Director of Publications

Lewis Reich, OD, PhD, FAAO Named

Southern College of Optometry Vice President for Academic Affairs

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (March 13, 2008) – Lewis Reich, OD, PhD, FAAO, has been named Vice President for Academic Affairs at Southern College of Optometry (SCO) in Memphis.

Dr. Reich, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at Nova Southeastern University, College of Optometry, was selected after a nationwide six-month search.

“Southern College of Optometry is very pleased that Dr. Reich will be joining us as Vice President for Academic Affairs,” said SCO President Richard W. Phillips, OD, FAAO, in announcing Dr. Reich’s selection.

“Dr. Reich brings a diverse academic background and has already established himself as a leader in the field of optometric education. The Faculty VPAA Search Committee found him very impressive during the interview process. Dr. Reich will serve as a strong, involved mentor for our faculty, a proponent for progressive optometric education and will be an effective recruiter of future faculty members.”

Dr. Reich will join the SCO administration and faculty effective July 1, 2008, Dr. Phillips said.

“I am honored to have been chosen as the next Vice President for Academic Affairs at SCO,” Dr. Reich said from his office in Florida.

“I am very excited and enthusiastic about this new role. I am really looking forward to working with my new colleagues. SCO is truly an excellent institution, and I am very pleased to be joining such an outstanding team.”

Dr. Reich earned his optometry degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. Following graduation, he completed a residency in low vision rehabilitation at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and served as a faculty member and researcher.

In 1991, Dr. Reich entered the graduate program in physiological optics at the University of Houston and soon after joined the faculty as a Research Assistant Professor.

In 1999, he earned his PhD in Physiological Optics and the same year joined the faculty of Nova Southeastern University, College of Optometry (NSUCO), where he holds the rank of Associate Professor.

Dr. Reich’s research has been funded by grants from the National Eye Institute as well as the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. He has received extensive industry support, including continual funding for the Summer Research Program for optometry students that he established at NSUCO in 2001.

He has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed publications, presented his research at more than two dozen national and international meetings and served as a vision expert in multiple legal cases. He also is an active manuscript reviewer for major optometric and vision science journals.

In 2003, Dr. Reich was named Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at Nova’s College of Optometry. He has taught courses in Visual Optics, guest lectured in the Low Vision course, and served as an instructor in the college’s Optometric Theory and Methods (OTM) laboratories. He has also guest lectured in different courses and taught in the Primary Care and Low Vision clinics.

Dr. Reich actively mentors optometric faculty, residents and students in all aspects of clinical research as well as pursuing his individual projects. He has served as thesis chair and co-chair in the Master’s of Clinical Vision Research Program at NSUCO.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, he is an active volunteer, currently serving as the Academy’s Chair of the Optometric Education Section.

Dr. Reich has also served on the Student Affairs Committee of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) and is the Optometry Admissions Test (OAT) Liaison to ASCO. He currently chairs the ad hoc OPTOMCAS committee of ASCO, where his responsibilities include developing a centralized application service for optometry admissions.

Dr. Reich and his wife, Diane, a photographer, are the parents of a son, Isaac, age six.

Established in Memphis, Tennessee in 1932, Southern College of Optometry is an independent, not-for-profit institution of higher education with a mission to educate men and women in the art and science of optometry.

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