David Damari Bio

October 14, 2020

David A. Damari, OD, FCOD, FAAO

Dr. David A. Damari is the Dean at Ferris State University Michigan College of Optometry. Prior to his appointment as dean, he was a professor at Southern College of Optometry (SCO) and the Chair of the Department of Assessment, responsible for institutional review, measures of academic outcomes, and regional and professional accreditation. He is a Fellow and past president of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. He is the president of the board of ASCO.

Dr. Damari is one of only three individuals to ever complete the Fellow-in-Residence program at the National Board of Examiners in Optometry. He has served on several committees on the NBEO, including the Part I Re-engineering Committee, the Examination Restructuring Committee (2002-3) that developed the current format of the entire examination, the Psychology/Perceptual Conditions sub-committee, the Patient Assessment & Management (PAM) Authoring Committee, the Part II Exam Council, and the Applied Basic Science (Part I) Authoring Committee. He has taught courses in optometric theory and procedures, vision therapy, pediatric optometry, neurological eye disease, and strabismus and amblyopia at SCO and still lectures on the topics of assessment of student classroom performance, neurologic disease, vision therapy, visual disabilities, and the profession of optometry at MCO, nationally, and internationally.

Dr. Damari is the consultant on visual disabilities to many national and state testing and licensing boards, including the National Board of Medical Examiners, the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, the CFA Institute, the Law School Admissions Council, and the Graduate Management Admission Council. He wrote chapters on visual disabilities in four books, including Accommodations in Higher Education under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), edited by Michael Gordon and Shelby Keiser. He started a private optometric practice in Rochester, New York, helping hundreds of patients meet their visual performance needs in education, athletics, and the workplace. He was also an associate with Drs. Nathan Flax and A.M. Rappaport in Garden City, New York. He graduated from SUNY College of Optometry and did the residency in Vision Therapy Rehabilitation there.