Dr. Mark Wright spoke to us about the business side of optometry. He is the faculty coordinator for the OSU College of Optometry Business Management Program, and teaches students during all four years of the program. He told us about the courses he teaches for each year of the program, ranging from Personal Finance for first years, to Business Planning for fourth years. Dr. Wright provides students with the information they need to be successful professionals. He discussed medical insurance, being an employer vs. an employee, and the importance of teaching the time value of money.

Dr. Don Mutti spoke to us about his career at the College and about his research. Dr. Mutti teaches optics to first year optometry students. He has been doing research on refractive error for 27 years, and gets to bring research and clinical practice together at Ohio State. His research focuses on three main questions: How do the ocular optical components develop during childhood, what are the risk factors for myopia, and if future myopia can be predicted. He then explained to us how hyperopia is a cushion against nearsightedness, and ended with a discussion on ipRGC photoreceptors and the delayed pupillary response to blue light.

Dr. Nicky Lai spoke to us about his career at the College of Optometry and his story of how he got to be where he is today. Dr. Lai graduated from Ohio State in 2003 with an OD/MS degree. He gave us advice on how to succeed with the difficult course work of optometry school and the process of finding a niche within optometry. Dr. Lai concentrated on contact lenses and did a cornea contact lens residency. He is now the Chief of Contact Lens Service and told us about the various contact lens courses he teaches. Advancements in the area of contact lenses were also discussed, such as how scleral lenses can incorporate more correction for different refractive needs.

For the first part of the meeting, the seniors held a question and answer panel where other students asked questions about working in a practice, the OAT, and other items related to the application process. Then, Dr. Roanne Flom gave us a tour of the new BV/PEDS & Low Vision clinic. She pointed out all of the design details that were purposely placed to make the space appeal to the patients. She showed us around both sides of the new clinic and gave us an idea of what her typical day is like there.

Dr. Vondolee Delgado-Nixon led us in a cow eyeball dissection. First, she gave us an overview of general eye anatomy and conditions of the eye.  Then, we began the dissection, first locating the optic nerve. Dr. Delgado-Nixon then proceeded to teach us about the vitreous humor, the lens, the movement of radial and circular iris muscles and how the pupil works. The dissection concluded with an examination of the retina, paying special attention to the observable blood vessels and then the reflective tapetum of animal eyes.

Dr. Aaron Zimmerman spoke to us about his career at the Ohio State College of Optometry. His primary role is both clinical and didactic. He teaches lasers and injections while also doing clinical work with contact lenses, binocular vision and pediatrics, environmental vision and the Student Health Center. In his research, he studies baseball impact resistance, contact lens complications, and binocular vision conditions. Zimmerman also gives continuing education lectures about traumatic brain injury, amblyopia, contact lens complications, and InfantSEE.

Dr. Zimmerman then showed us images of several different eye conditions, such as keratoconus and various red eye events.

A student brand ambassador from Kaplan came to tell us about “The Optometry School Journey with Kaplan.” This program was designed to teach us about admissions, the OAT, and how Kaplan can be a support along the way. We took a quiz about where we are on the path to optometry school, which then gave us tips for what to do next. Kaplan offers different course types, from self-paced, in person, or live online to private tutoring. The speaker noted that more exclusive content can be found at www.kaptest.com/oat, where there are other great resources and additional information.

We heard from Dr. Heather Chandler, who has been on faculty with the College of Optometry since 2007. She started out in veterinary ophthalmology, then had the opportunity to begin researching and teaching at the College of Optometry.  The majority of her job now is bench top research, focusing specifically on corneal wound healing and cataracts.  She also teaches ocular anatomy to the first year optometry students, along with ocular physiology in the graduate program among other courses.  In her anatomy class, she likes to use a “drive through the tissue” visual approach, with very magnified images of the different tissues of the eye.  She shared some of these images with us. She still does a lot of work at the veterinary school, such as training the ophthalmology residents.  Chandler noted that the cases she sees in the animal world are much more extreme versions because the animals cannot complain about their eyes. When asked about working in academia, Chandler said that it is great because everything is always different and changing.

At our first meeting of the school year, we heard from Dr. Zadnik, the Dean of the College of Optometry.  She told us about her career, and how she rose up the ranks from an associate professor here at the college to now being the College of Optometry’s fifth dean.  She spoke about a new concept that is emerging here at Ohio State — interdisciplinary health care, where all of the health sciences at Ohio State would work together to provide the best comprehensive care.  Next, we heard from our club advisors Sally Haltom and Sean Gilbert, followed by Justin Griest and some current optometry students who all gave an overview of what to expect from the club and all of the resources available. Students were then taken on tours of the optometry school.

Photo courtesy of The Ohio State University College of Optometry Facebook page.