BOSTON—The sixth annual Theia Awards of Excellence were presented here on Tuesday at the end of the Women In Optometry (WO) Women’s Leadership Conference, which was held in conjunction with the American Academy of Optometry’s Academy meeting in Boston. Each year, WO asks readers and friends to submit the names of women who have been extraordinarily influential in the industry. Each year, hundreds of women ODs are nominated, and the WO advisory board votes for the winners.

Here are the 2021 Theia Award winners, and the respective categories in which they were honored.
 
LEADERSHIP

 
 
 Sherrol Reynolds, OD, FAAO, past president of the National Optometric Association was the winner of the D. Elva Cooper Theia Award for Leadership. The award was presented by 2016 Theia award winner Melissa Barnett, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FBCLA. Women In Optometry's Marjolijn Bijlefeld.
 
 
 Lauretta Justin, OD, of Orlando, Florida, and founder of Optometry Divas, was presented the Dr. Mae Booth-Jones Theia Award for Mentoring.
 Anna Marie Fernandez, OD, of Staten Island, New York, was presented the Dr. Mae Booth-Jones Theia Award for Mentoring. Dr. Fernandez was recently president of the SUNY College of Optometry Alumni Association board.
 
 
 Neda Gioia, OD,  CS, FOWNS, was also honored with the Dr. Gertrude Stanton Innovation Award for her pioneering work in bringing ocular nutrition into her practice, Integrative Vision in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, into the mainstream of her discussions with all patients. Her award was presented by Breanne McGhee, OD, MEd, PhDEL, the 2020 winner of the Theia Young OD award. 
 Melissa Bailey, OD, PhD, was honored as the winner of the Dr. Gertrude Stanton Innovation Award for her research and product development work. She is VP of research and development at LENTECHS, which has successfully developed core technology licensed from The Ohio State Innovation Foundation to create a patented, first-of-its-kind line of soft, suspended contact lens for presbyopia.
 
 
 Bita Asghari, OD, FAAO, of Boston, Massachusetts, was honored as the 2021 Young OD Theia Award of Excellence winner. Her work in specialty contact lenses and prosthetic devices is making a difference for patients with challenging ocular surface conditions.
 Carol Alexander, OD, was honored as the Theia Award of Excellence for Industry Influence. Dr. Alexander is Head, North America Vision Care Professional Relations for Johnson & Johnson Vision, and has advocated for the profession of optometry at local, state and the national level for most of her career.
Dr. Sherrol Reynolds, OD,  an associate professor and chief of advanced ophthalmic care and specialty testing, The Eye Care Institute, at NOVA Southeastern College of Optometry. Dr. Reynolds served two terms as president of the National Optometric Association, where she introduced new programs and helped restructure the NOA during her terms. She’s a regular contributor to research articles, is involved in domestic and international community outreach and is a beloved mentor, wife and mother.
 
MENTORING

Dr. Anna Marie Fernandez, OD, of Staten Island, N.Y., is a member of the Family of Mentors program at SUNY Optometry and has received the Mentor of the Year Award for her exemplary service. Her mentees stay with her long past the year and become valued members of her expansive network. During her term as alumni association board president she began a student engagement series of events to connect them with their alumni community. She started the One Step Closer to Graduation snack break (during mid-term and finals exams) tradition of serving stressed students coffee/tea, donuts and a huge dose of support and encouragement. Through her innovative programs and hands on approach she increased the visibility of the alumni community as a support system to students.
 
Dr. Lauretta Justin, OD, of Orlando, Fla., is the founder of Optometry Divas, a networking group with about 1,300 members on Facebook and a committed group who attend events. Optometry Divas recently launched a scholarship program for third-optometry students, which links not just the winner but all applicants with a mentor in an area of the profession in which they have an interest. Dr. Justin is committed to supporting, empowering, inspiring and engaging women ODs with powerful business acumen and willingness to provide substantial resources to her community. She also owns a private practice in Orlando.

INNOVATION

Dr. Melissa Bailey, OD, PhD, is an associate professor at The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Optometry. She has a doctorate of optometry and PhD in vision science. Dr. Bailey’s research career is devoted to developing new technologies for use in eyecare as well as studying the role of the ciliary muscle in the development of myopia and accommodative function in children. In 2015, Dr. Bailey was selected as the Early Career Innovator of the Year at The Ohio State University for her work in developing patented methods for measuring the ciliary muscle. She is currently working with two OSU startup companies, one of which, Lentechs, is developing a novel, patented, bifocal contact lens designed by Dr. Bailey in collaboration with Joseph T Barr, OD, MS, OSU Professor Emeritus. Drs. Bailey and Barr secured an Accelerator Award from The Ohio State University to develop this technology.
 
Dr. Neda Gioia, OD, CNS, FOWNS (Ocular Wellness and Nutrition Society) is a pioneer in introducing nutraceuticals into clinical practice. Her practice, Integrative Vision in Shrewsbury, N.J. lets her practice model and patented testing and it is revolutionary. Her practice, Integrative Vision, combines functional medicine and nutrition, focusing on whole body health and the power of the body to heal itself. She offers her patients an add-on consultation of about 25 minutes during which she’ll review the patient’s supplements and key nutrition recommendations and the results of a complimentary antioxidant palm score reader.

INDUSTRY

Dr. Carol Alexander, OD, is the head of professional relations at Johnson & Johnson Vision. She recently received the Ohio State University 2020 Distinguished Alumna Award, and she has won many other awards and recognition in her career. She is active in advocacy on state and federal levels. Her leadership has helped strengthen relationships with international industry and optometry and the value of doctors of optometry to the public’s health. At Johnson & Johnson Vision, she has lead advocacy for optometric eye and health care and raised the visibility of current and future doctors of optometry within key industry areas.
 
YOUNG OD

Dr. Bita Asghari, OD, FAAO, has been practicing just five years, but in that time, she has proven herself in ways of providing education and mentoring to students and residents. She is an adjunct clinical faculty at the New England College of Optometry (NECO) and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) University School of Optometry.  She is one of only 31 BostonSight PROSE Clinical Fellows worldwide and now contributes to the development and delivery of fellowship curriculum, addressing the treatment, management and prosthetic device design, for patients with challenging ocular surface disease. She is a frequent lecturer and writer and a member of the Intrepid Eye Society, American Optometric Association and Scleral Lens Education Society.
 
In addition to the Theia Awards presentation, the third annual Women In Optometry Women’s Leadership Conference featured a hands-on series of short workshop sessions to help attendees transform themselves from “leaders” to “thought leaders.” The conference was titled, “Expanding Your Spheres of Influence,” and included keynote speaker Denise Brosseau, chief executive officer of the Thought Leadership Lab and author of the best-seller “Ready to Be a Thought Leader?” Her presentation included workshop sessions designed to help attendees explore their spheres of influence, whether that sphere is at work, in the community or in advocacy for the profession. The keynote session was sponsored by EssilorLuxottica.
 
Following her presentation and the workshops, a panel discussion about optometry’s role in health care provided attendees with insights about how they can influence the perception of the profession within the health care environment. Dorothy Hitchmoth, OD, FAAO, of New London, N.H., moderated the panel. Dr. Hitchmoth has been seeing patients in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region of New Hampshire for 25 years.

The panelists were Breanne McGhee, OD, MEd, FAAO, of New Orleans, who runs a nonprofit organization called E.Y.E.S., which offers free comprehensive eye exams and eyeglasses to disadvantaged, underserved community members; Kristen Brown, OD, FAAO, associate dean of clinical affairs at New England College of Optometry (NECO); and Maria Sampalis, OD, founder of corporateods.com, an alliance providing information on start-ups to medical model and more to ODs moving into a corporate-affiliated settings.