SPEAKERS

Dr. Larry Alexander,
Optometric Retina Society

Dr. Alexander is a 1971 graduate of the Indiana University School of Optometry. From 1971 to 1973 he served as an optometrist in the US Navy. After discharge Dr. Alexander practiced in Elizabeth City, NC, until he had an opportunity to teach at the University of Alabama, Birmingham Medical Center School of Optometry. While at the University, Larry was responsible for the Ocular Disease curriculum and Ocular Disease Clinics.

Dr. Alexander has contributed to the literature in the form of multiple articles and book chapters. He also published Primary Care of the Posterior Segment, a text used by most Schools and Colleges of Optometry as well as by eye care practitioners. In 1993, Larry left education as a full professor to pursue practice in Louisville, KY, where he also administrated a large referral center.

Dr. Alexander currently resides in McKinney, TX, and spends his time consulting for industry and engaged in telemedicine. Dr. Alexander's primary interests also include an active role in increasing awareness of the importance of lifestyle as it impacts on diseases of the eye, especially macular degeneration.

Dr. Adam Berger,
Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Adam Berger received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brooklyn College, and his doctorate degree from the State University of New York Medical School. After completing his residency at Washington University and serving as Chief Resident and Instructor, he was granted a Retina/Vitreous Research Fellowship and Retina/Vitreous Surgical Fellowship at Duke University. He then served for 3 years as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University.

Dr. Berger is an accomplished teacher and lecturer and has been a board certified ophthalmologist since 1994. He is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Dr. Sonya Braudway,
Director of Low Vision Services, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Sonya Braudway received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the Corpus Christi State University and her doctorate from the University Of Houston College Of Optometry. She was granted a fellowship in low vision rehabilitation at John Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Braudway is a board certified optometric physician in Florida and Texas and is highly active in several professional organizations including the American Academy of Optometry, the American Optometric Association, the Florida Optometric Association, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and the Division of Blind Services.

Dr. Mark Dunbar,
Director of Optometric Services, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute Miami, FL.

Dr. Mark T. Dunbar graduated from the Ferris State College of Optometry in 1986 and did a Fellowship in Ocular Disease at the Omni Eye Services of Lexington, KY. Dr Dunbar has been a member of the optometric staff at the University of Miami's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute for the past 24 years. He currently serves as the Director of Optometric Services and the Optometry Residency Supervisor.

Dr Dunbar is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and is a founding member of both the Optometric Glaucoma Society (OGS) and the Optometric Retina Society (ORS). Dr. Dunbar also serves on the Editorial Board for Review of Optometry and currently writes the monthly Retina Quiz.

Dr. Steven Ferrucci,
Chief of Optometry, Sepulveda VA Ambulatory Care Center

Dr. Steven Ferrucci, is a graduate of the New England College of Optometry, completed his Residency in Primary Care/Hospital Based/Geriatric Optometry at the Sepulveda VA Hospital in Sepulveda, CA.

Dr. Ferrucci is currently Chief of Optometry at the Sepulveda VA Ambulatory Care Center and Nursing Home. He is also the Residency Director at this site, and an Associate Professor at the Southern California College of Optometry. Dr. Ferrucci has lectured and published extensively, with a special interest in Diabetes, Diabetic Eye Disease, ARMD and Fluorescein Angiography.

He is an active member in the American Optometric Association and the National VA Optometric Association, as well as a fellow in both the American Academy of Optometry and the Optometric Retinal Society.

Dr. Jeffry D. Gerson,
WestGlen Eyecare & Omni Eye Center of Kansas City

Dr. Jeffry Gerson graduated from Indiana University School of Optometry in 1997. He then went on to complete a residency at the VA Medical Center in Kansas City concentrating on ocular disease and low vision. Immediately after leaving the VA, he joined the faculty at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in the Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. Gerson was responsible for staffing clinics as well as some resident education and development of a low vision clinic.

Before entering his current practice, he was in several different practices, including 2 ½ years in a retinal referral center where he had access to numerous diagnostic technologies as well as participation in numerous clinical trials. His current practice, WestGlen Eyecare provides full scope care and he continues to provide retinal consultations for colleagues and be involved in clinical research.

Dr. Gerson has authored several articles in journals such as “Review of Optometry” and “Optometric Management”, and continues to do so. He also lectures frequently on the topics of retinal disease and systemic disease both in United States and abroad. He is a member of the American Optometric Association as well as the Kansas Optometric Association which named him their 2008 Young OD of the year. He is a fellow of both the Academy of Optometry and Optometric Retina Society.

Dr. William Jones,
Eye Institute of Albuquerque

Dr. Jones graduated from the University of Houston Optometry School and completed his residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri. He later served as Chief of the Optometry Section as well as director of the Optometry Residency Program at the Albuquerque VA Medical Center for almost 20 years. Dr. Jones is employed at the Eye Institute of Albuquerque.

Dr. Jones is a frequent publisher and lecturer, with over 75 articles published in the last 25 years, as well as several textbooks. His textbook, Atlas of the Peripheral Fundus, 2nd Edition, was awarded as one of the 250 Best Health Science Books for 1999 by Doody’s Journal of Health Sciences. He is an internationally known lecturer, with hundreds of lectures presented in the United States and abroad, with an emphasis on retina and posterior pole. He also serves as a journal reviewer for several optometric journals, and has been on several editorial boards.

Dr. Jones is a consultant for Optos, as well as a former Lieutenant Colonel, Medical Service Corp, in the US Army Reserves. He is a Founding Fellow of the Optometric Retinal Society and served as the president from 2004-2007.

Dr. Blair Lonsberry,
Clinic Director, Portland Vision Center
Professor of Optometry, Pacific University College of Optometry

Dr. Lonsberry obtained his Optometry degree from the University of Waterloo in 1996 after completing a Bachelors Degree (Zoology) and a Masters Degree (Physiology) in Science from the University of Manitoba. He completed a residency in Primary Care Optometry from the Illinois College of Optometry in 1997, then joined the faculty at Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN where he remained until the fall of 2005. During his tenure at SCO, he completed a Masters in Education degree with an emphasis in Post-Secondary Education.

Currently, Dr. Lonsberry is a Full Professor and the Clinic Director for the Portland Vision Center associated with Pacific University in Portland, Oregon. He supervises students during their Primary Care and Ocular Disease clinics and is the instructor of record for the Clinical Grand Rounds course.

Dr. Lonsberry is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, the ORS (Optometric Retinal Society) and the OGS (Optometric Glaucoma Society), and is on the executive board of the OSS (Ocular Surface Society).

Dr. David Misch,
Founder, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. David Misch, Founder, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL. He received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin and his doctorate degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. After completing his residency at the Mayo Clinic, he was granted a Medical Retina Fellowship at the LSU-Lions Eye Center in New Orleans and a Surgical Retina Fellowship at Retina and Vitreous Consultants of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Dr. Misch is recognized as a leader in his field and has been a board certified ophthalmologist since 1988. He is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Florida Society of Ophthalmology, the American College of Physician Executives, and the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Dr. Joseph J. Pizzimenti,
Associate Professor, Nova Southeastern University

Dr. Joseph Pizzimenti graduated from Illinois College of Optometry and upon graduation completed a residency in Low Vision Rehabilitation and Ocular Disease at the University of Houston. Dr. Pizzimenti is an Associate Professor at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) College of Optometry. He is an internationally-recognized speaker on Ocular Disease.

Dr. Pizzimenti has completed funded clinical research in the areas of diabetes, age-related macular degeneration, and low vision. Dr. Pizzimenti’s scientific articles have appeared in Optometry and Vision Science, Pharmacotherapy, Optometry: Journal of the American Optometric Association, Optometric Education, The Diabetes Educator, Eye Care Review, The Internet Journal of Allied Health Science and Practice, Review of Optometry, Clinical and Experimental Optometry, and Sleep Medicine.

Dr. Pizzimenti recently co-authored a chapter on Diabetic Retinopathy in the textbook entitled Diabetes in Black America: Public Health and Clinical Solutions to a National Crisis.

Dr. Jerome Sherman,
Eye Institute and Laser Center, New York, NY

Dr. Jerome Sherman is a graduate of Pennsylvania College of Optometry and currently holds the position of Distinguished Teaching Professor at the State University of New York College of Optometry and the SUNY Schnurmacher Institute of Vision Research. He practices in the private sector at the Eye Institute and Laser Center in NYC.

Dr. Sherman’s research interests include retina, glaucoma, and the nonglaucomatous optic neuropathies, including Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. His publications include over 625 clinical articles, research manuscripts, book chapters, two CDs, and he has recently completed two books and is working on two others. He is a founding member of the International Foundation for Optic Nerve Disease (IFOND) and the Optometric Retina Society (ORS).

Dr. Brad M. Sutton,
Clinical Associate Professor of Optometry, Director of Indianapolis Eye Care Center

Dr. Brad Sutton received both his undergraduate and Optometry degrees from Indiana University. Upon graduating, he accepted a one-year residency in Ocular Disease and Surgical co-management at Omni Eye Services in Memphis, Tennessee, where he remained with the center as its director for five years before returning to IU. He is heavily involved in patient care, clinical teaching, and lecturing in the ocular disease courses.

Dr. Sutton’s main areas of clinical interest include ocular disease and surgical management. He has given over 150 continuing education lectures on topics related to ocular disease at the local, state, national, and international level. Dr. Sutton was named the Young Optometrist of the Year for the State of Tennessee in 1997-1998 and received the same award (President’s Citation) for the State of Indiana in 2001.

Dr. Michael Tolentino,
Director of Clinical Research, Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Winter Haven, FL.

Dr. Tolentino received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Brown University and his doctorate degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. During medical school he worked in the Bermann-Gund retinal degenerations laboratory at Harvard Medical School. After medical school, Dr. Tolentino continued his training at Harvard Medical School and interned at the Mount Auburn Hospital and completed his post-doctoral Angiogenesis research fellowship at the Childrens Hospital of Boston and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. It was there that he helped develop anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapies used today for macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. After completing his residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, he joined the ophthalmology and molecular biology faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and headed the program vitreo-retinal training.

Dr. Tolentino earned numerous awards and received several prestigious grants while at the University of Pennsylvania, and developed a new class of therapeutic molecules called siRNA. He has 2 issued and 4 pending patents on the use of these molecules for treating eye diseases, cancers, and arthritis. The technology that Dr.Tolentino’s inventions utilize for therapeutic purposes received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2006. Based on his patents, Dr. Tolentino co-founded Acuity Pharmaceuticals which was merged to form OPKO health (Amex: OPK) a publically traded biopharmaceutical company.

With the team at the Center for Retina and Macular Disease, Dr. Tolentino has helped to establish one of the largest retinal clinical trial centers in the country which has been involved in over 45 clinical trials in the last 3 years. Dr. Tolentino is a frequent international lecturer on new treatments for macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. He is on several scientific advisory panels and is a consultant for several pharmaceutical companies. He is also serving as the CEO and co-founder of Acuity Dynamics a privately held ophthalmic company.