Ohio State University College of Optometry for 14 years in Primary Eye Care, Ocular Disease Service, and as a preceptor for the Primary Care Externship Program. She has been an Associate Professor of Optometry at the Southern College of Optometry since 2007 where she teaches in the Adult Primary Care and Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation Services.

Dr. Heard is a member of the American Optometric Association, the National Optometric Association (NOA), the Tennessee Association of Optometric Physicians, and the West Tennessee Optometric Physicians Society. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. She is currently a Council on Optometric Practitioner Education reviewer and a volunteer for the Education Quality Assurance Committee for the Academy. Dr. Heard is also past president of the NOA.

Dr. Heard’s professional interests include ocular disease management, especially dry eye and glaucoma, and optometric care of low vision patients.

Dr. Christine W. Sindt is a 1994 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Optometry. She completed a disease-based residency at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. Sindt joined the faculty of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in 1995, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology and Director of the Contact Lens Service. She also serves as a consultant optometrist for the Iowa City Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Dr. Sindt is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, the 2010-2011 Chair of the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Contact Lens and Cornea Section, Past President and founding member of Women of Vision, and Past President and co-founder of the Scleral Lens Education Society. In 2005, she received the Dr. Rodger Kame Award for service and dedication to the profession from the AOA’s Contact Lens and Cornea Section. In 2011, the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association named her the Practitioner of the Year. In 2013 she received a Legends Award for contributions to the culture of contact lenses through leadership and dedication, from the AOA’s Contact Lens and Cornea Section.

Dr. Sindt is Chief Clinical Editor for Review of Optometry and an Associate Editor for Review of Cornea and Contact Lens, where she contributes a monthly column on contact lens solutions. She also serves on the Optometry Times EditorialAdvisory Board and is a Contributing editor for Contact Lens Spectrum.

She has published 100 publications including peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, contact lens columns, CD-ROMS, videos, and web publications. Her work has been cited in the popular media by the LA Times and Good Housekeeping. She has been an invited speaker at conferences in 25 states and five countries.

Dr. Sindt’s clinical interests include pediatric, keratoconus, and post-surgical contact lens fitting. Her research projects include contact lens solution research; the design of scleral contact lenses for the correction of keratoconus/pellucid marginal degeneration; computer-guided fitting for keratoconus; dry eye aberrations; the effect of contact lens wear on immune cell density and morphology of the ocular surface; and corneal imaging with confocal microscopy. Dr. Sindt holds both a national and international patent on automated corneal confocal analysis and has a patent pending status for a prosthetic lens design. Dr. Sindt has started two companies related to the field of ocular health and optics.

Dr. 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.”

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!!”

Dr. 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.

Dr. Tami Kuhlmann has enjoyed 30 years (and still counting) of optometric practice since graduating from The Ohio State University College of Optometry. She is the founder (1987) and owner/ partner of EyeCare Professionals of Powell in Powell, Ohio with Jason Miller, OD, class of 1999. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor for the College and mentors fourth-year externs at her office. She volunteers for the Ohio Optometric Association’s RealEyes program, making presentations to local schoolchildren, and conducts AOA InfantSEE exams. Dr. Kuhlmann has been active in several mission trips to deliver optometric services and eyewear to El Salvador (We Care Eye Care medical mission) and Nicaragua (attending doctor for Ohio State SVOSH students). Dr. Kuhlmann is also currently involved in clinical studies for several optometry-related industries. She enjoys traveling around Ohio and the U.S., acting as a doctor liaison with VSP as a State Professional Representative. She is a Past President of the Olentangy Rotary Club.

Tami Kuhlmann has been married for 32 wonderful years to her high school sweetheart, David. Dr. Kuhlmann and her husband love to travel and have seen most of Europe, the Holy Land, and Australia. They are active in their church, leading worship weekly with the crossCurrent band, with David on guitar and Tami on drums/vocals. They have been blessed with two beautiful daughters, Elise and Mallory. Elise is a pharmaceutical sales representative for a dental laser manufacturer and is getting married in 2014. Mallory is a 2012 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Optometry and is currently practicing at the Kansas University Medical Center and Outpatient Clinic for KU Eye in Kansas City, where she and her husband reside.

I have always been so fortunate in my career. A high school job as an optometric assistant led to my interest in optometry. Upon graduation from The Ohio State University College of Optometry, I expected to enter private practice like most of my colleagues. As it turned out, I happened onto another course and became a staff optometrist at a multidisciplinary clinic. That experience opened the door to my selection as the first optometrist at the Cleveland VA. During my 35 years as the Chief of Optometry there, I have had wonderful opportunities. In addition to caring for those who have selflessly served our nation, I have had the opportunity to teach and develop programs for residents and externs from Ohio State and other optometry programs as well as for students and residents from the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. I was also instrumental in growing the optometry services at the Cleveland VA to a group of 22 optometrists in 12 eye clinics. I’m most grateful to have been a member of our profession during very exciting and evolutionary times and am thankful for my very supportive family: Dave (Optometry ’77), our son Tom, our late son Dan, and many friends and colleagues and extended family.

Opportunities characterized my career in our College from the front lines in optometric education to the rarefied air of governmental agencies and institutes at state and national levels. With a strong sense of professionalism instilled by mentors and dear colleagues, my goal was to develop each opportunity to the fullest extent possible and to benefit the College and profession. Several opportunities are especially memorable: 1) Developing the optometric technician (OT) curriculum/facilities at Columbus State University then integrating the OT clinical experience with the clinical teaching program at the College and leading the development of the American Optometric Association Paraoptometrc Section and registry exam was inspiring and exhilarating; 2) Establishing a significant pediatric curriculum and clinical service at the College informed by cutting edge infant vision research, which showed clearly the importance of clinical vision research to the evidence-based clinical pediatric vision care of the future; 3) The clinical research question that I pursued related to our longtime school vision screening program at the College established by Dr. Glenn Fry. My responsibility for the community-based vision screening program and related coursework generated the critical clinical question and led to the Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study and the University/Community Model Program. The VIP Study was a six-year, multi-center, inter-disciplinary, clinical study funded by the National Eye Institute. The Study Center and one of five Clinical Centers were located at our College. The VIP Study involved hundreds of heroic colleagues and thousands of three- to five-year old Head Start Preschoolers. These many achievements, along with other wonderful mentors, colleagues and a most supportive husband led to my retirement in 2009 as Professor of Optometry and Vision Science, member of The Ohio State University Graduate Faculty, and Professor Emeritus. What an honor!

Though the College of Optometry, University and optometric organizations kept “my dance-card filled,” an interest in art and artists continued to grow from my days as an undergraduate fine arts major at the University of Wisconsin. Now, I especially focus on painters and sculptors whose vision disorders may have affected their work. My current community service work for the Columbus Childhood League arises from my days as a young clinical instructor taking our students to screen the vision of these young handicapped preschoolers. Service remains a privilege.