Scholarship Winner Aims to Improve Patient Experience

Those who know optometry student Karen Lee probably aren’t surprised to learn she’s one of twenty winners of a $2,000 scholarship through the OneSight Research Foundation. The scholarships are awarded annually to graduate optometry students who show excellence in scholastic performance and evidence of a commitment to a career in the optometric profession and to community service.

This Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) student is not only committed, but aims to improve the profession. She strives for better communication with patients, diversity awareness and collaboration.

Karen’s passion has led to leadership roles in several organizations, where she explores new opportunities and takes on challenges. For example, she is part of the Cultural Diversity Task Force at the American Schools and Colleges of Optometry, which is developing a strategic plan to integrate cultural competence into the academic curriculum. “This will give students the skills to communicate better with patients, families and other publics of different backgrounds and ethnicities," Karen said.

Other organizations Karen works with include the Canadian Association of Optometrists, where she proposed the expansion of their student group to the US, the Multicultural Association at ICO and the National Health Science Students Association.

Karen has also been a OneSight life changer, volunteering on the 2009 Global Clinic in Ecuador, and she helped organize the Clinic in China earlier this year. “To know I can provide recipients with the gift of sight and allow them to experience the world in a different way is a great feeling," she said of her Clinic work. “The experiences have been very humbling and opened my eyes to the charitable side of the optometric profession."

She is continuing to use her skills to help people around the world. In China, she worked to establish a new externship site for ICO, where she currently works. Her rotation at the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College allows her to provide general eye exams as well as treat retinal diseases and severe eye injury cases. Karen believes collaboration results in the best patient care. “Working as one team, the ultimate goal is to deliver efficient, effective patient care to enhance their experience," she said.

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