Richard and Leonora Hill Lecture Series

The Hill Lecture Series was established by Dr. Richard and Mrs. Leonora Hill to sponsor an annual lecture in vision science and research. Dr. Hill was dean of the Ohio State College of Optometry from 1988 to 1995.

“Clinical and research interests on the corneal endothelium: from swelling to surgery and back again”Frank Schaeffel

Dr. Loretta Szczotka-Flynn
February 27, 2024 6:00 p.m. ET
The Ohio State University College of Optometry, Hamilton Hall, Rm 80


About Dr. Loretta Szczotka-Flynn

Loretta Szczotka-Flynn OD, PhD is the Philip F. and Elizabeth G Searle - Suber Huang Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) with a secondary appointment in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences. She is also the Director of the Vision Research Coordinating Center and the Contact Lens Service at the University Hospitals Eye Institute at University Hospitals of Cleveland and CWRU. She received her Doctorate of Optometry and Masters of Physiological Optics from The Ohio State University and her PhD in Epidemiology from CWRU. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Optometry and Diplomate in the Academy’s Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies where she is Past Chair of the Section. She is a Vice-President in the International Society for Contact Lens Research; Treasurer of the American Academy of Optometry Foundation, serves on the Board of International Keratoconus Academy and the Eye and Contact Lens Association; and is an Associate Editor for Eye & Contact Lens Journal. Her clinical and research interests include contact lens associated corneal inflammation and infection, keratoconus, and corneal transplantation which have been funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). She was/is Director of the Coordinating Center for two large multicenter NEI funded trials in corneal transplantation; the Cornea Preservation Time Study from 2011-2017 and since 2021, the Diabetes Endothelial Keratoplasty Study (DEKS). She was also funded by NEI to study the genetic susceptibility to contact lens associated microbial keratitis.

"Functional changes in the myopic retina interfere with emmetropization"Frank Schaeffel

Dr. Frank Schaeffel
March 21, 2023 5:30 p.m. ET
The Ohio State University College of Optometry, Fry Hall - Room 33


About Dr. Frank Schaeffel

Dr. Frank Schaeffel is a prolific contributor to the research field of refractive development, myopia, and ocular growth. His 1988 paper in Vision Research with co-authors Glasser and Howland was the first to report refractive error development of the chick could be altered by imposed defocus from spectacle lenses. Lens-induced myopia was a true paradigm shift away from previous experimental models using deprivation of form vision, one that has led to countless experiments on the visual control of eye growth and that has a direct connection to today’s optical myopia control treatments for children. Currently, he is the leader of the Section of Neurobiology of the Eye at the Institute of Ophthalmic Research, Centre for Ophthalmology, University Clinics Tuebingen, Germany. Since 1985, Dr. Schaeffel has published more than 100 original research articles (mostly on myopia), and has secured one patent on photorefraction. His PowerRefractor technology is in use in clinical instruments around the world. His research has attracted grants totaling more than four million euros, most recently a Research Training Network grant on myopia, funded by the European Community (together with six European partners).

March 8, 2022 5:30 p.m. ET
via Zoom

"How to make contact lens wear safer"

Fiona Stapleton, PhD

About Dr. Stapleton

Fiona StapletonFiona was awarded her PhD from City University and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at University College London. She moved to Australia and was the first female Head of School of Optometry and Vision Science in Australia and New Zealand (2007-2019). She is a Scientia Professor and recently Associate Dean (Enterprise) in the Faculty of Science (2018-2021) at UNSW Sydney.

She is currently President of the International Society for Contact Lens Research, the 2018 recipient of the American Academy of Optometry Glen A Fry Award, 2018 Don Korb Award from the American Optometric Association and 2018 Barry Collin Medal from the Australian Optometric Association. She presented the Geoff Woodward Memorial Award Lecture at the UK Hospital Optometry meeting in 2019. She was nominated to the Australian Academy of Science, Technology and Engineering in 2018, to Life Fellowship of the British College of Optometrists in 2019 and became a Diplomate in the Cornea, Contact Lens and Refractive Technologies Section of the American Academy of Optometry in 2015. She has published more than 280 peer reviewed papers and is part of the editorial boards of 6 international journals.

Fiona is a clinical scientist with expertise in basic and translational research in the fields of corneal infection, ocular microbiology, dry eye and contact lens related disease. Her research has improved understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of sight-threatening ocular diseases.

March 10, 2021 5:30 p.m. ET
via Zoom
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"Conducting Clinical Trials When Industry Is Not on Your Side"

Maureen Maguire, PhD FARVO

About Dr. Maguire

Maureen G. Maguire, PhD, is Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics.  She received her doctoral degree from the Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Dr. Maguire is an internationally known expert in the design and conduct of multicenter clinical research in ophthalmology and has directed coordinating centers for several national trials.  Dr. Maguire’s work has concentrated in the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the United States.  Other areas of research include preschool vision screening, dry eye disease, corneal transplantation, and diabetic retinopathy.  She directed the Penn Vision Clinician Scientist Program (K12) for 15 years.  She has served on and chaired many data and safety monitoring committees for clinical trials sponsored by NIH and industry.

Dr. Maguire is a Gold Fellow and President-Elect of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and has received the Senior Achievement Award for distinguished service from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Singerman Award for Clinical Trials from the Macula Society, and the JDM Gass Award from the Retina Society.  She has served as a member of the editorial board of Ophthalmology, IOVS, and four other journals. She has more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.

February 26, 2020 5:30 p.m.
Fry Hall - Room 33
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"Hacking the Human Visual System"

Dr. Austin Roorda

Austin Roorda received his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in 1996 with joint degrees in Vision Science & Physics. Since that time, Dr. Roorda has been pioneering applications of adaptive optics and ophthalmoscopy, including mapping of the human trichromatic cone mosaic while a postdoc at the University of Rochester, designing and building the first adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) at the University of Houston, tracking and targeting light delivery to individual cones in the human eye at UC Berkeley, and being part of the first team to use AO imaging to monitor efficacy of a treatment to slow retinal degeneration. Since 2005, he’s been at UC Berkeley where he is a member of the Vision Science, Bioengineering and Neuroscience graduate programs. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the American Academy of Optometry. Notable awards are the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Waterloo School of Optometry (2007), the Glenn A. Fry Award from the American Academy of Optometry (2009), a John S. Guggenheim Fellowship (2014) and an Alcon Research Institute Award (2016). He is currently on sabbatical as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford.

March 5, 2019 5:30 p.m.
Fry Hall - Room 33
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"Understanding Glaucomatous Damage: An OCT approach"

Dr. Donald C. Hood

Donald C. Hood, the James F. Bender Professor of Psychology and Professor of Ophthalmic Science (in Ophthalmology), has been a member of the Columbia faculty since 1969. He holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. (1970) degrees from Brown University and honorary degrees from Smith College (2000) and Brown University (2017). He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of an Alcon Research Institute Award (2014). He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of IOVS and is on the editorial boards of IOVS (since 1992), Documenta Ophthalmologica (since 2004), and J. of Glaucoma (since 2016); and he previously served on the boards of Translational Vision Science & Technology (2011-2017), Progress in Retinal and Eye Research (2016-2018), and J. of Vision (2004-2012). While some of his over 300 publications deal with issues of the basic neuroscience of vision, most of his work over the last 25 years has concerned research on diseases of the retina and optic nerve. He has had continuous grant support from NIH/NEI for over 45 years.

April 4, 2018 5:30 p.m.
Fry Hall - Room 33
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"In- and On-the-Eye Low Vision Telescopes: A Critical Evaluation"

Dr. Eli Peli

Dr. Eli Peli is the Moakley Scholar in Aging Eye Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute and Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. He is also the director of the Vision Rehabilitation Service at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Peli is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, the Optical Society of America, the Society for Information Display, and the International Society of Optical Engineering. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed scientific journal papers and has been awarded 10 US patents. Among numerous other awards, Dr. Peli received the Glenn A. Fry Lecture Award, the William Feinbloom Award, and the Charles F Prentice Medal from the American Academy of Optometry. Dr. Peli's principal research interests are image processing in relation to visual function as well as clinical psychophysics in low vision rehabilitation, image understanding, and display-vision interaction.

March 21, 2017 5:30 p.m.
Fry Hall - Room 33
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"Tablet-Based Visual Field Screening – There Really is an App for That”"

Chris A. Johnson, PhD, DSc
Professor
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

Chris A. Johnson is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa, USA. His primary research interests are related to the development and evaluation of non-invasive diagnostic test procedures (perimetry, photography, imaging) for glaucoma and other ocular and neurologic disorders, with secondary interests in occupational vision requirements, vision and transportation safety, and oculomotor adjustments. He has also been involved in many multicenter clinical trials and the development and maintenance of visual field reading centers for quality control, evaluation and interpretation of perimetric outcome measures. Dr. Johnson has received many honors from Ophthalmologic, Optometric and institutional sources, has received a considerable amount of research funding, and has authored more than 425 journal publications and book chapters throughout his career.



June 9, 2016 5:30 p.m.
Room 33
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"Biomarkers for Microvascular Complications of Diabetes"

Dr. Barbara Klein
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Dr. Barbara E. K. Klein is an experienced ophthalmologist and epidemiologist, and has dedicated more than 30 years to investigating age-related eye diseases. She is coprincipal investigator of the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR), a study of retinopathy and other ocular and systemic complications of diabetes. She collaborated with Dr. Ronald Klein on the study design and logistics of the first and all subsequent examinations, and has been an author or co-author on the vast majority of reports and manuscripts originating from the study. She is also coprincipal investigator of the Beaver Dam Eye Study (BDES), a study of ocular diseases of aging. The BDES has identified and quantified important risk factors for age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases in older persons. Its findings have been instrumental in furthering understanding of the etiology of these diseases and focusing approaches to preventive interventions. She has been involved in developing and implementing protocols for grading eye disease, analyzing data, and collaborating on papers for the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES) and other population-based studies. She has also collaborated with numerous investigators around the world to study the epidemiology and genetics of diabetic and hypertensive retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, chronic kidney disease, and age-related eye diseases.

March 10, 2015 5:30 p.m.
Room 33
The Ohio State University College of Optometry

"Functional Imaging of Single Cells in the Living Eye"

DAVID R. WILLIAMS, PhD
Dean for Research in Arts, Science, and Engineering
Director, Center for Visual Science
William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics

The correction of the eye’s aberrations with adaptive optics (AO) has made it possible to image the normal and diseased retina of the living eye at microscopic resolution. Recent developments in the deployment of this technology, many of which combine AO and other imaging modalities with the goal of obtaining not only structural but also functional information at a cellular and sometimes subcellular spatial scale, will be described. The value of this approach with examples including single and two-photon fluorescence imaging of individual retinal cells will be illustrated, which allows us to optically probe the electrical signals the retina sends to the brain as well as molecular events in photoreceptors that would otherwise be invisible. It may be that these high resolution imaging tools, combined with recent advances in our ability to record from and control neurons with light, will eventually help complete our understanding of the computations the retina performs that allow us to see and also help to restore vision in the blind.