Editorial Team

Dr. Jason Jedlicka is an Assoicate Professor at Indiana University School of Optometry, and the Director of the Cornea and Contact Lens Service. He is a Diplomate in the American Academy of Optometry's Cornea, Contact Lens, and Refractive Technologies Section, a past President of the Scleral Lens Education Society, and a Fellow and board member of the Contact Lens Society of America. He is the developer of the Zenlens and ZenRC scleral lenses and is a consultant to Bausch and Lomb.

Dr. Melissa Barnett is a Principal Optometrist at the UC Davis Eye Center in Sacramento. She is internationally recognized key opinion leader, specializing in anterior segment disease and specialty contact lenses. Dr. Barnett lectures and publishes extensively on topics including dry eye, anterior segment disease, contact lenses and creating a healthy balance between work and home life for women in optometry. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a Diplomate of the American Board of Certification in Medical Optometry (ABCMO) and serves on the Board of American Optometric Association (AOA) Cornea and Contact Lens Council, Women of Vision (WOV), Gas Permeable Lens Institute (GPLI), Ocular Surface Society of Optometry (OSSO) is Immediate Past President of The Scleral Lens Education Society (SLS). Dr. Barnett is a spokesperson for the California Optometric Association and a guest lecturer for the STAPLE program. She was awarded The Theia Award for Excellence for Mentoring by Women in Optometry (WO) in 2016. In her spare time she enjoys cooking, yoga, hiking and spending time with her family, Todd Erickson, also an optometrist, and two sons, Alex and Drew.

Mark Eltis has practiced optometry in New York and California and now in Toronto. He is a lecturer at the University of Waterloo, a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and a Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry.
Dr. Eltis has served as an examiner for the national licensing assessment in both Canada and the United States (NBEO and CACO). He has presented and published internationally and has been sought as an expert on optometric issues for national television and print.

With over 35 years experience fitting contact lenses, Mr. Russell is currently an associate of the contact lens service at Emory University Eye Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Russell is a clinical instructor in Emory’s Ophthalmic Technology Program and teaches students and ophthalmology resident’s contact lens technology. He has been certified by J.C.A.H.P.O. since 1986 and is a Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist. Mr. Russell is also a Fellow of the Scleral Lens Society. He lectures at national and international meetings on contact lens related topics. Mr. Russell has written articles for various publications, two chapters for CLSA’s advanced training manual and is a peer reviewer for the Cornea and Eye and Contact Lens publications. Mr. Russell is a contributing editor for CLSA’s Eyewitness journal, and is also the National Contact Lens coordinator for the Infant Aphakia Treatment Study. His current areas of research include monocular pediatric aphakia and ocular surface disorders. In addition, he joined the faculty at TVCI in 2006 and given emeritus status in 2012.

Mr. Tilia is currently the Clinical Research Manager at the Brien Holden Vision Institute in Sydney, Australia. He received his Bachelor of Optometry with Honours in 1990, his Master of Optometry in 1999 and Graduate Certificate in Ocular Therapeutics in 2012, all from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney Australia. He is currently enrolled as a part-time PhD candidate at the UNSW.

Mr. Tilia spent 16 years in private practice in NSW and South Australia before joining the Brien Holden Institute in 2006. He has also been a clinical supervisor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW since 1994. Mr. Tilia has published on a variety of ophthalmic topics, including ocular pathology, contact lens case contamination, contact lens compliance, contact lens deposition, contact lens solution compatibility and novel contact lenses for correcting presbyopia. He also regularly reviews manuscripts for several scientific journals.

Mr. Tilia has presented at the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA). He is a Fellow of the BCLA and AAO, a board member of the NSW Division of the Cornea and Contact Lens Society of Australia (CCLSA) and a member of ARVO, Optometry Australia and the CCLSA.

Ms. Gifford is a clinical optometrist and owner of Gerry & Johnson Optometrists, a niche independent practice in the Brisbane CBD with specialty interests in contact lenses, binocular vision, paediatric optometry and myopia control. Graduating from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2003 with First Class Honours and a University Medal, Ms. Gifford is now undertaking a part-time PhD examining orthokeratology, binocular vision function and visual optics. Kate has achieved professional Fellowships of the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA), the International Association of Contact Lens Educators (IACLE), the Cornea and Contact Lens Society of Australia (CCLSA) and the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), and holds 28 professional and peer reviewed publications.

As a peer educator, Ms. Gifford has presented over 60 lectures at conferences in Australia, England, USA and beyond. Mrs. Gifford is an award winning clinical supervisor and visiting lecturer at QUT. As a professional leader, Ms. Gifford was elected the current National President of Optometry Australia, the peak professional body, in late 2014 after four years on that Board. A past State President of Optometry QLD/NT, Mrs. Gifford served on this district Board for twelve years. Ms. Gifford also served on the Fellowships Admissions Committee (International) of AAO, was National Vice President of the CCLSA and National Treasurer of the Orthokeratology Society of Oceania.

Dr. Michael Wyss graduated from Olten SHFA in Switzerland and did his M.Sc. at the Hochschule Aalen Germany (Cooperation with New England College of Optometry and Pacific University, USA). Since 1999 he is has been working in private practice as as Optometrist for specialty contact lens fitting, and since 2016 has been a member of the board of directors (eyeness ag, Bern, Switzerland).

From 2000 to 2004 Dr. Wyss lectured at the ophthalmic optics school in Bern in areas of Biology, Pathology, Physiology and Contact Lenses. Currently he is an adjunct Faculty Member at the New England College of Optometry USA, Hochschule Aalen Germany, TVCI in Prague and FHNW Optometry in Olten Switzerland. Dr. Wyss is a clinical investigator for several Industry Partners and published or lectured over several topics in the contact lens field throughout the world.

Dr. Wyss is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry since 2004 and serves as Chair of the Admittance Committee for new Fellows outside USA.

Dr. Michael Lipson is an optometrist/associate professor at University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center. His clinical practice involves contact lenses with emphasis on specialty contact lenses: overnight corneal reshaping, keratoconus, post-corneal transplant, post-refractive surgery and severe dry eye patients. He has published peer-reviewed clinical research studies on corneal reshaping, vision-related quality of life, myopia control and new lens designs. He lectures nationally and internationally on specialty contact lens and research topics. Dr. Lipson and a collaborator have developed a validated questionnaire to assess vision-related quality of life for use with various types of vision correction, including OrthoK. He is an independent consultant to the specialty lens industry emphasizing OrthoK education. He is on the GPLI Advisory Board, served as Vice-President of the Scleral Lens Education Society and on the Scleral Lens Education Society Board for many years. He is a reviewer for peer-reviewed journals. He attended Michigan State University and received his OD degree from Illinois College of Optometry.

 

Dr. Mindy Toabe is a hospital-based optometrist in a multidisciplinary setting with a specialty in medical contact lenses practicing at MetroHealth Medical Center within the Department of Surgery, Division of Ophthalmology in Cleveland, Ohio USA. She is a Senior Clinical Instructor at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine and Adjunct Faculty at The Ohio State University College of Optometry.

She is past president and a founding board member of the Scleral Lens Education Society and a Council Member of the International Society of Contact Lens Specialists. Dr. Toabe is on the advisory board for the Gas Permeable Lens Institute and the Scleral Lens Education Society. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and Scleral Lens Education Society. Dr. Toabe has served on many optometric committees including the admittance committee for the American Academy of Optometry and the scleral lens education society official terminology committee. She has lectured both nationally and internationally, published numerous articles about specialty contact lenses including scleral lenses and is a peer reviewer for numerous journals.

 

 

Damon owns and manages the specialist contact lens and general optometry practice, Ezekiel Eyes, in Perth, Western Australia. Ezekiel Eyes specialises in vision rehabilitation through contact lenses. He teaches the fitting of all types of rigid gas permeable contact lenses, including Orthokeratology and scleral lenses, soft bifocal, multi-focal and cosmetic contact lenses.

Damon treats patients with conditions such as Keratoconus, as well as those who are post graft and post refractive surgery. He also regularly treats children following operations for congenital cataracts.

Damon is a contact lens consultant to research organisations and a member of various professional organisations. He is currently President of the International Society of Contact Lens Specialists. He is the first Australian President of the ISCLS, which comprises distinguished practitioners who are dedicated to high calibre professional education, scientific research and contact lens advocacy.

Fakhruddin Shamsheer Barodawala is a lecturer at the Faculty of Optometry and Vision Sciences, SEGi University, Malaysia. He graduated and received his Master’s degree in Optometry from the Lotus College of Optometry, Mumbai, India, after which he pursued his career in academics and research. Fakhruddin has been associated with SEGi University for over seven years and is involved in teaching contact lenses, dispensing optics, low vision and advanced ophthalmic care. He is a Fellow of IACLE (FIACLE), a Fellow of ASCO-India (Dispensing Optics) and also a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO). He is also the recipient of the IACLE Travel Award for 2019. His clinical expertise includes fitting irregular corneas and orthokeratology. He has a number of publications in the field of public health and contact lenses and has presented papers at national and international conferences. Fakhruddin is also the conceptualizer behind an online education initiative known as “Online Optom Learning Series (OOLS)” which conducts webinars and provides short courses to optometry students and optometrists globally.