Edition 2026

International Optometrist of the Year Award 2026

Karla Zadnik received her Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) degree in 1982 and her Ph.D. in Physiological Optics in 1992 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry. She has served as dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry since 2014, as well as interim dean of The Ohio State College of Public Health for two years (2023–2025), and as interim executive vice president and provost of the university for one year (2024–2025).

Dr. Zadnik has held the Glenn A. Fry Chair of Optometry and Physiological Optics since 1999 and was recognized as an Ohio State Distinguished Scholar in 2010. She has served as president of the American Academy of Optometry (2011–2012), the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (2016–2017), and the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (2023). Additionally, she served a four-year term on the National Advisory Eye Council (2000–2004) of the National Eye Institute (National Institutes of Health).

Dr. Zadnik is a prominent patient-oriented researcher in the fields of optometry and vision science. Among other responsabilities, she directed the studies Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error (CLEERE) for twenty years (1989–2009), and the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study. Both studies were funded by the National Eye Institute, with the latter being the first multicenter study in the field of optometry. Throughout her professional career, she has received a total of $40 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Karla Zadnik

Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) and Ph.D. in Physiological Optics

Dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry.