Monthly Archives: February 2016

By Norma Bowyer, OD, MS, MPH, FAAO—This column originally appeared in our September 2011 issue. Change ignites a reaction and discussion. That’s surely been the case with topics such as optometric board certification and the push for comprehensive eye examinations for all the nation’s children. Although there is tugging from all directions, this give-and-take is simply an evolution. It’s pushing optometry forward.

This story originally appeared in our November 2011 issue. At least once a month, Staff Sergeant Joy Stone, OD, trades a phoropter for a French horn. Her colleagues at Drs. Foster, Steele, and Stone Family Optometry in Newport, Tenn., happily accommodate her switch in instrumentation.

This story originally appeared in our March 2011 issue. Col. Carol Z. Rymer, OD, MBA, FAAO, who reached her new rank late last year, is the first woman OD to reach that high level of leadership in the U.S. Army—and she did so in a relatively speedy 18 years. What is also remarkable about her career is that she didn’t initially seek an Army career—the military found her and made her an offer too good to refuse.

This story originally appeared in our November 2009 issue. Air Force Major Tara M. Jayne, OD, describes herself and her husband Ronald Jayne, Jr., a former Chinese linguist for the Air Force, as travelers. “We don’t grow roots well,” she says. “But we definitely like the idea of serving in the military, having the opportunity to be in different parts of the country, going on humanitarian missions and serving populations around the world.”

This story originally appeared in our November 2009 issue. Joni Weideman, OD, of Tallahassee, Fla., says she was a bit of a “late-in-life bloomer” when it came to figuring out her career. Getting her degree from Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry in 2003 was the easy part. After that, she was stumped.

This story originally appeared in our November 2009 issue. Liana Bullock OD, is a civilian in a military setting. But it’s not an unfamiliar one. Dr. Bullock served three years of active duty in the Army until 2005.

This story originally appeared in our March 2008 issue. For some ODs, it’s pediatric care. For others, it’s sports vision, or vision development or co-management of LASIK patients. For yet others, it’s cradle-to-grave primary care. The aspect of practice Karin Meng, OD, Sunnyvale, CA, enjoys most is low vision. Several times a week she works with a low vision patients. “Even in optometry school, I loved it immediately. It was my peak experience,” says the 1986 graduate of University of California Berkeley School of Optometry.

Kara Ramsey, OD, had been working as an associate in a practice for more than six years, and during that time, her dream of becoming a partner there began to fade as she realized she could have more control over a practice in which she is the solo owner.