Contact Lens Spectrum August 1, 2022Vol 37, Issue August 2022Page(s): 2, 4
When Keshia Elder, OD, MS, assumes the role of dean of the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) later this year, it will mark a historic moment both for UMSL and the field of optometry at large. Dr. Elder, who previously served as an associate clinical professor at UMSL from 2011 to 2016, will be the first Black female dean of optometry in the country. Currently the director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and director of Externships at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Optometry, Dr. Elder has more than 20 years of experience stretching across different corners of the optometry field. At UMSL, she will continue to build on her decades of experience furthering DEI efforts in the profession, specifically highlighting the need to establish a diverse, safe, supportive, and welcoming optometric environment and to hire diverse leadership.
Eyenovia, Inc. announced that Sean Ianchulev, MD, MPH, co-founder, chief medical officer, and CEO, will step down as CEO and transition to the role of nonexecutive chairman of the board. The definitive timeline for the transition will be determined over the next few weeks. The company and its board have retained an executive search firm to assist in identifying the company’s next CEO. Dr. Ianchulev will continue as a consulting medical director for Eyenovia after the transition in order to support the ongoing clinical development activities and trials.
The Global Myopia Awareness Coalition (GMAC) announced the appointment of its board for 2022. Its board chair is Millicent Knight, OD, senior vice president, customer development group, at EssilorLuxottica NA. Immediate past chair is Juan Carlos Aragón, OD, president, CooperVision Specialty EyeCare Division. Other 2022 GMAC board members are Lisa McAllister, global myopia lead, Johnson & Johnson Vision; Kovin Naidoo, BSc, BOptom, MPH, senior vice president, Social Impact, Africa & Latin America and Advocacy, Essilor; Bill Scott, president, Jobson Optical Research, ECP & PAA; Marc Ferrara, CEO of Information Services, Jobson Healthcare Information; Raul Trillo, MD, chief commercial officer, Vyluma Inc.; Layna Mendlinger, global head of marketing, Visioneering Technologies Inc.; Sandra Block, OD, president-elect, World Council of Optometry; Nick Parker, global head of memberships & partnerships, International Association for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB); and Matt Geller, OD, CEO, Eyes on Eyecare.
Bausch Health (BHC) announced that its chairman Joseph Papa has resigned from the board, effective immediately. According to the company, it has appointed John Paulson to the board to replace Mr. Papa upon his resignation. Mr. Paulson currently serves as an independent director of BHC’s spun-off unit Bausch + Lomb. He established investment management firm Paulson & Co. in 1994, serving as its president and portfolio manager.
Alcon announced a partnership with Cooper Kupp, professional football wide receiver and MVP of the “Big Game,” to share his experience with eye allergies and help other eye allergy sufferers find relief with Pataday Once Daily Relief Extra Strength. This year’s campaign, “The Right Tool for the Job” highlights Mr. Kupp’s personal struggle to find the right product to treat his eye allergy symptoms and how Pataday has delivered fast-acting, long-lasting, and targeted relief for his itchy allergy eyes on and off the field.
Johnson & Johnson Vision has received U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance, Health Canada approval, and completed CE mark activities for its Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day and Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day Multifocal contact lenses. Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day contact lenses are available in spherical and multifocal designs. The new lenses are anticipated to be made available in the United States, Canada, and multiple European countries in the autumn.
Visioneering Technologies Inc. (VTI) has added New Era/e-dr. as the its latest authorized distributor partner for the NaturalVue (etafilcon A) Brand 1 Day Contact Lenses. With more than 100 years of business, New Era/e-dr. is one of the nation’s long-standing distributors of optical products in the United States.
Eaglet Eye announced that it has launched a series of webinars over the summer and fall of this year that will demonstrate the benefits of their partnership with specialty lens labs. Currently Eaglet Eye has six webinars planned: AccuLens (held in May); Bausch + Lomb, Wave, and Gaudí/Valley Contax (held in July); ScanFitPro (August 31), and BostonSight (September 28). To register, watch the recordings, and for more information, visit eaglet-eye.com/events . Eaglet Eye has formed partnerships with more than 20 specialty lens labs worldwide, so these six webinars represent the start of a series that will go well into 2023.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, through his Consumer Protection Division, has secured a deceptive trade practices settlement against Vision Path Inc.—specifically, its Hubble contact lens business—in state district court in Bexar County, TX. Hubble will pay $300,000 in civil penalties, $70,000 in attorneys’ fees, and $2,100 in restitution for certain consumers. Paxton’s office alleges that Hubble deceptively marketed its lenses by representing them as “high quality” even though they were manufactured using older technology from which many other contact lens companies had moved away. Additionally, Hubble failed to verify consumers’ contact lens prescriptions with prescribers before filling orders, a violation of the Contact Lens Prescription Act that resulted in many consumers receiving the wrong contact lenses. Read the full settlement at bit.ly/3NyoX16 .
CooperVision announced that Nancy Keir, OD, PhD, has been appointed senior director, Life Cycle Management. In this role, she is responsible for the development of long-range strategic plans to drive market-leading growth and the timely delivery of new products that meet customer and market requirements. Dr. Keir joined CooperVision in 2013, most recently having served as senior director, Program & Biological Sciences for the company’s R&D leadership team. Prior to joining CooperVision, Dr. Keir spent 13 years with the Centre for Ocular Research and Education (CORE) as a clinical scientist and head of clinical operations. Dr. Keir succeeds Jane Hasselkus, who retired in April 2022.
All About Vision (AAV), an online portal for vision and eyecare information, has launched a myopia information hub at allaboutvision.com/myopia . AAV worked with researchers from the International Myopia Institute, the World Health Organization, the Brien Holden Vision Institute, and others to create accessible content using current data. According to AAV, exclusive features include an interactive myopia simulator (myopiasimulator.myopiahub.com/myopia-simulator ), which demonstrates what increasing levels of nearsightedness look like through a child’s eyes, and a myopia assessment to determine a child’s risk for having myopia.
Hilco Vision has named Brent Jones as the global head of Dry Eye and general manager of Bruder Healthcare. Mr. Jones has 30 years of eyecare industry experience at companies including I-Med Pharma USA, Eyevance Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharma, Bausch + Lomb, and ISTA Pharmaceuticals.
CooperVision has begun construction on the expansion and renovation of its manufacturing, packaging, and distribution facilities in Scottsville and West Henrietta, NY. At the global packaging and distribution center in West Henrietta, the 150,000-square-foot expansion increases the facility’s footprint by more than 50% and adds innovative upgrades in the technologies used for packaging, storage, and order picking, as well as an updated warehouse management system. At the manufacturing facility in Scottsville, a 5,500-square-foot expansion and investments in new technology will accommodate growth in product manufacturing capacity, resulting in shorter order fulfillment times for products. The West Henrietta project will be complete by summer 2023, while the Scottsville project will be operational by the end of next year.
Vyluma Inc. and Laboratoires Théa announced that they have recently entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for the registration and commercialization of NVK002 in Canada, Mexico, and select South American Countries. This agreement represents an expansion of the previously announced exclusive licensing agreement for the commercialization of NVK002 in Europe and other select countries. NVK002 is a proprietary, investigational, preservative-free eye drop administered nightly and intended for slowing the progression of myopia in children ages 3 to 17 years.
SYMPOSIUM SPOTLIGHT
The Global Myopia Symposium (GMS) is the premier meeting solely focused on myopia and its management involving clinicians, researchers, and educators from around the world. GMS provides cutting-edge, clinical information based on the most current research for you to implement directly in your practice. GMS is currently seeking COPE approval for distance learning CE credit (22 hours total; however, the max hours of CE that can be earned is 15 with the concurrent sessions offered). To register, visit clspectrum.com/gms .
The Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS) invites the submission of abstracts for the presentation of Free Papers and Posters to be held Jan. 18 to 21, 2023, at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, formerly Bally’s. Topics can include new and innovative concepts, clinical cases, and research on all aspects of contact lenses (such as materials, designs, lens care, etc.) in addition to related topics such as corneal and ocular surface disease, diagnosis and treatment approaches, and practice management. Submissions accepted through Oct. 3 at 5 p.m. EST. Visit bit.ly/3a4BcoE for more information.
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IN MEMORIAM: John De Carle, MD
Contributed by Edward S. Bennett, OD, MSEd
Dr. De Carle
John De Carle passed away June 27 at the age of 96. After qualifying as an optometrist at the London University, he was called up by the Royal Air Force in 1945 where he devoted the next 2.5 years. He then started his practice in optometry with a great curiosity about how new innovative materials and designs could be developed and produced.
He is most known for two seminal innovations. In the mid-1950s, he developed a bifocal corneal concentric lens design with a center-distance portion. This was ultimately referred to as the “De Carle design.” This became the basis for later-generation rigid and soft multifocal designs.
He was also the “Father of Extended Wear.” He had the idea of producing a soft permanent wear contact lens and theorized that, by increasing the water content of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) lenses from 38% to more than 70%, extended wear would be feasible. Ultimately, his technology resulted in the CooperVision Permalens, the first extended-wear lens approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1981. He later built one of the largest extended-wear practices in the world.
In recognition of his outstanding original contributions to contact lens design techniques and fitting and application in clinical practice, he was awarded the Herschel Medal from the International Society of Contact Lens Specialists. Also among his numerous awards are the American Academy of Optometry Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies Founders Award and the Dr. Donald R. Korb Award, the highest honor given by the American Optometric Association’s Contact Lens and Cornea Section.
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