University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB School of Optometry
UABSO has a world-class reputation for educating optometrists and vision scientists. Our faculty is among the best known in the country through their lectures, research and publications including many textbooks. Our students and faculty perform community service in multiple venues from local neighborhoods to third-world countries. Perhaps our best known service is the excellent patient care provided in the recently renovated clinic “UAB Eye Care,” a 34,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility that covers everything from primary eye care, including the dispensing of glasses and contacts, to the treatment of ocular disease, as well as low vision rehabilitation and pediatric vision care.
We now have more than 1,200 graduates of the School who form one of the most involved and caring group of alumni of any school in the country. They offer their support whenever and wherever asked. They sponsor many of our student programs, serve as student mentors, assist with recruiting of new students, serve on optometric association and legislative committees, and most recently generously provided financial support to help complete the UAB Eye Care renovation. Our graduates represent the best of what UABSO is all about. We produce highly skilled and compassionate optometrists who care about the patients they serve, the communities in which they practice and the School.
Please take a few moments to browse this website and learn more about us – our programs, faculty, facilities, history, and the reasons why UABSO is so special. Be sure to contact us if you have any questions or would like to visit the School.
Become an Optometrist
The UAB School of Optometry’s mission is to contribute exceptional ideas in optometric sciences and clinical practice through research and scholarship, and with education and clinical training of optometry students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows. Our faculty members are heavily engaged in professional service to the university, state of Alabama, region, and nation, and many are leaders on advisory panels, boards, committees, commissions, and other organizations serving optometric and other health-related clinical programs. Some are involved in even an international capacity.
Our faculty reflects the full diversity of optometric science and education and consists primarily of clinical optometrists, but also vision scientists, and ophthalmologists, who provide direct supervision and training of optometry students and postdoctoral residents. They provide clinical eye care and educational services in the several clinics affiliated with the School of Optometry. Our faculty members are widely published in the scientific and clinical literature. They write textbooks and contribute significantly to the world literature in the clinically oriented vision sciences.
ADMISSION PROCESS
Prerequisite courses must be completed prior to matriculation. If you have any questions about the admission process, please contact our Office of Student Affairs:
(205) 975-0739
Email our UABSO recruiter David Parkinson
at dep@uab.edu
Thank you for your interest in UABSO!
Become a Vision Scientist
Envision yourself as a part of the future, exploring the frontiers that will contribute to our understanding of vision. Through basic, translational, or clinical research, opportunities exist to investigate all facets of this physical sense that involves over twenty-five percent of our cortical processing power. Students are afforded the opportunity to tailor their skills and make valued contributions. Our didactic courses challenge and prepare students to wed existing skills with focused vision science needs, and we actively foster unique inter- and intra-departmental laboratory collaborative efforts to exploit the full benefits of UAB’s resources and explore students’ full potential.
Opportunities abound to explore the physical, biochemical, physiologic, and behavioral properties of vision. Students discover where and how visual processing occurs and have the opportunity to investigate many facets of the vision sciences, including light perception, cortical recognition, industry light applications (laser, etc.), vision correction devices and procedures, and computer modeling, to name a few.
With 44 faculty and associate faculty members, the UAB Vision Science program proudly offers a wealth of research experience and resources. Robust imaging and analytical tools, augmented by more than 30 other campus core facilities at one of the leading research institutions in the southeast, empower our students and faculty to thrive and advance on many fronts. At present, faculty members are actively investigating the impact and treatment of ocular diseases, aging, ametropia development, and modifying refractive applications.Our program is engineered to expand knowledge, brighten the future, and illuminate the world. We invite you to be a part of our program.
Contact Us
Stefanie B. Varghese, Ph.D.
Program Administrator
Telephone: 205.934.6743
Fax: 205.934.5725
Email: sbvarghese@uab.edu
| Mailing Address: | Physical Address: (UPS, Federal Express) |
| UAB Vision Science Graduate Program | UAB Vision Science Graduate Program |
| 601A WORB | 601A WORB |
| 1530 3rd Avenue South | 924 S. 18th Street |
| Birmingham, AL 35294-4390 | Birmingham, AL 35294-4390 |
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