Jennifer Fogt

I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, in 1995.  I received Doctor of Optometry in 1999 and a Master of Science in Pharmacology, both from The Ohio State University. I am currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Optometry at The Ohio State University College of Optometry.

At the OSU College of Optometry, my teaching roles have included teaching 3rd year Optometry students in Primary Vision Care clinic and 4th year Optometry students in Contact Lens Clinic.  I currently serve exclusively in Contact Lens Clinic, specifically teaching students how to fit contact lenses, including specialty lenses which are medically required due to various disease processes. 

Additionally, I am active in research as the director of the Innovation in Vision and Eye care Research Group (iVERG) team, conducting industry sponsored research studies including studies of contact lens design, contact lens solutions, dry eye, ocular pharmaceuticals, and myopia control.  Some of these studies are investigator initiated trials, in which I design a study protocol and acquire funding. These studies may serve as FDA 510k studies for new drugs or devices, such as contact lenses, solutions, or eye drops, or may be used to evaluate already approved devices or drugs.  Additionally, I serve as the Principle investigator for sponsor designed FDA clinical trials, in which the iVERG team serves as one of multiple sites.  These large clinical trials require monitoring to meet the rigors required by the FDA.  The iVERG lab has its own CLIA waiver to meet the requirements of the FDA and study training of investigators is ongoing for all studies. As director of iVERG and PI of multiple active studies, my role includes writing protocols and regulatory documents, obtaining and negotiating contracts, interacting with industry leaders in order to obtain grants, maintaining regulatory documentation, training staff and sub-investigators, and writing reports, abstracts and manuscripts on the results of the studies.

I also serve as an Executive Committee member of the Scleral Lenses in Current Ophthalmic Practice Evaluation (SCOPE) group.  This collaborative research group consists of optometrists at Mayo Clinic, Illinois Eye and Ear, Illinois College of Optometry, Korb and Associates, and The Ohio State University College of Optometry.  Research by this group has identified many ongoing concerns in the field of scleral contact lens fitting, both by national and international surveys of best practices and specific cases, and by clinical studies.  Since I have been an active member of the SCOPE group, we have published 7 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 29 peer-reviewed abstracts.

I have been a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry since 2001 and a Fellow of the Scleral Lens Education Society since 2017.  I am a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the American Optometric Association, and the Association of Optometric Contact Lens Educators.