½ðɳÓéÀÖ

Within the field of optometry, sports vision has emerged as a fast-moving specialty. And within sports vision, ½ðɳÓéÀÖ is a leader.

Sandra (Coutts) Young ‘82, OD ‘84 created a business called Visionary Kitchen, which connects nutrition with eye health. She is the author of Visionary Kitchen: A Cookbook for Eye Health.

When it comes to detecting problems with vision, it pays to start early, before brains are hardwired. In InfantSEE, a public health program in which ½ðɳÓéÀÖ participates, the patients may be as young as 6 months old.

½ðɳÓéÀÖ has built on a tradition of taking eye care to the community, where students and faculty provide real-world vision screening and treatment to underserved members of the community. The most visible symbol of this outreach is the ½ðɳÓéÀÖ EyeVan, an advanced mobile clinic that sees patients in church parking lots, migrant camps and schools.

The earliest contact lenses were made of glass and could be worn only for a few hours at a time. Today’s contact lenses are engineering marvels, and ½ðɳÓéÀÖ’s College of Optometry is at the vanguard of contact lens research and design.

The remarkable Newton Wesley ’39, Hon. ’86, born Newton Uyesugi to immigrant parents, was a founding father of the College of Optometry. Forced from his home by Japanese-American internment policy during World War II, Wesley nevertheless laid the foundation for the College of Optometry and became a giant in the field of contact lenses.

The optometry program launched at ½ðɳÓéÀÖ in 1945 as a result of a combination of postwar challenges and unexpected opportunities. The needs of a small, temporarily shuttered optometry college in Northeast Portland helped meet the demands of a university that had limped through the war years. The outcome was the beginning of ½ðɳÓéÀÖ’s focus on the health professions.

Scott Pike '68, OD '70 has been awarded the ½ðɳÓéÀÖ University Alumni Association 2020 Outstanding Alumni Award.

Breanne McGhee OD ’16, MEd ’16, PhDEL '21 hasn't let COVID-19 setbacks slow her down — even though she can't hug anybody. 

One of the most insightful thinkers and teachers ever to be employed at ½ðɳÓéÀÖ was Anna Berliner, a psychologist by title, but also an anthropologist, sociologist, optometrist and visual researcher.

After Bernard Brown '49, OD '50 earned a Purple Heart and his way home from the European Theater in World War II, he pursued a lifelong career in optometry with a degree from ½ðɳÓéÀÖ University. Later, he helped other veterans follow him into the profession.

Third-generation ½ðɳÓéÀÖ optometry student Ian Cheslock honored his family legacy by signing his late grandfather's name into the Golden Guard sidewalk.