Elite School of Optometry
Yet another Doctoral researcher from Elite School of Optometry!
Congratulations to Dr. Ramya S
Dr. Ramya S, successfully defended her PhD Viva Voce on 12th September 2024 and became the 12th doctoral scholar from the renowned Elite School of Optometry (ESO). ESO in collaboration with the SASTRA Deemed University offers undergraduate, postgraduate and Doctoral studies in various specialties of optometry. Dr. Ramya is currently working with ESO, run by Sankara Nethralaya as a Senior Optometrist and Associate Professor.
Her thesis titled “Role of customized visual and multifactorial interventions in preventing falls among individuals with visual impairment in South India” was completed under the guidance of Dr. Anuradha N, Principal, Elite School of Optometry. The project was funded by Judge Shri. P V Parameswara Iyer & Smt. Kamala Bai Endowment Award, Elite School of Optometry instituted by Dr. P. P. Santanam, the first Principal of Elite School of Optometry.
Her work was greatly appreciated by the external examiner Prof. B. R. Shamanna, Professor, School of Medical Sciences, University of Hyderabad for conceptualization, logical sequence and extensive background work in falls and visual impairment. He also applauded her for answering specific research questions by identifying adults with falls and visual impairment, proposing “SMART” intervention strategy using qualitative approach and testing the same for a subset of subjects in real life situations using experimental design. She was also congratulated by faculties, optometrists and students who attended the viva voce examination.
Dr Arun Kumar, Medical Science Liaison, AbbVie, USA was the second reviewer who appreciated the sincere efforts of Dr. Ramya in converting this much needed intervention into a reality and testing for effectiveness.. He believed that this work would add value to the patients with vision impairment to function better in their lives.
Sankara Nethralaya Launches Sankara Nethralaya Elite School of Optometry (SNESO) in Kolkata
The grand event took place at the Novotel Kolkata Hotel and Residencies on August 24, 2024. The Honorable Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Shri Biman Banerjee, inaugurated the college. The event was honored by the presence of Shri Dr. Partha Pratim Lahiri, Registrar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology; and Shri Basudeb Banerjee, Former Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal.
Almost 40 years ago, on September 17, 1985, the Elite School of Optometry (ESO) was established in Chennai as the first modern school of optometry in India to offer a four-year professional degree program. The vision of the great founder of Sankara Nethralaya, Padma Bhushan Late Dr. S. S. Badrinath, has made the Elite School of Optometry a testament to excellence in optometric education, research, clinical practice, and community outreach. Building on this strong foundation, ESO has now opened its first branch in Kolkata.”
The SNESO is set to provide cutting-edge facilities and a comprehensive curriculum designed to prepare students for the evolving demands of the optometry field. SNESO will offer 30 seats for the Bachelor of Optometry programme from the current academic year in its New Town, Kolkata campus. With admissions currently underway, classes are scheduled to commence in September 2024.
Sankara Nethralaya [Elite School of Optometry and Vidyasagar Institute of Biomedical Technology and Sciences] holds 33rd Institutional Award Ceremony
The 33rd Institutional award ceremony of the Elite School of Optometry(ESO) and Vidyasagar Institute of Biomedical Technology and Sciences(VIBS), Medical and Vision Research foundation was held on 26 November 2022 at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai. The annual event was well- attended by proud parents and students of Sankara Nethralaya’s academic wing.
Ms. Janani and Ms. Swetha, Faculty of Elite School of Optometry compered the event gracefully. The event was auspiciously begun with an invocation song by the students of ESO – Ms. Jayanthi, and Ms. Soundarya.
Dr. Angayarkanni N., Chief Scientist / Professor, Vision Research Foundation, welcomed the gathering, the graduating students, Dr Girish Rao, President – Medical Research Foundation, Dr T. S. Surendran, Director – Department of Pediatric Opthalmology, and Professor Padmaja Sankaridurg, Head, Myopia Program and Head, Intellectual Property Manager at the Brien Holden Vision Institute and Conjoint Professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, Sydney, Australia – a “warrior against myopia”. She also welcomed Dr Smita Praveen, Director- Academics, Dr Anuradha Narayanan, Principal – Elite School of Optometry, and Dr Rashima Asokan, Head of Dept of Occupational Optometry Services, Professor – Elite School of Optometry.
Dr. Smita Praveen, Director – Academics, gave the Academic Report of Vidyasagar Institute of Biomedical Technology and Sciences for 2022- 2023 and added that VIBS is highly sought after for its various programmes as evidenced by its alumni. Dr Anuradha Narayanan, Principal, Elite School of Optometry (ESO), presented the academic report for the year 2022- 2023. She went on to report on the academic achievements of the ESO alumni and the accolades they brought to their alma mater. The students also benefitted from the ESO- VISTA, a scientific session initiated by endowments from Dr P P Santanam and his family. Two other endowments instituted by his family provided a research grant to SN’s Dept. of Occupational Optometry Services to understand the occupational visual needs of farmers and support for PhD scholars. The vigorous community activities conducted by ESO included over 88 eye screening camps for over 20,000 children and approximately 3,800 adults, along with screenings for senior citizens in old age homes. The educational institution also screened over 10,000 indivudals for World Sight Day and received an award for Outstanding Achievements from the Optometry Council of India and Essilor.
Dr. Rashima A., Professor, ESO & TSNA, Head – Occupational Optometry Services and Vision Enhancement Clinic introduced Dr. Padmaja Sankaridurg, Conjoint Professor of Optometry, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW| Consultant – and an alumna of Batch BO1, graduating from ESO in 1989. She participated as an expert at the WHO-BHVI global meeting of myopia, 2015 and is an advisory board member, and a member of the Interventions and Harmonisation Committee, International Myopia Institute. Vision Monday named her as one of the “Women of Influence in Optical Industry Innovator section” for 2018.
On her address to the graduates, Dr Sankaridurg emphasised on the importance of optometrists and their roles across the world. She motivated the optimistic youngsters telling that people will visit them at once in their lives and said that their experiences would be different from hers. She closed her speech by wishing the graduates all the best for their future careers and thanked the institution for the honour of making her a part of the ceremony.
One PhD scholar, nine post graduates and twenty seven undergraduates of Optometry received their honors apart from the best students of the first, second and third year of optometry. Besides, the awards for Best Optometrist, Best Research Publication and Best Research in Optometry instituted by ESO, Best Junior & Senior faculty were also conferred to the recipients. In addition, the institutional awards for various ophthalmology specialties and research were also awarded.
Elite School of Optometry 35 years of excellence
Elite School of Optometry fondly called as ESO, is India’s first college offering a four year professional degree in optometry. This institution has been run by Sankara Nethralaya, a tertiary eye care center in collaboration with SASTRA deemed university since 2017. The college is best known for its intense clinical training to the students along with a superior foundation in optometry education and research. Students of ESO are also educated on social accountability and responsibility. Adding a gem to its crown, the institution holds records in serving the community through various community activities.
ESO was established on the 18th of September 1985 by Dr. S S Badrinath, Prof. S R Govindarajan and Prof. Jay M Enoch and completes its 35 years of excellence in 2020.
To celebrate this landmark event, the graduate optometry students and team of ESO planned a virtual event with the objective of bringing all alumni to reminisce their days at ESO and also keep the current students updated about the legend of ESO. The celebration was held on 30th of September and 1st of October 2020 between 10.00 and 17.00 IST.
Dr N Anuradha, the Principal of ESO welcomed the august audience. Dr. Girish Shiv Rao, President- Medical Research Foundation and Dr. T S Surendran, Vice- Chairman- Medical Research Foundation addressed the students and alumni. Drs P P Santanam, R Krishna Kumar, Sumathi Narayanan, S Meenakshi, Prof. Seshasayee, Prof. Pichaimuthu and other faculty of ESO shared their fond memories with ESO. As the alumni are from different time zones from across the world different times were allotted on two days and every alumni were excited to be a part of the grand event. They shared their current position, their journey in the field over the years and fun moments from their college days.
There were 365 alumni and students who participated in the virtual celebration via Google Meet. There were representatives of alumni from the first till the last batch. The present students were thoroughly motivated from hearing the success stories of their seniors. The event was highly appreciated by all and recommended to have such an event yearly as ‘ESO day’.
SN’s champions in the ‘Science and art of Light and Vision’ make a major impact at its most prestigious global meet
The 3rd World Congress of Optometry and 98th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Optometry (AAO) held during end October 2019 at sunny Orlando, the home of world famous ‘Tupperware’ range of serving and storage products, was a win, win situation for the Elite School of Optometry and Sankara Nethralaya, with its veteran Optometrists Dr Rizwana and Dr Anuradha making the best use of their presence at Optometry’s most prestigious global event. It was a proud moment for the institutions she represented when Dr Rizwana was called upon to make a grand round presentation on ‘Convergence and Divergence Insufficiency’- The Complex Couple’ a challenging syndrome for optometrists. Her well researched papers on the management of ‘Hemianopia’ and ‘Accommodative Spasm’ both critical challenges for practitioners of optometry were also very well received. The expertise and experience of the first Indian Optometrist to be awarded a ‘Diplomate’ by the AAO were sought by the ‘New Grad Optometry Community’ at the global meet, under the prestigious forum ‘Experience sharing by thought leaders in optometry’ and her in-depth response by way of sharing her experience as an optometrist at a tertiary eye care institution in India reiterated her subject matter expertise and ability to effectively communicate complex theorems and algorithms to freshers.
The event witnessed the conferring of AAO’s Fellowship, considered the highest recognition in Optometry on Dr. Anuradha, Head of Sankara Nethralaya’s School Screening Projects. The fact that her Fellowship was awarded on the basis of her extensive publications on the critical field of children’s eye health and the title of her paper ‘Role of eye screening in promoting gender equality’ came as a testimony to the passion, dedication and commitment of the Assistant Professor at ESO and champion of children’s eye care and her institution’s enduring values and philosophy.
The two young representatives succeeded in doing some valuable spade work for the inception of an exclusive India chapter at the AAO, the fact that the idea was very well received by the decision makers makes it a distinct possibility in the near future, a key development which would open the gates of the August body to budding optometry professionals, help in enhancing their knowledge, exposure and pursue their Fellowship at the most preferred destination for optometrists the world over.
The vibrant team held critical discussions with Dr Michael Twa, Dean, University of Houston and successfully drafted the next steps towards formalizing an academic alliance that would facilitate exchange of knowledge and collaborative research between scientists, researchers from Sankara Nethralaya’s educational institutions and the University of Houston. The team made the best use of the presence of a large number of Alumni of the ESO at the meet by extending their personal invite, discussing the grand event and finalizing speakers for the forthcoming ‘EIVOC’ the equivalent of the AAO, this side of the Atlantic. The visit combining such varied accomplishments by the team of Dr Rizwana and Dr Anuradha made it a truly rewarding and memorable trip.
A white paper detailing the creation of a critical vision evaluation utility developed by the institution and its accuracy win the highest recognition for SN team from a most prestigious body
Development of the LogMAR visual acuity charts in various Indian languages and installation of the same in public places to enable the general public do a self check of their visual acuity, a first of its kind initiative by the Elite School of Optometry made headlines when it was implemented a couple of years ago. A white paper detailing the creation and accuracy of this critical vision evaluation utility, authored jointly by the SN team of Dr Kalpa Negiloni, Deepmala Majumdar, Dr Krishna Kumar, Dr Ronnie George and Biman Sen with assistance from Dr Aditya Neog, Dr Medhi J and Choudhary Mitalee which was published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, was awarded the AIOS-IJO Platinum Award for the ‘Best Scientific Paper’ for year 2018 at the 77th Annual conference of the All India Ophthalmic Society (AIOS) held at Indore.
The SN family congratulates the authors for their intensive work being acknowledged with the highest award by a most prestigious body
Jubilation and Joy mark the ‘D’ Day at an institution committed passionately to knowledge dissemination and character building
The 30th Graduation Day of the Elite School of Optometry was celebrated with pomp and pageantry at the VD Swami auditorium to a packed hall of employees and proud parents. The presence of former Chairman of the Medical Research Foundation Shri V.Vaidyanathan, Dr TS Surendran, Vice-Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya, Dr PP Santanam, First Principal of the ESO and one of its greatest well wishers and generous benefactors, Dr Girish Rao and Dr Pramod Bhende, Medical Directors, MRF, Dr Krishna Kumar, Principal ESO, Dr Viswanathan, DGM Optical Services, Dr Anuradha and Dr Rajeswari Mahadevan, faculty members at the ESO, all of them in their ceremonial gown added color to the event, receiving their certificates from the senior members and their role models and listening to their spirited talk made it a memorable graduation ceremony to the students. Speaking on the ocassion Dr Anuradha, Assistant Professor, ESO gave a lively account of her doctoral thesis submission, highlighting the pitfalls and challenges in lighter vein, she utilized the opportunity to give a highly impressive note on the great work being carried out by the ESO in terms of school children screening in terms of both volumes and quality of screening. The day witnessed the awarding of Fellowships, Institutional Awards, Research Awards, Best Optometrist Award, Contribution to Indian Optometry, Best Project award and Communication and Public Relation Award, to the thunderous applause of the large gathering.
Thoughtful contributions from old friends add great value to Sankara Nethralaya’s teaching and training initiatives.
The most noble part of charity it is said is giving the right thing to the right person at the right time, Sankara Nethralaya’s friends and well wishers have a glorious tradition of adhering to this dictum, they have an uncanny knack of knowing the needs of the institution they cherish and hold in high regard and make generous contributions to fulfill its needs with great humility and grace. It was a memorable day for the Elite School of Optometry, the academic arm of Sankara Nethralaya when its old friends and well wishers Lion Raghavan, Shrimathi Revathi, Shrimathi Bhavini and Shri Rajan Gopalan rose gloriously to the occasion to meet its critical teaching,training and diagnostic needs by presenting ‘Slit Lamps’ an indispensable device in eye examinations as aids towards the same.
The simple function at the Elite School of Optometry campus on the 15th of April 2015, began with a melodious invocation by the students of the ESO, this was followed by a warm welcome to the esteemed donors and the entire gathering by Dr. R.Krishna Kumar, Principal, Elite School of Optometry after which a poignant note on the genesis of the generous gesture of the day and the graceful people behind it was made by Shrimathi Anuradha Narayanan, Lecturer and Vision Screening Coordinator Elite School of Optometry. The new implements were inaugurated by Dr. Pramod Bhende, Director, Medical Affairs, Sankara Nethralaya in the August presence of Lion Captain Venkat Rajaram, President Lions Club of Central Madras, Lion G.V.Raman , Lion Raghavan, Lion Lady Revathi Raghavan, Lion S.N.Harinarayanan and Lion Andal Rajaram, to the thunderous applause of the gathering.
The Elite School of Optometry expressed its profound gratitude by honouring the donors Lion Raghavan and Shrimathi Revathi, donors Mrs. Bhavini and Mr. Rajan Gopalan of Atlanta, USA, long time friends of Sankara Nethralaya and Lion S.N.Harinarayanan, were remembered on the occasion by Sankara Nethralaya in general and the Elite School of Optometry in particular and the institutions expressed their gratitude to this ever generous couple for their donation.
Senior faculty member of ESO, Professor Vijayaraghavan blessed the students of the ESO gathered on the occasion. The momentous function came to an end with a profuse expression of thanks to the esteemed donors and the Lions Club of Central Madras for their thoughtful and generous gesture towards complementing the teaching, training and diagnostic initiatives of the ESO, by Ms. A.Vijayalakshmi, Manager-Optometry, Sankara Nethralaya.
The 13th Dr E.Vaithilingam Memorial Scientific session
The Dr E.Vaithilingam Memorial Scientific Session the annual session on vision science and optometry conducted by the Elite School of Optometry entered its 13th session in March 2014. This year the session had two days of events with the Contact lens pre-conference symposium on the 15th March and the 13th Dr. E. V. Memorial Scientific […]
The Medical and Vision Research Foundations celebrate 25 glorious years of knowledge sharing
It was a day of great fulfillment, a day to look back with pride and a sense of achievement for an institution with a deep faith and commitment in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, an institution with the firm belief that knowledge empowers and knowledge shall only be used for the common good. The […]