The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) recently hosted Academy 2022 in San Diego. The organization’s centennial was met with great fanfare, and the Academy welcomed a record number of 309 new Fellows to its ranks. Along with this strong showing of new Fellows, nine current Fellows earned the distinction of Diplomate.
Fellows of the Academy must complete a candidacy process that includes submitting written work demonstrating their skills as an optometrist or vision scientist. They must also sit for an oral exam at the annual meeting. It is estimated that 10 percent of practicing optometrists in the United States are Fellows of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO). Among those eligible for Fellow status are: optometrists, scientists, educators, librarians, administrators, and editors. Those who pass the rigorous criteria earn the distinction and the right to use FAAO in their credentials.
Diplomates are Fellows of the Academy who wish to demonstrate their extensive skill in a specific area. Currently nine sections offer Diplomate programs. These include Anterior Segment; Binocular Vision, Perception and Pediatric Optometry; Comprehensive Eye Care; Cornea, Contact Lenses & Refractive Technologies; Glaucoma; Low Vision; Optometric Education; Public Health & Environmental Vision; and Vision Science.
Below is a complete list of the new Fellows and Diplomates. More information on becoming a Fellow and Diplomate can be found on the Academy’s website at https://aaopt.org/membership/.
2022 Fellows
Kaleb Abbott
Rami Aboumourad
Cristina Acevedo
Noell Acord
Stephanie Adams
Lindsay Agro
Prince Akowuah
Abby Alexander
Kory Allen
Meznah Almutairi
Shelby Anderson
Miriam Anglo
Rebecca Aquije
Sabari Arcot
Grace Arnold
Alyanna Arzner
Kofi Asiedu
John Assan
Melissa Atencio
Nicole Auble
Sarah Aumond
Natasha Balani
Seema Banerjee
Ankur Banik
Rusha Barua
Ashley Bascom
Hadas Ben-Eli
Khob Bhandari
Kristen Bisig
Nicholas Blasco
Daniel Bollier
Melissa Bollinger
Petr Boshinski
Mackenzie Bradley
Grace Brasel
Rebecca Braunsdorf
Lauren Bruehl
Rachel Bruinsma
Lewis Bruneel
Nicholas Bruns
Jade Brunsvold
Amy Burcham
Akshaya C Balakrishnan
Melissa Caceres
Wendy Cacioppo
Gabriela Camorlinga
Sophia Capo
Paige Carr
Megan Carter
Christopher Cha
Brian Chado
Mandip Chahil
Jessica Chan
Tak Chau
Chandrashekhar Chawan
Connie Chen
Wei Chen
Christina Cherny
Elizabeth Choi
Kai Yip Choi
Bryan Cholico
Amy Chow
Brian Chow
Zachary Coates
Sylvester Cobbina
Camille Cohen
Kelly Cohen
Thomas Collins
Nora Cothran
Gabriella Courey
Sean Cushman
Michelle D’Amura
Quan Dao
Sweta Das
Sydni Davis Farhat
Melinda Thomas De Jesus
Isabel Deakins
Christin DeMoss
Daniel Detwiler
Eric Devore
Preet Dhami
Daniel Diamond
Randa Djabri
Carolyn Draude
Diana Driscoll
Jennifer Dryden
Ronit Dutta
Jennifer Eng
Michelle Anne Espanto
Ngozika Ezinne
Kimberly Fazio
Kevin Feng
Liana Ferreira
Cara Finn
Kristina Flaig
Randi-Jo Francis
Calliope Galatis
Marissa Gomez
Vivek Goyal
Daniel Grangaard
Hannah Gregory
Paul Grigsby
Kalina Grimm
Ivanna Grynyk
Allison Guindon
Jason Guo
Nayan Gupta
Caroline Haberthy
Megan Hafner
Michael Hall
Allyson Hall Johnson
Shazib Haq
Beth Harper
Kallie Harrier
Kiira Harrison
Belen Healy
Thomas Heinen
Amy Hellem
Andrew Henderson
Elise Hoi
Justin Holland
Alexandra Homann
Megan Horter
Selena Huang
Marie Huegel
Jennifer Hunsader
Tracy Hutchings
Klaus Ito
Sukanya Jaiswal
Janis James
Caitlin Jomoc
Landon Jones
Najiya Kadavath Meethal
Colin Kane
Sydney Kapp
Leyla Karim
Laura Karle
Helen Kee
Devon Kennedy
Katie Ker
Catherine Kerr-Niermann
Almas Khan
Autumn Killop
Deborah Kim
Jung-Sun Kim
Tyler Kitzman
Linus Klingler
Adam Kluck
Jared Koga
Jeffrey Kong
Paul Krabill
Casey Krug
Nora Kuby
Jenny La
Andrea Labunski
Alyssa Lancaster
Jason Lau
Michelle Lee
Richard Lee
Sam Lee
Shannon Leonard
Tsz Wing Leung
Melissa Levine
Jessica Lim
Luqian Liu
Nancy Liu
Kelly Lutmer
Anthony Mac
Crystal Maharrey
Julia Mai
Shreya Malli
Revathy Mani
Lina Manoukian
Jem Martin
Alexander Martinez
Elizabeth Marunde
Tiana Mathieson
Deepmala Mazumdar
Kanesha McBee
Jenna McBride
Michael McDougall
Xue Mei
Courtney Melchione
Matthew Meredith
Alex Meyer
Benjamin Michalicek
Kamila Mikos
Stefanie Mirabella
Salal Mohammad
Monique Mohammed- Weeks
Jennifer Monarrez
Yun Ping Moore
Sheila Morrison
Sara Moses
Marina Naguib
Geetha Nakka Sravani
Divya Nandwani
Ramya Natarajan
MaKay Neilson
Christina Nguyen
Hong Nguyen
Jacqueline Nguyen
Jennifer Nguyen
Linh Nguyen
Olivia Nichols
Rita Nieu
Augustine Nti
Irene Oluwatoba-Popoola
Chee Horng Alex Ong
Uchechukwu Osuagwu
Godwin Ovenseri
Margaret Overstreet
Alyssa Panagos
Simmy Panchal
Rabindra Pandey
Song Park
Johnny Pascual
Komal Patel
Reena Patel
Sapna Patel
Korey Patrizi
Sona Paul
Jennifer Peterson
Alexandra Piper
Andrew Pisetzner
Nicole Poon
Sudan Puri
Cathy Qin
Stephanie Quiroz
Rabab Rafique
Imad Rahman
L Alelujah Ramirez
Tuwani Rasengane
Faisal Rashid
Victoria Ray
Zachary Reynard
Charis-Ann Ricketts
Liana Rivkin
Julia Runco
Patricia Salazar
Rachel Samouha
Alina Sample
John Samssedi
Hannah Sanders
Sherry Sandri
Megan Schmauder
Brian Schmidt
Stephanie Schumacher
Amanda Setto
Muhammad Shahbakht
Kevin Shahnazi
Noreen Shaikh
Cindy Shan
Sherry Shang
Dana Shannon
Deepak Sharma
Zhihui She
Elsa Sheerer
Alaina Short
Peyton Simpson
Neeraj Singh
William Skoog
Claire Skorseth
Morgan Smerud
Jennyffer Smith
Zhi Da Soh
Sheila Soltani
Hannah Song
Andrew Sprenkel
Samuel Stack
Jennifer Steineman
Aidan Stubbs
Zahra Tajbakhsh
Leannza Tang
Fiza Tariq
Colleen Tejchma
Lilian Thoi
Chinenye Timothy
Steffani Tiomno
Isis Topete
Huy Tran
Kelsey Trast
Stella Tu
Kent Uehara
Emiko Vasquez
Marilyn Vricella
Zachary Walburg
Joshua Walek
Charlene Walton
Angela Wen
Rachel Werner
Douglas Widmer
Rachel Williams
Aaron Wolf
Arie Wong
Michael Wong
Miuyi Wong
Hannah Wood
Elspeth Wrigley
Keying Yan
Chang Ye
Jacquelyn Yi
Michelle Yoshimoto
Jessica Young
Alice Yuan
Lauren Zabaleta
Anna Zhang
Joyce Zhang
Evalin Zhao
2022 Diplomates
Anterior Segment
Sarah Lopez
Scott Hauswirth
Binocular Vision, Perception and Pediatric Optometry
Nicklaus Fogt (Research)
Cornea, Contact Lenses & Refractive Technologies
Stuti Misra (Research)
Amy Nau (Clinical)
Erin Rueff (Clinical)
Low Vision
George Papadakis
Optometric Education
Jasmine Yumori
Public Health and Environmental Vision
Lynn Greenspan
About the American Academy of Optometry
The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) inspires excellence in optometric practice by fostering research and disseminating knowledge in vision science through its journal, Optometry and Vision Science, and the continuing education presented at its annual meeting. Fellows of the Academy are committed to the premise that learning is a lifelong obligation of a professional, as is the commitment to expand the profession’s knowledge base through ongoing fellowship and exchange. For more information, visit the website: http://www.aaopt.org.
