SCHOLARS EVENT: Optometry Dine with the Department
On October 15th, I had the opportunity of dining with the optometry department in Kennedy Commons. More specifically, along with a group of 9 other scholars students, I was able to have dinner with the Dean of the Optometry department, Dr. Karla Zadnik, along with Sean Gilbert who is the director of admissions for the department. I gained much more than I would have ever imagined from this event due to how much one on one conversation I was able to have with such knowledgeable people in the field. To begin, I first learned just how much optometrists ultimately end up discovering neurological health problems in patients that are unrelated to the eyes. I never knew that often simple eye exams can sometimes end up saving lives of patients with other unknown diseases due to the complex inter workings of the eyes that extend into the brain.
Throughout the dinner, I was able to ask the dean many questions about more of the public and global health connections and opportunities within the field of optometry (specifically when studying it at OSU). For example, I learned that there is an immense amount of communities (abroad and in America) that have extreme disparities when it comes to eye doctors. Additionally, I learned about the myriad of optometry outreach programs when it comes to medical brigades abroad. The dean told me about 20 passionate optometry students that just traveled to Peru this past August, but also that there are regular optometry service trips to Ghana, Haiti, Nicaragua, as well as most of South America. She also explained the work that the optometry students also partake in with Remote Area Medical and Faith Mission, which are clubs on campus that I feel even more encouraged to join now! She also encouraged me to look into International Exchange Programs that many schools have for, not only optometry but all other health science fields!
The pure enthusiasm for the field that was spread to me just by meeting with them for a little over an hour was very inspiring for me. Dean Zadnik and Sean Gilbert kept going on about all of the new advancements to the program and seemed to genuinely care about our interest in the department. Additionally, Dr. Zadnik encouraged us all to reach out to her for one on one appointments if we ever feel we need advising for what health field to go into because she is also the executive dean for all 7 health colleges (not just optometry). She gave us her contact information which included her phone number, so I will definitely be reaching out to her later on in my undergraduate career when I am making my final decision of what fields I am considering going into!