The Ohio State University College of Optometry

We had the honor of serving Special Olympics athletes through Healthy Athlete screenings on campus, and we couldn't have done it without our amazing volunteers. Thank you!

The Ohio State University College of Optometry, including our Main Campus, Upper Arlington and Pickerington clinics, will be closed on Friday, June 19 in recognition of Juneteenth.

Congratulations to our very own Dr. Roanne Flom, who is the 2026 recipient of ASCO’s Dr. Jack Bennett Innovation in Optometric Education Award

According to ASCO, the Dr. Jack Bennett Innovation in Optometric Education Award was established in March 2000, to recognize an ASCO volunteer for an outstanding innovation to optometric education. The award was named in June 2000 in honor of Dr. Bennett, a creative leader in optometric education, who served as Dean at three optometric institutions.

The daughter of two optometric educators, Dr. Flom completed interdisciplinary studies in human biology at Stanford University before obtaining her OD from UC Berkeley. She completed a residency in Vision Rehabilitation before being lured to Johns Hopkins University Department of Ophthalmology to help develop a new low vision service. After six years, she sought to “come home to optometry” and found that home at the Ohio State University College of Optometry.

Now with thirty plus years at that college, she serves as chief of the Low Vision Rehabilitation Service, teaches the Low Vision Rehabilitation and Gerontology course, and sees patients alongside interns and residents. This teaching and patient care is informed not only by serious engagement with optics, vision science, and ocular disorders, but also by deep focus on the cognitive and emotional needs of patients that we address through deliberate communication choices.

“It feels great to be recognized for my efforts to elevate the teaching of optometric low vision rehabilitation. I especially appreciate the role ASCO played by creating a home for the Low Vision Educator’s SIG that I was able to co-found and see flourish,” according to Dr. Flom. “I have also been lucky to partner closely with colleagues in developing novel teaching activities, including ways for interns to do their first trial frame refractions with a digital ‘patient’ and to do their first serious news conversations with actors, using communications strategies developed in palliative care. I remain deeply grateful to the people and institutions that support me in doing the fascinating and deeply meaningful work of an optometric educator.”

Congratulations to The Ohio State University College of Optometry Residency Class of 2026! We are proud of your accomplishments and are excited to see what your bright futures hold.

The Ohio State University College of Optometry, in collaboration with VSP Vision and the Rick Bay Foundation, announced Ryan Pickering as the recipient of the Ohio State Student Innovator Award. The $5,000 grant recognizes innovative, creative and feasible ideas presented by an optometry student.

Ryan Pickering Wins Ohio State Student Innovator Award | College of Optometry Pickering, a student in Ohio State Optometry’s Class of 2028, created a solution for eyewear dispensing challenges he encountered during humanitarian vision trips.

Erica Shelton (OD/MS'18, PhD'25) is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the College of Optometry who has been with the college for nearly eight years as an employee. Her days are varied, splitting time between patient care in the pediatric, binocular vision, and vision therapy clinics, teaching the VS 6100 course, and conducting research. She finds the greatest joy in teaching, particularly in witnessing students gain confidence and clarity as they master new concepts. Read more about Dr. Erica Shelton in this month's Employee Focus.

Employee Focus on Erica Shelton | College of Optometry Hands down the best part of my job is when I get to see a student have that moment of clarity when dealing with a new concept.

Dr. Phil Yuhas is an Assistant Professor (soon to be Associate Professor) at The Ohio State University College of Optometry. A Notre Dame undergraduate who earned his OD, MS, and PhD from Ohio State, he splits his time between running a vision-science research lab focused on ocular biomechanics and traumatic brain injury, teaching, and seeing patients. His path to optometry came after being inspired by shadowing his family optometrist, Dr. Robert Engel, who showed him the rewards of primary eye care. Outside of work, Dr. Yuhas is devoted to his wife Emily and five children, and enjoys reading 19th-century American history, maintaining his lawn, and cheering on the Fighting Irish and the Cleveland Browns.

Alumni Focus on Phil Yuhas (OD/MS'14, PhD'19) | College of Optometry Looking back on my time as a student, I can say with confidence that as a professional I constantly return to lessons learned from a wide range of teachers, attendings, and mentors that I encountered during optometry school and later during graduate school.

Kayla Bartram is a New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate pursuing her OD at Ohio State's College of Optometry. She chose Ohio State for its competitive tuition, strong NBEO passage rates, and small class community. She is president of the Low Vision Rehabilitation Club, vice president of The Prismatic Effect, and house manager of the Epsilon Psi Epsilon (EYE) optometry fraternity. Academically, a highlight of her time so far has been presenting research at the American Academy of Optometry Annual Meeting in Boston, and she is working toward defending her thesis on contrast sensitivity training through perceptual learning. Read more about Kayla in this month's Student Focus.

Student Focus on Kayla Bartram | College of Optometry Everyone around me has consistently supported and pushed me to become a better student, researcher, and clinician