On March 7th, Dr. Nicole Patterson OD, MS, FAAO visited us from Nova Southeastern University, or NSU, in Florida. She talked to us all about NSU and what kinds of opportunities they offer as well as discussed the profession of Optometry. Thank you Dr. Patterson for braving the cold Ohio weather and coming to speak with us!

Continue reading Meeting Minutes 3/7/2019 →

On March 5th, Dr. Gialousakis from Chicago College of Optometry at Midwestern University came to speak at our meeting. Dr. Gialousakis talked with us about the Chicago College of Optometry at Midwestern University and all of the opportunities they offer. Thank you, Dr. Gialousakis, for taking the time to travel to Ohio State and to talk with us about Optometry and the Chicago College of Optometry!

Continue reading Meeting Minutes 3/5/2019 →

In our meeting on February 12th, Dr. Ooi came in to speak with us about research in Optometry. This was a great presentation and really inspired a lot of interest in research in the field of Optometry among our members! Thank you, Dr. Ooi, for coming in to speak with us and answer all of our questions.

Continue reading Meeting Minutes 2/12/2019 →

During the meeting we were able to perform a cow eyeball dissection with Dr. Delgado Nixon (Dr. VDN). Through this dissection, we learned about what optometrists do as well as being able to see the structures of the cow eyeball. Dr. VDN explained the different parts of the front and the back of the eye and how they work, which was very interesting and exciting for us as aspiring Optometrists! Thank you for coming to lead us in the dissection, Dr. VDN, and for the time you spent teaching us!

At our first meeting of the year, Mr. Shawn Gilbert from our very own Optometry school came to speak with us! He is The Ohio State University’s Assistant Director of Admissions, and is also our club advisor. It was really great to learn more about the admissions process with Shawn, thank you for coming to speak with us!  Continue reading Meeting Minutes 1/15/2019 →

This week Lucas Christiani was able to talk with us about Western University College of Optometry which is in Pomona, California. We really enjoyed listening to him talk about Western University College of Optometry, thank you Lucas! Continue reading Meeting Minutes 11/27/2018 →

This was our third meeting of the year and Mr. Zach Levin-Epstein from SUNY College of Optometry in New York City was able to come in and give a presentation to us about Optometry School and to answer any questions we had. Thank you for coming to speak with us Zach!

Continue reading Meeting Minutes 10/25/2018 →

This was our second meeting of the year and Shawn Gilbert came in to talk with us! He is the Assistant Director of Admission at OSU and the advisor of Pre-Optometry Club. He gave us lots of information about Ohio State’s Optometry School as well as the admission process. Continue reading Meeting Minutes 9/25/2018 →

This was our first meeting of the semester and Sunnie Ewing from Southern College of Optometry came to present to us. Continue reading Meeting Minutes 9/11/2018 →

Today we heard from Dr. Heather Chandler! She is a faculty member at the OSU College of Optometry teaching ocular anatomy to first year students. Dr. Chandler was born in Canada and had an interest in veterinary medicine from a young age. She started professional life as a veterinary nurse, and studied in several fields including parasitology and microbiology. Eventually she came to The Ohio State University and discovered veterinary ophthalmology. Dr. Chandler stressed that there are many ways to get where you want to go in terms of career goals.

She earned her PhD in veterinary biosciences and currently researches cataract formation and corneal wound healing. Although her research primarily involves animals, she works with ophthalmologists to apply her findings to clinical settings that benefit human patients. Examples of her research include sunglasses for dogs to reduce oxidative stress on the eyes, and improving retention time of drugs on the cornea.

Regarding optometry school, Dr. Chandler goes into great detail about all structures within the eye and how they work together to produce vision. Her advice to potential applicants is to be prepared for a tough curriculum. Having a tough skin is important and being comfortable with the unknown is essential. To prepare for the rigor of post-graduate coursework, she recommends students take a detailed anatomy course, preferably incorporating histology.

If anyone has questions for Dr. Chandler, you can email her at chandler.111@osu.edu!