Eye on Optometry

A quick teaser video about optometry and research. Featuring Doctors of Optometry and AOA members. 

Drs. Schaffner

Editors note: Thank you Dr. Schaffner for your service!

by Lieutenant Matt Schaffner, OD
UAB School of Optometry Class of 2019

 Why I became a military optometrist
My desire to serve my country in the Armed Forces is what actually led me to pursue a career in optometry.  I come from a long line of family members who have served our country in every armed conflict that the United States has been a part of. I have a great-great-great… (I do not know how many “greats”) grandfather, Major William Gill, who served as the aid to General George Washington in the American Revolution. More recently, both of my grandfathers served, one of which served in the Pacific theater in WWII, and my father and his brothers all served in the Navy. My father, who made rank of Commander in the U.S Navy Dental Corps, is my biggest role model for wanting to serve in the military in a health care capacity.

When exploring health care fields within the Navy, I came across optometry as a Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) career. HPSP is a scholarship in which the Navy provides full coverage of medical, dental, or optometry school costs and allows for direct accession in the Navy as a commissioned officer.  As I read about a career in Navy optometry, the opportunity to serve our nation’s heroes in a mission-critical role was too good to pass up.

Optometry school experiences prepared me for this career
The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry absolutely prepared me for taking on the challenges of meeting ocular and vision care needs of our nation’s servicemen and servicewomen. The diversity of our patients at UABSO provided me the opportunity to clinically diagnose and treat patients from a large variety of cultures, backgrounds, and predisposed medical conditions. The Navy and all U.S. Armed Forces are composed of very diversified groups of people from different nations, backgrounds, and cultures, much like my experience at UABSO. My well-rounded experience at UABSO as a student equipped me with the tools and confidence to be able to provide quality ocular health care for our diverse military population.

Also, during my fourth year in-school rotations, I was able to sneak into two rounds of TBEye Clinic in my last year of optometry school. In TBEye Clinic we provided comprehensive and specialty eye exams to UAB athletes, students, and members of the community who have experienced traumatic brain injuries. We examined every facet of ocular health and vision, which included ocular pathology, vision loss, and binocular vision deficits post-concussion. One of the biggest learning takeaways from TBEye clinic was that we could help facilitate neurological healing for our TBEye patients by simply addressing undercorrected refractive errors, binocular vision anomalies, and impaired proprioception. These skills became especially handy when treating servicemen and servicewomen who have undergone head injuries secondary to high risk activities by the very nature of their military jobs.

A day in my life
A routine day at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Optometry Clinic consists of providing comprehensive eye exams and vision physicals typically for Marine pilots and aircrew, ensuring that they maintain vision and ocular requirements for safe aeronautical operations. We also conduct Student Naval Aviator eye exams for Pilot and Naval Flight Officer applicants.

Not only are we taking care of Marines involved in aviation and aviation support, but we also see patients from all other branches of the military including Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

At Naval Medical Center San Diego and the surrounding branch clinics, we have multiple externs rotating through optometry clinics at any given time. I am afforded the opportunity to teach fourth year optometry students from several different optometry schools as adjunct faculty. Students often find their Navy rotation very enjoyable as they get to practice proficiency on active duty military patients from all over the country and even the world. 

Being a Naval Officer often requires time away from the clinic to fulfill other leadership roles and training. Training can be as mundane as hours of PowerPoints to as exciting as learning how to escape from an underwater helicopter crash upside-down in the dark via pool simulation!

As an optometrist in the Navy, providing vision and ocular care is mission critical for the many occupations like pilots operating aircraft, submariners navigating subsurface, and special operators and Marines maneuvering in nighttime operations. I am so grateful and honored to have the opportunity to serve America’s heroes every day.

A Short Conversation with Dr. Kelly Nichols, ASCO President

During ASCO’s Board meeting in June, ASCO swears in a new President for the upcoming 12 months. This year, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Board meeting was held remotely, and Dr. Kelly Nichols was sworn in as ASCO’s President virtually.

Dr. Kelly Nichols received her Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of California at Berkeley, completed a residency in ocular disease at Omni Eye Specialists of Colorado, and earned her MPH in biostatistics and PhD in vision science at Ohio State University. In 2014, Dr. Nichols was named Dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry and is co-director of the Ocular Surface Institute at the Clinical Eye Research Facility. Dr. Nichols has served on each of the TFOS steering committees (DEWS, DEWS II, Contact Lens Discomfort, and MGD workshops). A leading expert in dry eye disease, Dr. Nichols is or has been on the editorial boards of the journals Optometry and Vision Science, and The Ocular Surface, and is extensively published with over 105 papers.

Dr. Nichols has previous (PI) and current (Co-I) NIH NEI funding in the area of dry eye and MGD and has participated in numerous clinical trials and research studies over the last 25 years. Dr. Nichols is a board member of the research advocacy group NAEVR/AVER, and is President of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry.

Dr. Nichols chatted with ASCO’s Director of Communications, Kimberly O’Sullivan to talk about the upcoming year.

ASCO: Dr. Nichols, congratulations on being named ASCO President for fiscal year 2021-2022. Before we get into that, how are you doing during these challenging times? How are you adapting to the “new normal”? What was graduation like and how are you preparing for the upcoming academic year? It’s hard to believe we have been doing this for over a year.

Dr. Kelly Nichols: Thanks for asking. One thing we now know is that during the “new normal” change is constant. Along with all the other optometric institutions across the country, we have adapted to the ever changing times and found our way to move forward. Some of the new normal will stay – we know that faculty and staff appreciate wearing scrubs, and patients recognize optometry’s role as a health care profession when scrubs are part of the image they perceive. That will probably stay. Masking in a clinical patient setting will probably stay for a while, if not forever. One additional benefit is that masking may help during flu season and stop the spread. That will be a good thing for everyone.

We are coming off a high of graduation season. Recently we celebrated the optometry professional program and vision science graduate program classes of 2021 and 2020 completing their post graduate degrees. We recruited and look forward to welcoming our incoming first year students and we anticipate a great four years. A re-scheduled white coat ceremony was held for the Class of 2024—that feels a lot like getting back to normal.

In terms of ASCO, I look forward to the coming year as well as seeing my fellow Board of Director members in person, hopefully soon. However, during this past year, the Board has had weekly informal chats every Thursday afternoon and it’s been great seeing everyone virtually. It’s been a great support, and we have functioned so well together as a full Board. We have been sharing best practices, worries, and tips as we continue this “new normal.” I feel we are closer as a group than ever before, we enjoy each other’s company and we all look forward to seeing each other in person to give elbow bumps and hugs.

ASCO: Also, this is a bit of a fun fact and ASCO trivia. Did you know that you are the first ASCO President that was also the AOSA President?! Talk to me a little bit about this trajectory. Tell us about the AOSA.

KN:  The AOSA – American Optometric Student Association – is a long-standing fabulous organization of optometric students who represent all the schools and colleges of optometry. These student members come together to lead, advocate and be the voice of optometry students. From the trustees from all the schools, national officers are elected. I was the president way back when I was in optometry school. It was a great way to work with other students from other schools. I made life-long colleagues and friends and I was able to develop my leadership skills. I also understand that I am the only dean of an optometric institution to be past AOSA president. An unusual club of one. It’s an honor.

Even now, I really enjoy seeing the young leaders emerge from this and other national organizations. I look forward to watching their trajectory of what they can do in the future. In the past few years UABSO has had AOSA national officers, as well this past year the vice president and the president of the NOSA (National Optometric Student Association) were UAB optometry students (now alumni). I am incredibly proud of what they are doing to represent students. They are movers and shakers and are giving back in a major way.

ASCO: What are you looking forward to most as President of ASCO? What will be some of your top priorities this year?

KN: We have had a strong emphasis on the Optometry Gives Me Life campaign in the past few years and that will continue this next year and beyond. We are seeing the positive effects on application numbers, especially minority applicants. The ASCO board members, staff, and faculty that have worked so diligently on this campaign are the unsung heroes. Also, for years, ASCO has been involved in many diversity, equity and inclusion activities which have become increasingly important and more visible. That will remain a prominent focus over the next year. Collaborative efforts, like the ASCO/NOA/AAO Cultural Competency Workshop will return, hopefully on an annual basis.

For me personally, I am thankful I had great mentorship throughout my career, particularly in academic research and I’m excited to find and promote the next generation of optometry clinician-scientists, teachers and leaders. As we emerge from COVID, it would be nice to focus on the academic workforce—finding, encouraging and mentoring the next generation.  

ASCO: Before we continue, a lot has happened in our world this past year. Not just with the pandemic, but also racial injustice, Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate. What steps are you taking to improve the climate? What challenges are you dealing with being in Alabama? 

KN: In this past year, UABSO appointed the first DEI director, Dr. Keisha Elder. We have great support in the optometry school as well as in through UAB’s office of diversity, equity and inclusion. On an ongoing basis, training programs for faculty, staff and students are offered, for example our fourth-year students undergo implicit bias training before they venture off to their externships. This will continue, and is not unique to our school as many other schools are making similar appointments and programming. We have a rich but difficult history in Birmingham, and I am proud our DEI initiatives will focus on all aspects of DEI including, but not limited to, the Black community, LGBTQAI+, AAPI, and others. There is no limit to where inequities can happen. Here and with all ASCO institutions, I hope we can continue to create an environment that’s welcoming and support grass roots efforts to make substantive change over time.

ASCO:  Let’s get to know you on a personal level better. Why did you choose the career of optometry? What did your path entail getting you to the Dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Optometry? What did you find most appealing about the field of optometry?

KN: I was first introduced to the profession as a career choice through the private practice I went to for glasses when I was young in Reno, Nevada. My dad suggested it to me because he was good friends with the Doctor of Optometry who owned the practice, and I was looking for a calm, medical profession. I dislike blood and needles but wanted to be in a health profession (sound familiar, anyone?). Those dislikes pushed me toward the eyes. I quickly realized people were happy coming to see their OD and leaving with better vision.

I chose optometric academia because I think it best suits my personality. I know I like multi-tasking and couldn’t see myself owning a business and “hanging my shingle” at a private practice. I was very interested in research and teaching, so academia was very appealing to me.

Following a residency at Denver Omni, I moved to Columbus, Ohio to pursue a PhD in Vision Science at Ohio State University, where I also received a master’s degree in public health and met my husband, Dr. Jason Nichols who is also an OD, MPH, PhD from Ohio State. In total we were at Ohio State for more than 15 years including training, then the University of Houston, College of Optometry for three years and now at UAB optometry for seven. I still do research with my husband Jason, and train graduate students, as well as teach Intro to Optometry in the professional program, all of which are very rewarding.

ASCO: Tell me more about University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the School of Optometry.

KN: I have been at UAB for seven years. Coincidentally, I started on the same day that Drs. Karla Zadnik and John Flanagan started at Ohio State and Berkeley optometry respectively. We are our own little June 1, 2014 cohort.

Birmingham is a lovely city with a great university, UAB. Times Higher Ed has ranked UAB the top young U.S. University twice, 12^th globally. Forbes recently ranked UAB 4^th as America’s Best Employer for New Graduates and 1^st as America’s Best Large Employer. For the past four years, UAB has received the Insight Into Diversity HEED award, recognizing a strong commitment to DEI as a diversity champion. UAB is also a research powerhouse and in 2020 received $325M in NIH research funding, which is 12^th among public universities. Many do not know these UAB facts, and the reputation of the university globally.

As for the UAB School of Optometry, we were the first School of Optometry to be part of a vibrant medical campus, the vision of Founding Dean Henry Peters. We have a great MS and PhD graduate program in vision science, for those interested in academic optometry. Due to the strength of our university, we can offer combined degree programs and certificate programs. Students can receive joint OD and a Master’s in Public Health or Master’s in Business Administration, and a business or leadership certificate for example.

We may be smaller compared to some optometry institutions, we have around 50-55 students per class. We tend to attract students regionally, although the class of 2024 represents 37 states. Most importantly, we are proud of our family environment, and our shared values. Everyone knows each other and that has been especially important during COVID. We do our best to take care of each other and focus on student and faculty wellness and mental health. It’s a real point of emphasis, especially during these stressful times.

I love how Birmingham is centrally located. You can get to the beach or the mountains, as well as other regionally fun cities within a few hours. I call it a “Goldilocks” city—not so big it’s hard to get around, or so small you don’t have amenities. It is nicknamed “Steel City” and “Magic City” because of its major growth due to steel production and as a major railroad city in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Four of the six UABSO deans have been ASCO presidents, Drs. Peters, Amos, Augsburger, and now myself—so I am honored to follow in their footsteps.

ASCO: We like to ask everyone we speak with to say something about the field of optometry that people may not know. Or what would you say to someone with the aptitude for optometry but may not know about the field.

KN:  Some of the changes due to COVID, as well as new technology have further opened doors to telehealth and medical management in optometry, emphasizing that optometry is much more than just glasses and contacts. New therapies and technology to diagnose and manage eye diseases and conditions are always in development. We are seeing expanded scope of practice in a number of states – likely with many more to follow. Often people aren’t aware of all that ODs can do, and it is our job to share that optometrists are primary eye care providers. Optometrists are on the front line in detecting many systemic diseases and are often one of the few health care providers available in rural communities, where early detection, prevention, and appropriate referral can have a big impact. I was proud to hear that many optometry students actively helped administer COVID vaccines in states across the country.

Optometry is a nice profession. ODs have a good quality of life while having a health care emphasis. We can focus on prevention. We know these traits are very attractive to the next generation. They want to care for people and make a difference. Optometrists rarely have “on call” hours; they can have a nice family life and hobbies and passions outside of work. Doctors of Optometry have the knowledge and technical ability to adapt to a changing health care environment. The academic qualifications are rigorous and challenging. Optometrists really care about patients. I’m very proud to be part of this profession.

ASCO: Please tell us a little about your life outside of the workplace. What do you like to do outside of work?

KN: This June 19^th Dr. Jason Nichols and I celebrated our 22^nd anniversary, and we have two boys, Brady (19 yo), who just finished his first year at the University of Utah and is an avid mountain biker, and Cullan (16 yo) who is getting ready to start senior year and is also considering universities out West. COVID confirmed we like being at home, cooking a nice meal and enjoying a fine wine, although I do look forward to being able to experience the world through international travel once that is a possibility again. I have always enjoyed the outdoors, and being immersed in the beauty of nature. These days I accomplish this through running and photography—which I fondly call photoging. For the last three years, I upload a recently-taken picture every day to Instagram/Facebook. You can follow me at KellyKNichols or #dailynaturephotokkn. Most of the photos I take are during my morning run. Over the past three years I have come to see nature differently—I have more appreciation of beauty that can be found anywhere, if you just stop to look. In addition, photoging helps me maintain my sanity, as does a good snuggle with any of our three dogs, two labradoodles Bondi and Coogee, and a French bulldog Ringo.

Thank you for your time Dr. Nichols! We look forward to having a very productive and interesting year!

written by guest author Dr. Laurel Kelley

Now that graduation for the Class of 2021 has passed, it’s an interesting time to review and reflect on how the COVID-19 pandemic altered optometry students’ educational experiences over the last year. As faculty, I can’t speak to exactly how students have felt, but by working closely with them I’ve been able to observe the impacts didactically, clinically, socially, and mentally.

As with some of us, the loss of normal social interaction seems to hit hardest. Students have dealt with the combination of being unable to gather in large groups with their peers, and for the small groups they do work in, being unable to see each other’s faces. At many institutions, the rising second years have not yet had the opportunity to meet as an entire class except in virtual settings; they’ve only had in-person exposure to their small lab groups. This is exceptionally challenging for those who have moved far away from home and are living alone in a new city.

The didactic hurtle for students globally has obviously been the shift from the classroom to a virtual setting. As with any learning strategy, some will thrive and others will struggle and indeed, I have heard some students say that they’ve felt a stronger grasp of material with the transition. There is the strong benefit of being able to participate from the comfort of home and avoiding time lost for travel, and anecdotally, an increase in class attendance. One could also argue that those who normally are too shy to speak up and ask questions in person may feel more comfortable using the chat features to ask for clarification. This is also one of the only settings where people can fully see another’s face. During the limited in-person laboratory sessions, students have reported benefits of receiving more individual attention and instruction from faculty.

A significant disadvantage of the virtual setting, as many of us have noticed, is the frequency of technological failures, which are frustrating for both the speaker and the audience. The engagement skills of the facilitator are key, as there is a tendency for lengthy online lectures and meetings to come across as monotonous or even boring, lending towards being easily distracted. Additionally, a strong sense of self-discipline and time management skills are even more necessary to stay on top of coursework. The social implications include lack of peer-to-peer communication as well as the difficulty of separating schoolwork from home life as both are now taking place in the same setting. It’s been discussed that stress levels from working at home emanate from feelings of always needing to be working and experiencing negative self-talk when non-productive, even during periods that should be for relaxing, resting, and recharging.

Clinically, the number of patient encounters decreased when considering the shut down and reduced capacity. Commendably, students showed self-motivation to see as many patients as possible and take advantage of the extended time with each patient to learn and discuss with staff doctors without feeling rushed.

With relaxing restrictions and the hopeful return to in-person classes, social activities, and increase in number of patient encounters, the next few months are looking brighter to everyone, especially current students. Lastly, congratulations to the Class of 2021, our future colleagues, for their persistence, resilience, and professionalism in arguably the most difficult circumstances to complete a doctorate program!

Ashka Patel, PCO/Salus Class of 2023

2020 most certainly was not the year any optometrist or optometry student expected. When the global pandemic first rampaged the country, we were in the height of our midterms and had an exam planned for the day our school was to close. Since then, a lot of the pandemic was just “unknown.”

When the stay-at-home orders started, and all school and public buildings were closed, I had to make the adjustment to become an at-home student. As someone who loves to study at the library, in order to keep focusing on school and relaxing at home separate, this was a very difficult transition. However, it was a necessary one in order to do well during my spring and summer semesters. This adjustment, along with watching the news on the pandemic across the globe, studying for midterms, not knowing when we would return, or what the course of my curriculum would be like, caused my focus and motivation to decrease and my anxiety to increase.

As I was getting accustomed to studying from home, the professors were also going through their adjustment of moving everything online, and we as students just had to stay patient. In order to help ease the transition to virtual learning, several professors pre-recorded lectures in addition to holding collaborative sessions and online office hours, making sure that they were available to answer questions and help us through difficult material. One of my favorite aspects of the virtual environment was being able to attend an open forum with PCO Dean Melissa Trego and faculty every week, where we discussed current events, their impact on our current learning environment, and how to move forward with our curriculum. I greatly appreciated having the chance for my voice to be heard and having such close communication with our administration during an unprecedented time.

Another aspect of virtual learning that required a major adjustment was taking exams online. Taking exams from home created an entirely new level of test anxiety, as being told things like you cannot put your hands on your face or if you look away from the camera you may be flagged was fairly daunting. When I first began taking the exams virtually, I would feel so incredibly nervous beforehand and then feel shaken down after every exam at the prospect that I would be flagged for something and be penalized. Additionally, as I was quarantining at home with my parents and grandparents, I had to adjust to there being other activities happening and background noise around me. Sometimes, they would forget I had an exam, which made me nervous that the Respondus Lockdown Browsers would pick up their conversations and flag me for that as well. This meant that exam time had to become quiet time for the entire household, which made me feel as though I was taking away from my family members’ freedom. However, as time went on and I took more exams, I became increasingly comfortable in the environment and my family worked with my schedule to help me in the best way they could to excel in my exams.

What got me through these semesters was my support system. It was the professors who were willing to take a chance with virtual learning to help us understand the material. It was the University’s Center for Professional and Personal Development who was able to schedule a virtual session with me and help me process the changes I was experiencing. It was being able to Zoom call and stay in touch with my friends and study groups. It was the virtual study sessions where my friends and I were able to work through PowerPoints and even create our own Kahoots to practice and study the material. It was my family who adjusted their schedules to accommodate my exams. It was everyone who helped me learn that while adjusting to new environments takes time, I can still be successful anywhere.

Throughout this global pandemic, I had to do a lot of self-evaluating, make a lot of minor and major adjustments to my lifestyle, and take things one step at a time. However, through all of that, I grew as a student and as a person. I became stronger in the way I handled global news and the idea of the “unknown.” I learned that things will not always go as planned but you learn to adapt and make adjustments as you go. And, most importantly, I learned that you are not in this alone, and, at any point if you need help, you have a support system, even if it may be virtual. I am very grateful for the opportunities Salus University and PCO continue to give us students as we continue to learn and prosper in our careers.

Sophia explains how a childhood experience as well as a conversation with her Doctor of Optometry as an adult led her to consider optometry. And she’s never looked back.