OPT Visionary - Spring/Summer 2013

Yin C. Tea, O.D . , assistant professor, currently serves as chief of the Pediatric and Binocular Vision Service and residency program supervisor. She brings her expertise from California and New York and has been instrumental in expanding the strabismus and amblyopia binocular vision clinics. Dr. Tea has been the recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award and the Golden Apple Award from OD3 and OD2 students. In addition to teaching the Abnomalies of Binocular Vi- sion II course and lab, she is instructing the Optomet- ric Theory and Methods II course and lab, where she provides basic skills and then advanced acknowledge of ocular assessment to the students. Gregory Fecho, O.D. , assistant professor, cur- rently serves as course instructor of the Anomalies of Binocular Vision I course and lab as well as the Op- tometric Theory and Methods I course and lab. His teaching emphasizes accommodative ocular motor and heterophoric conditions. He served as a vision therapist for the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) and CITT-Reading Study and was collab- orator with testing protocol for the Convergence In- sufficiency in Children and Adolescents with Autism Study (CICADA). His passion, however, is technology, including its use and effectiveness in optometric education. He has been published in Optometric Education on the use of social media in the classroom and produced scholarly work on the use and value of podcasting in his courses. In addition, Dr. Fecho has been invited to lecture on innovative technologies at past Ameri- can Academy of Optometry meetings. He also is the first to create an interactive electronic lab manual with multimedia for use on the iPad as well as the first to utilize Tegrity as a method of enhancing student en- gagement and performance. As a result, he is leading NSUCO’s research and teaching into the 21 st century. Mary Bartuccio, O.D. , worked as the instructor of the Anomalies in Binocular Vision I Laboratory course, where her primary teaching focus was to ed- ucate the students about vision therapy. She also evaluated and managed patients with special needs, vision-related learning problems, strabismus, ambly- opia, and infants. In addition, she served as the in- structor for the Pediatric Case Conference course, where is where the fourth-year students are taught the knowledge to become better pediatric clinicians. In addition to her clinical participation, Dr. Bartuccio was involved in clinical research, including the CITT. She also published many articles in the area of spe- cial needs, including a book titled Visual Diagnosis and Care of the Patient with Special Needs . Autism, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, and many other specialty cases are described in detail in this book, including the examination and management of pa- tients with special needs. (Note: Dr. Bartuccio left the college in the spring to pursue other professional opportunities.) Deborah Amster, O.D. , is currently the co-chair of the Associate-to-Fellowship Committee of COVD. She has been an active participant on several stud- ies, including the CITT and CITT-RS studies as well as the CICADA study at NSUCO. She also authored a chapter entitled “Diagnosis and Treatment of Vision Information Processing Disorders” in the book Visual Diagnosis and Care of the Patient with Special Needs . Dr. Amster’s particular areas of interest in- clude visual perceptual dysfunction and learning-re- lated vision disorders, preschool vision screening and exams, and vision training. In addition, she was awarded the Golden Apple Award for pediatrics and binocular vision. Jacqueline Rodena, O.D. , who is serving her sec- ond term as president of the NSUCO Alumni Associ- ation, is an attending optometrist at both the Davie and Kids in Distress pediatric clinics and serves as the residency program coordinator. NSUCO trains three residents each year—two in pediatrics and one in pediatrics and primary care. Currently, she is a prin- cipal investigator for the Pediatric Eye Disease Inves- tigator Group (PEDIG) focusing on intermittent exotropia and has participated in multiple other PEDIG studies. Dr. Rodena also co-wrote a chapter with Yin Tea, O.D., in Visual Diagnosis and Care of the Patient with Special Needs . Nadine Girgis Hanna, O.D. , is an AAO Fellow who is working on her fellowship for the COVD. Her particular areas of interest include pediatric ocular disease, amblyopia, and vision training. She also vol- unteers for the Special Olympics and is the principal investigator for the Hyperopia Treatment Study—an- other of the PEDIG studies. Erin Jenewein, O.D. , is the chief of service of The Eye Care Institute at Kids in Distress. Dr. Jenewein, who graduated with highest honors and professional distinction from NSUCO in 2009, completed a pedi- atrics residency at NSUCO in pediatrics and binocular vision and was the recipient of the 2009 Dr. Terrance Ingraham Pediatric Optometry Residency Award. Her teaching responsibilities include clinical preceptor and residency supervisor in the third- and fourth-year pe- diatrics and primary care clinics. She also teaches in THE V ISIONARY • S PRING /S UMMER 2013 — 16 DR.TEA DR. BARTUCCIO DR. FECHO DR. COULTER