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
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