International Optometrist of the Year Award 2024

We are pleased to announce that this year's winner of the International Optometrist of the Year Award is Professor Susan Cotter, professor of Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B Ketchum University - Fullerton, California.

It is an honor that she has agreed to mentor the FOOT students graduating in 2024-2028

Susan Cotter, is a professor at the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University, is a pediatric optometrist and clinical scientist with primary research interests related to clinical management strategies for amblyopia, strabismus, convergence insufficiency, and childhood refractive error. She is the co-chair of the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG), a clinical research network of more than 350 pediatric optometrists and ophthalmologists funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute (NIH/NEI), conducting clinical research related to pediatric eye disorders. She has held leadership positions for various large-scale NEI-funded studies: the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS), the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Refractive Error (CLEERE), the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT), and the CITT-Attention and Reading Trial (CITT-ART).

She began her presidency of the Academy of Optometry in November 2022. She is also a member of the Scientific Bureau of the World Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (WSPOS) and recently served as co-chair of the Public Health and Disparities Research Panel of the NEI Strategic Plan for the Future (2021-2025).

Additionally, she has received numerous teaching awards, such as the Award for Excellence in Optometric Education from the California Optometric Association, the Theia Award for Excellence in Education from Women in Optometry, and the Outstanding Faculty of the Year award from 18 third-year optometry classes. Susan Cotter is board certified in binocular vision, perception, and pediatric optometry, and is a fellow of the COVD. She is a former Ezell Fellow of the American Optometric Foundation (AOF) and the 2019 recipient of the Glenn A Fry Lecture Award from the Academy.

Graduating from the Illinois College of Optometry, Susan Cotter completed a residency in children's vision at SCCO and earned a master's degree in clinical and biomedical research from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She is the editor of the textbook "Clinical Applications of Prisms" and lectures internationally in the areas of pediatric eye care and binocular vision.

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