College News

The Latest

June 27, 2016
Dr. Kassaundra Johnston featured in TMC News: Kassaundra Johnston, OD '12, director of SNAPS and clinical assistant professor at UHCO was recently featured in TMC News alongside Cynthia Peacock, M.D., director of the Transition Medicine Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine. They have come together to give quality care to special needs patients who have aged out of the pediatric system. Many of the patients from the Transition Medicine Clinic at Baylor are sent to UHCO for optometry services. The College provides specialty services for adults with disabilities called SNAPS (Special Needs Adult and Pediatric Service). Whether it be primary care or optometry, Texas Medical Center and UHCO are working to provide quality care to all patients regardless of their cognitive aptitude. To read the full TMC News story click here.

June 6, 2016
UHCO Class of 1996 Reunion: The weekend of June 4-5, UHCO was excited to welcome back the Class of 1996 for their 20-year reunion! The group enjoyed reminiscing through the college halls and touring the Health and Biomedical Sciences Bldg. The soiree was held in conjunction with UHCO's Everything Therapeutic CE program. It was great seeing everyone and hearing the stories of alumni when they called UHCO home.

May 19, 2016
UHCO Commencement 2016: UHCO welcomed another group of optometric professionals to the ranks as UHCO alumni! On May 12, the Class of 2016 celebrated with friends and family as they received their Doctor of Optometry degrees.

Memorable highlights from the day included the award for Distinguish Alumnus of the Year; Brett Bence, OD,’79, FAAO. Brett currently serves as the director of optometric services in a large multi-center surgical and co-management practice and the president of the American Academy of Optometry. Another highlight from the day’s event included William "Bill" Elizondo, OD, presented with Volunteer of the Year award. William has accumulated many awards and honors during his distinguished career as an advocate for the profession and his community.

It was wonderful to celebrate the honors of such esteemed alumni and friends of the UHCO family and welcome the Class of 2016 as new optometric professionals!

April 21, 2016
Benedict Professor in Practice Management and Administration: Dr. April Jasper completed her appointment as the Benedict Professor in Practice Management and Practice Administration for the 2015 -2016 academic year. The professorship was established in 1984 through the generosity and support of Mr. Bill Benedict and family. Bill was an entrepreneur and influential leader in the eyewear industry for 68 years and revolutionized the optical laboratory business. It was and still is Mr. Benedict’s intention to provide a focus on administrative and management tools in the optometric curriculum and thus to promote the independent practice of the profession. Past Benedict Professors have been Drs. Irving Bennett, Irvin Borish, Robert Koetting, Jack Runninger, Richard Kattouf, Brad Williams, Wayne Wood, Jerome Legerton, Bobby Christensen, Neil Gailmard, Laurie Sorrenson, Peter Shaw-McMinn, Jack Bridwell, Gary Moss, Carmen Castellano, Mark Wright, Donald Teig, Gary Gerber, Dave Zigler, Michael Rothchild, Carole Burns, Walter West, and Jay Binkowitz. We were pleased to add Dr. April Jasper to this distinguished list of scholars in optometric practice management.

April 8, 2016
2016 HAVIN Insight Expo: Join Us July 30th, 2016
For The
2016 HAVIN Insight Expo Advocacy In Action

A Half-Day of Information and Networking For the Visually Impaired

The 2016 Insight Expo, sponsored by the Houston Area Visually Impaired Network (HAVIN), is now set and the only thing missing is you! This will be a half-day event with a focus on Advocacy In Action workshops for the visually impaired. Please pre-register, because it not only saves you money, but it also enters you into a special door prize drawing! Breakfast, workshops, discussion panels, and door prizes, all for only $5!

Click Here For More Information Media Release Form

April 1, 2016
UHCO 4th Annual Arthritis Foundation Fundraiser: UHCO faculty, staff and students came to support the 4th Annual Arthritis Foundation bingo fundraiser last week. This event raised a record $1,900 for the charity whose mission is to provide the arthritis community with life-changing information and resources as they battle arthritis. UHCO alum and faculty member Amber Gaume, OD, started the event because her oldest daughter battles arthritis and has serious vision-related complications, due to arthritis, from the age of 2. The event continues to grow each year raising awareness for the Arthritis Foundation as well as community amongst UHCO.

April 7, 2016
Philanthropy Awareness Day: Philanthropy Awareness Day is focused on celebrating contributions to UH and its Colleges. Every year UH depends on the generosity of donors who help support scholarships, programs and spaces for innovative learning opportunities. UHCO would like to say thank you to all UHCO alumni and friends who help make our mission a reality!

February 29, 2016
See to Succeed Program Sees 10,000th Student: Congratulations to the See to Succeed team as they completed their 10,000th eye exam, this academic year. The partnership between UHCO, the Houston Department of Health and Human Service, Berkley Eye Center, Essilor Foundation, Essilor Corporation, Eye Care for Kids, Kids Vision for Life, San Jacinto Community College, and Wal-Mart Corporation, began seeing kids in fall 2012. In four short years, they have seen over 44,000 kids in the Houston community. We salute this huge milestone as they continue to move ahead to provide the best eye care for all.

February 18, 2016
UHCO student becomes AOSA National Liaision: University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO), Optometry II student, Christopher Lopez recently received fantastic news that he would become the Student American Academy of Optometry (SAAO) National Liaison for the 2016-2017 academic year. Each year the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) searches for an AOSA National Liaison. This position receives numerous applications each year from students in over 20 optometry school across the country.

Lopez lives his life driven to enrich the lives and health of others. He has shown leadership though the years by serving as president of his high school student body, senior class president in college, and most recently, elected vice-president of the National Optometric Student Association (NOSA) at UHCO.

January 27, 2016
UHCO takes 1st at Global Specialty Lens Symposium: Roxana Hemmati, O.D.'15 and Maria Walker, O.D., M.S., received first place in the scientific poster category at the Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS). The poster was selected from over 100 displayed at the symposium held January 21-24 in Las Vegas, NV. The poster was titled, Scleral Lens Tear Film Reservoir Analysis: Protein Lipid Concentrations in Midday Fogging. Congratulations to both Roxana and Maria on their achievement.(Image L-R: Roxana Hemmati, O.D.; Maria Walker, O.D., M.S.; Bruce Morgan, O.D., FAAO and Beth Kinoshita, O.D., FAAO)