UH College of Optometry Graduate Students Win 2020 Ezell Fellowships

UH College of Optometry Graduate Students Win 2020 Ezell Fellowships

Graduate students at the University of Houston College of Optometry won three out of 11 of this year’s William C. Ezell Fellowships.

Since 1949, the American Academy of Optometry Foundation has offered Ezell Fellowships to encourage talented people to pursue full-time careers in optometric research and education in a school or college of optometry. Students from around the world compete for these fellowships.

Moores Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research Laura Frishman is proud of the UHCO students.

“It’s wonderful to see our talented and dedicated students being recognized by the AAOF for their current accomplishments and their potential to become leading researchers and educators in the basic and clinical science of vision,” she said.

These highly competitive fellowships provide recognition and support to graduate students enrolled in a full-time program of study and training in teaching and vision-related research that leads to a PhD degree.

All three UHCO students are pursuing their doctoral degrees and are part of the college’s graduate program in physiological optics and vision science. Here are more details on each of them:

Justin A. Courson, BA
John N. Schoen Ezell Fellowship
Courson works in the laboratory of Alan Burns, McDaid-Vision Source professor at the college. His doctoral research focuses on corneal innervation and neuronal-epithelial cell fusion.

Eugene A. Osae, OD
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Ezell Fellowship
Osae also works with Professor Burns. His doctoral research explores the effect of metabolic syndrome on the Meibomian Gland and the ocular surface.

Erin S. Tomiyama, OD, MS, FAAO
AAO Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses, and Refractive Technologies Ezell Fellowship
Tomiyama works in the laboratory of Kathryn Richdale, associate professor of optometry and a nationally recognized leader in cornea and contact lenses. Her doctoral research focuses on the comparison of toric orthokeratology and soft toric multifocal contact lenses in managing the astigmatic myope.

This year’s Ezell Fellows are scheduled to be honored at the AAOF’s Annual Celebration Luncheon on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, at the AAO’s 2020 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.