2020 IACLE awards announced

ABDO College principal, Jo Underwood, has been named as the International Contact Lens Educator (IACLE) Contact Lens Educator of the Year for the Europe/Africa – Middle East region.

Sponsored by CooperVision, and supported by the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), the awards are presented each year to an individual from each of IACLE’s global regions.

The 2020 Americas award winner is Professor Renée Reeder University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Optometry, USA; while in the Asia Pacific region, the accolade has been awarded to Professor Bariah Mohd Ali from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In addition, IACLE has made three Travel Awards enabling IACLE members to travel to international contact lens meetings funded by industry sponsors Alcon, CooperVision, Johnson & Johnson Vision, Bausch + Lomb and Euclid. These awards are also supported by the Association of Optometric Contact Lens Educators and the AAO.

The recipients are: Dr Elizabeth Chetty  from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Professor Martín Guzmán from the Universidad Nacional Experimental Romulo Gallegos, Zaraza, Venezuela; and Associate Professor Nirav Mehta from Hari Jyot College of Optometry, Navsari, India.

IACLE president, Dr Shehzad Naroo, said: “Each year the competition for the IACLE Awards gets stronger. Thank you to CooperVision for continuing to sponsor the Educator Awards. We are pleased to be able to offer three Travel Awards too and we have three worthy recipients. We are grateful to be able to make these awards with the support of all our sponsors.”

Read more about IACLE and the awards here.

IACLE is also offering all educators access to online resources for remote teaching during the global Covid-19 outbreak. Click here for more details.