August 22, 2023
BERKELEY, Calif. — The University of California, Berkeley, has announced the 2023 inductees into its Optometry Hall of Fame. Leaders in the field of myopia research are being recognized for their work. These myopia researchers join an elite group of 20 other UC Berkeley alumni and faculty who received the honor by making significant and exceptional contributions to the optometry field.
Those being honored for their contributions to the field of myopia research include:
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Arthur Bradley, PhD: Dr. Bradley earned his PhD in Vision Science/Physiological Optics from UC Berkley in 1983. He then embarked on a career at Indiana University as a vision science professor and researcher. Since becoming a Research Fellow at CooperVision in 2019, Dr. Bradley and the Research and Development myopia team have gained global recognition for their groundbreaking research on optical interventions aimed at understanding the myopia epidemic. Through his research and publications, particularly in relation to MiSight 1 day contact lenses, he has helped advance the field of myopia control and management.
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Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD, FAAO: Dr. Zadnik received three degrees from the University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry: Bachelor of Science (1980); Doctor of Optometry (1982); and PhD in Physiological Optics (1992). As a PhD student, in close collaboration with optometry and graduate school classmate, Dr. Mutti, and PhD advisor, Tony Adams, she launched the NEI-funded Orinda Longitudinal Study of Myopia (OLSM). She transferred the OLSM grant to Ohio State as the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error (CLEERE) Study. The studies identified risk factors for myopia and the pattern of normal eye growth in school-aged children from 1989–2014. The studies identified the protective effect of time spent outdoors on reducing the onset of juvenile-onset myopia. She has published 177 peer-reviewed papers to date.
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Donald Mutti, OD, PhD, FAAO, FARVO: After graduating from the UC Berkeley School of Optometry in 1982, Dr. Mutti worked in the contact lens industry at CooperVision Ophthalmic Products for the next six years as a research optometrist. In addition to his work with Dr. Zadnik on the OLSM and CLEERE studies, Dr. Mutti also teamed up with UCB optometry alumnus and Gold Retinoscope winner Jeff Walline, OD, PhD, and University of Houston colleague David Berntsen, OD, PhD, to complete the NEI-funded Bifocal Lenses in Nearsighted Kids (BLINK) Study randomized clinical trial of myopia control.
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Christine F. Wildsoet, OD, PhD, FAAO, FARVO: Dr. Wildsoet graduated in 1975 from the Queensland Institute of Technology, now Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. As she went on to complete her PhD, her research focused on myopia, making use of the chick as an animal model to study early eye growth regulation, emmetropization, and myopia development. In 2000, she moved to UC Berkeley where she has continued her myopia research, which now encompasses two animal models for myopia (chicks and guinea pigs), which are used to study underlying molecular mechanisms and explore potential therapies (optical, pharmaceutical, stem cell, and tissue engineering), for preventing myopia, slowing its progression, and rehabilitating the scleras of highly myopic eyes. |
For detailed profiles and notable accomplishments of all 2023 inductees, visit Berkeley’s Optometry Hall of Fame website here.
