OPT Visionary - Spring/Summer 2013

the appropriate allowances for each child’s visual needs. Additionally, it has also helped her to know what questions to ask, leading to improved com- munication with the teacher and offering credible information to parents. As Dr. Coulter develops these skills, she is pass- ing on her knowledge to residents and students. She believes this new approach and further devel- opments in ASD research will be invaluable to the community and believes that encouraging and par- ticipating in further clinical, teaching, and research collaborations is the future path. Family Support With so much activity in her chosen vocation, Dr. Coulter says she is lucky to have a husband who supports her professionally, as well as being “a great dad” to their children Riley (13) and Liam (12). She met her husband, Jim, in college, but they didn’t start dating until about 15 years later, which Jim described as their personal version of When Harry Met Sally . Patient Rewards Bring Fulfillment Dr. Coulter regularly feels rewarded and appre- ciated through her relationships with her many patients, students, and residents. She was very moved to receive a handwritten letter from a former student now residing in Idaho who graduated over 10 years ago. She is humbled by her long-term pa- tients who have since moved away from Fort Laud- erdale, but still make an appointment to see her when they return to town. And she was touched to receive jewelry made by a patient with amblyopia as part of his therapy Today, Dr. Coulter continues to serve as an NSUCO Associate Professor. Her current respon- sibilities include didactic instruction in pediatric optometry and learning-related vision problems, clinical preceptorship, residency supervision, and patient care in the Pediatric and Binocu- lar Vision Service. Jim, Riley, and Liam: A Moment in Time Dr. Coulter is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and is a Diplomate in binocular vision, perception, and pediatric optometry. She has held offices in several professional or- ganizations, including the American Academy of Optometry, where she served as chair of the Binocular Vision, Perception, and Pediatric Optometry Section and vice chair of the Mem- bership Committee. She also chaired the Florida Optometric Association’s Children’s Vision Committee and twice served on the American Academy of Optometry’s Nominating Com- mittee. In 2009, she was elected as a Distinguished Practi- tioner to the National Academies of Practice. Dr. Coulter has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal arti- cles in such publications as Strabismus , Optometry and Vision Science , Optometry , and Optometry & Vision Development . She has also authored a textbook chapter in the fifth edition of Bartlett and Janus’s text Clinical Ocular Pharmacology . She serves on the Optometry & Vision Development Editorial Re- view Board and has served as a guest reviewer for the journals Optometry and Vision Science , British Journal of Ophthalmol- ogy , Optometry , and Ophthalmic and Physiologic Optics . Dr. Coulter has made many presentations, including scientific pa- pers and continuing education lectures covering the topics of binocular vision and pediatric optometry.