Mark P. André
Mark André is very proud of his accomplishments in the clinic, but feels his biggest contribution was having the opportunity to share his knowledge with literally thousands of eyecare providers at the three universities at which he’s taught and the hundreds of continuing education meetings at which he’s lectured around the world.

Joe Barr, OD, MS
Dr. Barr was editor of Contact Lens Spectrum for 20 years and founding editor of Contact Lenses Today. He was director of the National Eye Institute-sponsored Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus Photography Reading Center, helped train 21 fellows at Ohio State, led clinical/medical affairs at Dow Corning and Bausch + Lomb, and presented the Max Schapero Memorial and the Korb Annual Award for Excellence lectures.

Edward S. Bennett, OD, MSEd
Dr. Bennett was very fortunate to be associated with GP lenses since their infancy, which resulted in the opportunity to perform clinical research and co-author textbooks with some exceptional clinicians. This then resulted in the opportunity to be associated with the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association and, specifically, with its educational division, the GP Lens Institute.

Jan Bergmanson, OD, PhD
As a clinician anatomist and pathologist with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Bergmanson has had the privilege to inform clinicians and physiologists of the exact structure that a contact lens is placed upon and the consequences of the contact lens presence on the eye. Occasionally, he has had to correct flawed anatomical assumptions when interpreting a clinical manifestation, as was the case with polymegethism.

Noel Brennan, PhD
Researcher, international educator, and author, Dr. Brennan studied lens discomfort before it was fashionable, ultimately implicating lens friction/eyelid interaction as the paradigm-shifting mechanism. He is also recognized for corneal physiological modeling, having exposed diminishing returns with increasing Dk/t, and in optics, for the celebrated Liou-Brennan model eye and Medmont topographer.

Patrick J. Caroline
Patrick Caroline is an instructor and lecturer at the Pacific University College of Optometry. He is a Fellow and Diplomate of the Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the American Academy of Optometry. For the past 20 years, he has been a contributing editor for Contact Lens Spectrum. He is on the editorial board for the British Contact Lens Association’s Contact Lens and Anterior Eye and the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists’ Eye & Contact Lens.

H. Dwight Cavanagh, MD, PhD
Dr. Cavanagh was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University (MD), and Harvard University, where he was the last PhD student of Professor George Wald (NL MED ‘67). He has authored 462 peer-reviewed publications in corneal and contact lens research. He has also served as editor-in-chief of Cornea and of Eye & Contact Lens.

Robin L. Chalmers, OD
In her research career, Dr. Chalmers has concentrated on two main topics: developing post-market surveillance study methods to track contact lens complications, and developing tools to measure ocular surface symptoms with and without contact lenses. As chair of the Academy of Optometry’s Fellows Doing Research SIG, she is teaching American Academy of Optometry Fellows to conduct observational research.

Nathan Efron, PhD, DSc
Professor Efron’s primary achievement has been his authorship of contact lens textbooks. He has been able to effectively translate complex scientific research into well-organized and illustrated material that offers information in an easy-to-read style, helping practitioners in their everyday clinical work.

Irving Fatt, PhD
Professor Fatt served as a faculty member at UC-Berkeley for 26 years, where he was a member of perhaps the greatest contact lens research unit in U.S. history. He had more than 200 published articles and texts. In the contact lens field, he is best known for his seminal work in measuring the oxygen permeability and transmissibility of contact lens materials.

Desmond Fonn, MOptom
Professor Fonn helped further the understanding of the ocular response to contact lens wear. He was part of a great team that founded and established the Centre for Contact Lens Research at the University of Waterloo. He also was part of the leadership team that established the International Association of Contact lens Educators. In addition, he collaborated with Brien Holden and Deborah Sweeney for 35 years.

Michel Guillon, PhD
Dr. Guillon’s main research achievements are advancing the understanding of in vivo contact lens wettability and developing a visual performance measurement system that controls all relevant environmental factors. His main product achievements are the development of self-heating eyelid wipes for meibomian gland dysfunction management and his involvement in the development of frequent replacement bifocal contact lenses, along with intellectual property work on accommodating multifocal contact lenses.

Richard Hill, OD, PhD
Together with many valued colleagues, Dr. Hill was able to make early investigative studies on the human cornea, including gas exchange under normoxic and hypoxic conditions; and human tears, including pH (open and closed eye) and buffering capacity.

Brien Holden, PhD, DSc
The Gothenburg study, conducted by Professor Holden and colleagues, found that adverse effects with extended contact lens wear could be minimized by using lenses with greater oxygen transmissibility and that are more mobile and frequently removed and replaced. This laid the foundation for the later development of the highly oxygen-permeable silicone hydrogel lenses.

Lyndon Jones, PhD, FCOptom
Dr. Jones is most proud of his involvement in quantifying and examining contact lens deposition, reporting the interactions between contact lens materials and solutions that resulted in corneal staining, and exploring the potential for contact lenses as drug delivery materials.

Donald Korb, OD
Dr. Korb invented the godfather of contemporary contact lenses—the membrane CSI lens. He helped with the 1980 discovery of the impact of obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) on contact lens tolerance to treatment as well as with LipiFlow (Tear-Science). He also had a hand in discovering the role of humidity, lipid layer thickness, blinking, giant papillary conjunctivitis, lid wiper epitheliopathy, MGD, and non-obvious MGD on lens wear.

Robert Mandell, OD, PhD
Dr. Mandell is a true icon in the contact lens field. He is best known as the author of Contact Lens Practice, the book that served as the foundation of contact lens education for several decades. He had 157 published articles, including his seminal research with Dr. Ken Polse on corneal swelling and contact lens designs, as well as a bitoric guide that bears his name.

Philip Morgan, BSc, PhD, MCOptom
Dr. Morgan’s research is aimed at understanding the clinical performance of contact lenses. For 20 years, he has organized and published data from annual surveys of contact lens prescribing covering 59 countries and more than 300,000 fits. This work seeks to inform colleagues in clinical practice and industry about fitting habits worldwide.

Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD
Dr. Nichols is an internationally recognized clinician-scientist whose career has focused on ocular discomfort in both contact lens wearers and dry eye patients. He is recognized for his work on the biochemistry and structure of the tear film in addition to roles on Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society workshops and as editor-in-chief of Contact Lens Spectrum and Contact Lenses Today since 2008.

Craig W. Norman
Craig Norman was privileged to enter the contact lens field at the end of the PMMA and the beginning of the “oxygen permeable” era—including initial studies of extended wear soft contact lenses and GPs. By helping develop several “global” meetings, he was also fortunate to play a role in the education of specialty contact lens eyecare practitioners from around the world.

Eric Papas, PhD, MCOptom
Dr. Papas is one of the inventors of silicone hydrogels and a significant contributor to understanding contact lens effects on the eye, particularly in terms of oxygen’s influence on the limbal vasculature and the mechanisms of discomfort. He is also a long-standing collaborator with all major contact lens corporations, with key contributions to several well-known products.

Perry Rosenthal, MD
Dr. Rosenthal created the first contact lens clinic at Harvard’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary while training as an ophthalmologist. And, after his training, he co-founded Polymer Technology Corporation and drove the development of the Boston products, including the first high-oxygen-permeable rigid contact lens polymer and care solutions. He also developed the first non-fenestrated GP scleral lens, now known as PROSE.

Christine Sindt, OD
During her 20-year career, Dr. Sindt published novel cornea research, co-founded the Scleral Lens Education Society, and served on the American Optometric Association Contact Lens & Cornea section, including a year as chair. She designed a pediatric aphakic GP fitting set and developed a system for fitting and design of scleral lenses for extreme conditions, including an impression polymer that received FDA clearance, software development, and optics not available in other lenses.

Fiona Stapleton, BSc, MSc, PhD, MCOptom
Professor Stapleton’s main achievement was to develop and lead teams nationally and internationally to explore the epidemiology of contact lens-related corneal infection. This work has helped with understanding the impact of new technologies, risk factors important in reducing the risk of severe infection, and improving the safety of lens wear.

Ralph Stone, PhD
Dr. Stone’s most important achievement was the development of the contact lens grouping system with its extension to silicone hydrogels and its application to the development of care systems. His most recognized accomplishment was the development as team member and leader of many of advances leading to and improving multipurpose solutions.

Helen Swarbrick, PhD
Dr. Swarbrick’s greatest contribution to the contact lens field has undoubtedly been in the area of orthokeratology. Her 1998 research paper changed our understanding of contact lens-induced corneal shape change and stimulated an explosion of research in orthokeratology, culminating in its current widespread use for refractive correction and myopia control.

Loretta Szczotka-Flynn, OD, PhD
As a professor of Ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve University Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Dr. Szczotka-Flynn has, for the past 24 years, researched contact lens complications, keratoconus, post-surgical contact lens fitting, corneal imaging, and corneal transplantation. Her collaborations with colleagues, industry, and the National Eye Institute have been invaluable. She currently serves as chair of the Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies of the American Academy of Optometry.

Jeffrey J. Walline, OD, PhD
Dr. Walline champions fitting of children with contact lenses. He has shown that children exhibit similar benefits and risks of contact lens wear as do patients routinely fit with contact lenses. He also investigates the myopia control benefits of several contact lens modalities, including GP, corneal reshaping, and soft bifocal lenses.

Barry A. Weissman, OD, PhD
Over the past 30 years, Dr. Weissman has made several contributions: following Irving Fatt’s mentoring on corneal oxygen diffusion; soft lens flexure; and several contact lens-driven complications. His most important achievements have come from being a good student and developing good friendships. He believes his contact lens Fellows taught him about achieving together, both clinically and academically. He believes we all learn the most from our patients.

Mark Willcox, PhD
Dr. Willcox’s main achievements since entering into the field of contact lens research have been to work with both clinicians and basic scientists to understand the basis of contact lens adverse events, particularly inflammatory events and contact lens discomfort. This has allowed testing of hypotheses to overcome these issues. CLS