AAOF Announces 2019 VSP Global Scholarship Recipients

The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF), the philanthropic arm of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), and VSP Global® announced the recipients of this year’s Practice Excellence Scholarships, including two Canadian recipients. 

Nearly $200,000 was awarded to several top-performing fourth-year optometry students in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, as well as four additional international students from Australia. 

Each scholarship included a travel grant to participate in the American Academy of Optometry’s 98th annual meeting, Academy 2019 Orlando, which was held on October 23-27 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. The recipients were recognized at a special reception sponsored by VSP Global. 

The 2019 Practice Excellence Scholarship recipients are: 

University of Montreal School of Optometry 

Antoine Aidans van der Poel, Lara Tchakmakian 

University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science 

Komal Patel, Angela Zhang 

Illinois College of Optometry 

Lauren Kunkel, Aaron Motacek

Indiana University School of Optometry 

Mary Marte, Kalyn Wendholt 

Inter American University of Puerto School of Optometry 

Samantha Chan, Travis Lipscomb 

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences 

Taylor Hall, Danielle Zapata 

Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University 

Steven Gibbs, Ankur Patel 

Midwestern University Arizona College of Optometry 

Jennifer Dryden, Liza Stremick 

New England College of Optometry 

Alexa Caruso, Chelsey Kritzer 

Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry 

Sahab Astani, William Colton Cheek 

Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry 

Phoebe Pan, Kaitlin Brown 

The Ohio State University College of Optometry 

Alex Lamorgese, Adell Walters 

Pacific University College of Optometry 

Liandra Jung, Ashley Stone 

Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University 

Andrew Muckin, Emile Seitz

Rosenberg School of Optometry 

Patrick Clark, Kelly Tran 

Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University 

Alyssa Pack, Emiko Vasquez 

Southern College of Optometry 

Katelyn McGee, Trevor Shealy 

State University of New York College of Optometry 

Abigail Cash, Alicia Jones 

University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry 

Mason Childers, Mohammed Haque 

University of California Berkeley School of Optometry 

Stephanie Tran, Rebecca Stapornkul 

University of Houston College of Optometry 

Ashley Nguyen, Megan Wagner

University of Missouri -St. Louis College of Optometry 

Kelly Deering, Abigail Smith 

Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry 

Kenny Huynh, Aiko Seffinger 

Australian Practice Excellence Scholarships:

Deakin University 

Emily Banks 

Flinders University 

Dylan Bentley 

Queensland University of Technology School of Optometry and Vision Science 

Derek Shiu Him Lay 

University of New South Wales 

Ivy Kol

Click HERE for the full press release.

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