WCO Announces Ambassadors for Myopia Management Outreach Initiatives

Tuesday, April 2 2024 | 13 h 59 min | News

To help support its ongoing work to address myopia as a public health crisis and further the adoption of myopia management as the standard of care, the World Council of Optometry (WCO), in partnership with CooperVision, is appointing a team of ambassadors for their education, outreach, and practice-building initiatives. All four ambassadors serve a global role, representing a diverse set of regions, and are leading optometrists with extensive experience in myopia management in both clinical practice and educational settings.

“With cases of myopia soaring among children, there is an urgent need to adopt myopia management as a standard of care on a global scale. It is an important cause to each of our ambassadors, and I’m thrilled to collaborate with them to expand awareness around the world. Each ambassador will play a crucial role in our efforts, using their platforms to engage with the optometry community and reach a broader audience. While more eye care professionals have embraced evidence-based approaches focused on the mitigation, measurement, and management of myopia—there is still much work to be done. We have new and exciting endeavors planned for this year, and we’re ready to hit the ground running.”

Dr. Sandra Block, President, World Council of Optometry  

The WCO myopia management standard of care resolution was developed in partnership with CooperVision and introduced in April 2021. It includes the three main standard of care pillars of mitigation, measurement, and management.

All four WCO ambassadors are actively involved in day-to-day myopia management. They are:

Nicola Logan, PhD, MEd, MCOptom, SFHEA, FHEA, Global Representative: Nicola Logan is a professor of optometry and physiological optics at the School of Optometry at Aston University in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Logan is also director of research for the Optometry & Vision Science Research Group. Her research includes the Aston Eye study, which investigated refractive error prevalence in school children.

Logan was also the principal investigator of the MiSight^® 1 day study and runs a myopia clinic that offers myopia control spectacles, myopia control soft contact lenses, and orthokeratology lenses. She collaborates with other researchers through the Myopia Consortium UK and has received the Neil Charman Award for Excellence in Research from The College of Optometrists, UK. Logan’s areas of interest are the epidemiology of refractive error, the development and aetiology of myopia, and myopia control. 

Jagrut Lallu, MSc Specialty Lenses, BOptom, FIAOMC, Asia–Pacific Representative: Jagrut Lallu is a partner of Rose Optometry in Hamilton, New Zealand. He is also the director of Innovatus Technology, which develops software to make contact lens design accessible to contact lens practitioners. In 2009, Lallu set up the first myopia control clinic in New Zealand devoted to evidence-based methods for management.

In 2023, he established the New Zealand Eye Research Centre, focusing on clinical trials and research in a new Hamilton location. Lallu is also a clinical senior lecturer at the Deakin School of Optometry in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and is an honorary teaching fellow at the University of Auckland.  His areas of interest include keratoconus, dry eye, orthokeratology, and myopia management.

Síofra Harrington, PhD, FAOI, European Representative: Síofra Harrington is a lecturer, researcher, and clinical supervisor with the School of Physics, Clinical and Optometric Sciences at Technological University in Dublin, Ireland. She is also a fellow of the Association of Optometrists Ireland. Harrington supervises pediatric clinics that address several conditions, including myopia, amblyopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and more. She was the principal investigator for the Ireland Eye Study, which reported the prevalence of ametropia, amblyopia, and vision impairment in school children.

She was also the principal investigator for the Child Eye Health Study and co-investigator for the BLU-RAY Project investigating blue light phototoxicity. Harrington is the author of multiple peer-reviewed academic publications and numerous academic poster presentations reporting Ireland Eye Study findings.

Ashley Wallace Tucker, OD, FAAO, FSLS, ABO Diplomate, U.S. Representative: Ashley Wallace Tucker is a partner at Bellaire Family Eye Care and The Contact Lens Institute of Houston, a private practice in Houston, Texas. There, she primarily treats patients needing specialty contact lenses and myopia management. Tucker is also a visiting assistant professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry, where she is the course master for the Ophthalmic Optics Laboratory.

Through her affiliation with the University of Houston, Tucker regularly provides continuing education on myopia management and other topics. She is also a lecturer for the STAPLE (Soft Toric and Presbyopic Lens Experience) program. She specializes in corneal diseases, complex contact lens fits, and myopia management, particularly orthokeratology.

Visit the World Council of Optometry myopia management online resource featuring the standard of care pledge signup page, resolution, and practical tools and information for optometrists at https://myopia.worldcouncilofoptometry.info/. For questions about myopia management, email the WCO ambassadors at MMNambassador@worldoptometry.org.

Click HERE for the press release.

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