OPT Visionary - Spring/Summer 2013

THE V ISIONARY • S PRING /S UMMER 2013 — 27 Annette Bade, O.D., FAAO, is the only faculty alumni who can claim she has seen it all at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Optometry (NSUCO). That’s because she was a member of the first class admitted in 1989 when we were still Southeastern University of the Health Sciences (SEUHS) in North Miami Beach. As a result, Dr. Bade has a greater appreciation of where our school has come from than most other people. During the college’s early years, she and her colleagues endured dimly lit classrooms, antiquated equipment, a one-lane Optometric Theory and Methods (OTM) Lab housed in a converted closet, and an external clinic in Opa Locka where gunfire was a regular part of the street music. That’s why she treats the Davie facilities we moved into during the summer of 1996 with near reverence. Dr. Bade’s journey to NSUCO began in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, where she hails from. She traces her interest in optometry back to the fourth and sixth grades when she was prescribed spec- tacles and then contact lenses, respectively, for playing basketball. Despite being a terror on the boards, Dr. Bade realized at this tender age that a career in optometry was more realistic than one in professional basketball. While in high school, she underwent orthoker- atology—the application of gas permeable contact lenses while sleeping to temporarily reshape the cornea for the purpose of reducing myopia. Thrilled by the results, she formally began to investigate optometry as a career, learning that it offered a lifestyle and earning potential that were commen- surate with her desires. Unlike the guidettes from New Jersey who’ve recently been lionized for their apathy, Dr. Bade worked hard to earn a B.A. in Classics and Philos- ophy fromAtlanta’s Emory University in 1987. She learned about SEUHS and the start of the College of Optometry through a sorority sister who was at- tending the university’s College of Pharmacy. Dr. Bade ultimately had the honor of being a member of SEUHS’s inaugural graduating class in 1993. Her class also has the distinction of being the only one not to have diplomas from NSUCO because the merger with Nova wasn’t completed until the following year. After graduation, Dr. Bade remained in Florida working first in a joint M.D. and O.D. practice, and then as a self-employed contractor in a number of commercial and private optometric practices. The Lone Star State beckoned, however, because her husband had to relocate to Austin due to his job. It was during her time in Texas that Dr. Bade discov- ered her passion for both professional and commu- nity service. She chaired a number of committees as a member of the Texas Optometric Association Board of Directors between 1999 and 2002 and also served as the president and secretary/trea- surer of the Central Texas Optometric Society. In addition, Dr. Bade was the coordinator of the Texas Statewide Gift of Sight Program, which provided free eye examinations to indigent children in five major cities in the state in association with the Lion’s Club, Prevent Blindness, the Vision Service Plan, and Vision USA. Dr. Bade returned to South Florida with her growing family in January 2003. She welcomed the change, hoping to open her own practice or even teach at her alma mater. What she didn’t know was her career at NSUCO was at hand. With no regular faculty appointments available, Dr. Bade began teaching part time in the OTM Lab in the winter se- mester of 2003, and then during the summer se- mester under a research grant held by Pamela Oliver, O.D. A full-time position finally became available in October 2004. Dr. Bade has worn several hats at NSUCO. She’s been an integral member of the OTM Lab team, having served as both instructor and instruc- tor of record at all levels of the track. These labo- ratories are of great importance because it’s there where our students learn the nuts and bolts of con- ducting an optometric examination. In fact, it’s not uncommon for her to continue teaching these labs even after they’ve finished because students stop her in the stairwells, trying to wring every last bit of knowledge from her. In addition to OTM labs, Dr. Bade is currently the instructor of record for the Physical Diagnosis Lab, where our students receive more medically centered training in skills like injections. Although she enjoys the time spent in these labs, Dr. Bade most cherishes her role as a preceptor in the school’s third- and fourth-year Primary Care Clin- ics. It’s here that Dr. Bade has the opportunity to not only teach students, but to interact with pa- tients—something she has never lost her fondness for. She gets many ah-ha moments in this setting as her students tie together their academic and clinical knowledge. Besides her teaching duties, Dr. Bade has em- braced clinical vision research. Although every NSUCO faculty member is required to do re- search/scholarship, her introduction to it was wholly unique because she bypassed the research part by volunteering to be the school’s research coordinator—an administrative position. While she found this post to be to her liking, it more impor- tantly gave her a window into the impact research has on the profession. Consequently, she became Educational Sabbatical Reenergizes Dr. Annette Bade By Arnie Patrick, O.D., Assistant Professor Continued on next page...