Board of Directors

Joseph P. Shovlin, OD, FAAO

President

Joseph Shovlin is a senior optometrist at Northeastern Eye Institute in Scranton, PA. He is an alumnus (1980) of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry where he serves as adjunct faculty. He is a distinguished practitioner of the National Academy of Practice, diplomate and past chair of the Section On Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies of the American Academy of Optometry and past chair of the Contact Lens and Cornea Section of the American Optometric Association. A few of his consulting arrangements include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Workgroup on Contact Lenses and the scientific advisory committee of the Pennsylvania Lion’s Eye Research Foundation. He has served on the Ophthalmic Devices’ Advisory Panel of FDA (voting member and consultant) and the National Advisory Eye Council of NIH. He is associate clinical editor of Review of Optometry and clinical editor of Review of Cornea & Contact Lenses, section editor of Optometric Physician On-Line, journal board member of Optometry Times, Primary Care Optometry News and has served as a contributing editor for Optometry, International Contact Lens Clinic, Contemporary Optometry, Optometric Management and consulting editor of Contact Lens Spectrum. Within the Academy, he is a member of the Finance Committee and is the Annual Meeting chair and has served on the board of directors of the American Optometric Foundation. He has received several honors and awards including the American Optometric Association’s CLCS Achievement Award (2008), the Albert Fitch Memorial Alumnus of the Year recipient for PCO at Salus University (2011) and the Legend Award of the Contact Lens and Cornea Section of the AOA (2012).

Brett G. Bence, OD, FAAO

Immediate Past President

Brett Bence is Director of Optometry, partner, and serves on the Board of Directors at Northwest Eye Surgeons (NWES). NWES consists of 6 medical and surgical co-management centers around the Puget Sound area of western Washington State. He practices full time in patient care, providing medical and surgical ocular consultations on referral and surgical pre and post-operative care. Academically, he helps coordinate post-graduate continuing education programing at NWES and has presented over 130 lectures, papers, and research posters. He is an adjunct Assistant Professor of Pacific University College of Optometry.Dr. Bence graduated from the University of Houston College of Optometry Magna cum Laude. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Optometry since 2005. He is a past Chair of the Lectures and Workshops continuing education committee and of the (former) Disease Section. He served as President of the Optometric Physicians of Washington, the state optometry association in Washington State. Originally from Nebraska, he enthusiastically enjoys living in the Pacific Northwest with his family.

Barbara Caffery, OD, PhD, FAAO

President-Elect

Barbara Caffery is a Toronto optometrist who has worked in a group practice since her 1977 graduation from the New England College of Optometry. She is also a member of the University Health Network Multidisciplinary Sjogren’s Syndrome Clinic. She spends her days doing comprehensive eye care. Her areas of expertise are dry eye disease and contact lenses. She completed her Masters of Science degree in Nutrition in 1987. She completed her PhD programme in Vision Science at the University of Waterloo in 2009 upon defending her thesis entitled Sjogren’s Syndrome: A Clinical and Biochemical Analysis. She has done several clinical trials in dry eye disease and has published widely in the areas of contact lenses, dry eye and Sjogren’s Syndrome. Dr. Caffery teaches part time at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry. She now serves as a member of the Board of the American Academy of Optometry. Her present initiative within the Academy is the formation of a special interest group of Fellow practitioners who will perform clinical research within their practices.

Tim McMahon, OD, FAAO

Secretary-Treasurer

Timothy T. McMahon, OD, FAAO graduated from Illinois College of Optometry in 1980, and completed a residency at the Kansas City Veterans Administration Medical Center in 1981. For the past 30 years Dr. McMahon has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and currently holds the rank of Professor of Ophthalmology. From 2010 to 2011 he held the position of Associate Director for Clinical Affairs and Optometrist-in-Chief at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science. In late 2011 he returned to the University of Illinois Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Science. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and is a Diplomate in the Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies. He previously served as Chair of the Academy’s Research Committee and Vice Chair of the Academy’s Scientific Program Committee and is a member of the AOA’s Council on Research. Dr. McMahon was appointed to the American Optometric Foundation Board in 2002 and served as its treasurer until 2008 when he was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Optometry. He continues to serve on the editorial board for the journals Cornea and Eye and Contact Lens. Recently the National Academies of Practice named him a Distinguished Clinical Fellow. Dr. McMahon has been an investigator or principal investigator for several NIH and VA funded research projects, including the CLEK Study, where he served on the Executive Committee. From 2001 to 2005 he served on the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel. He has published widely and has lectured nationally and internationally. His interests include contact lenses, corneal topography and anterior segment diseases.

Susan A. Cotter, OD, MS, FAAO

Board Member

Sue is a Professor at SCCO/MBKU where she teaches in the classroom, clinic, and residency program. An active clinician scientist, Sue’s primary research interests are management strategies for strabismus, amblyopia, convergence insufficiency, and childhood refractive error. Sue is on the Executive Committee of the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group, a NEI-funded research network of pediatric ODs and ophthalmologists who perform clinical investigations related to pediatric eye disease. She has also served in leadership positions for other past (MEPEDS, CLEERE, CITT) and current (CITT-ART) NEI-funded studies. Sue is a Diplomate and past BVPPO Section Chair, a former AOF Ezell Fellow, and recipient of the 2016 Glenn Fry Medal from the OSU College of Optometry. Sue is editor the textbook Clinical Applications of Prisms and lectures internationally in the areas of pediatric eye care and binocular vision.

Pete Kollbaum, OD, PhD, FAAO

Board Member

Pete Kollbaum, OD, PhD, FAAO, is an associate professor, Associate Dean for Research, and Director of the Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research at the Indiana University (IU) School of Optometry. After receiving his OD degree, Dr. Kollbaum worked in private multidisplinary practice in Iowa prior to returning to IU where he received a Masters degree in Clinical Research and a PhD in Vision Science. Following receiving his research training he accepted a faculty position at IU, where he teaches didactically and clinically in the areas of contact lenses and optics. Dr. Kollbaum holds membership in several optometric organizations including the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), ARVO, AOCLE, IACLE, ISCLR, and BCLA. Within the AAO, in additon to being on the Board of Directors of the AOF, he is also on the AAO Board of Dreictors. He has previously served as AOF Secretary-Treasurer. He has also served the AAO as a moderator, recruitment volunteer, and reviewer and associate topical editor for OVS. His areas of research interest encompass contact lens optics, contact lens fitting and design; presbyopia, keratoconus, surgical optics, corneal topography, and predictive modeling. He has been fortunate to receive funding through the NEI and industry partners to support his research initiatives. Dr. Kollbaum has received several awards including the Ircin M. Borish Outstanding Researcher Award from the AAO, and as a graduate student was a three-time recipient of a WIlliam C. Ezell Fellowship provided by the AAOF.

Jeffrey J. Walline, OD, PhD, FAAO

Board Member

Dr. Walline is an Associate Professor at the OSU College of Optometry, where he teaches pediatrics and specialty contact lenses to optometry students. Dr. Walline has been a Fellow for 14 years and a Research Diplomate in the Cornea, Contact Lens, and Refractive Technologies section for three years. Dr. Walline served on the Communications Committee, and he currently serves on the Faculty-Student Liaison and the Scientific Program Committees. While serving on the Communications Committee, Dr. Walline implemented a program that asked the Scientific Program Committee to recommend abstracts for the annual press conference, in order to streamline the review process and make the most appropriate selections. As Chair of the Faculty-Student Liaison Committee, he implemented the Student Fellowship program in order to immerse students in all aspects of the Academy. The first year of the program, over 200 students became Student Fellows. As Vice Chair of the Scientific Program Committee, Dr. Walline helped improve the ease by which doctors can obtain CE credits for scientific posters and presentations so practitioners can put cutting edge information to practice the first day they return to examining patients. Since serving as the National Liaison to the Academy for the American Optometric Student Association, Dr. Walline has passionately served the Academy because he understands the importance of educating optometrists through innovative science and cooperative fellowship.

Carl H. Spear, OD, MBA, FAAO

Board Member

Dr. Spear completed his undergraduate education at Western Kentucky University and is a 1991 graduate of the University Of Alabama School Of Optometry at Birmingham. Additionally, Dr. Spear completed a Residency in Primary Care Optometry/Ocular Disease at Northeastern State University College of Optometry, in Tahlequah Oklahoma and a Master’s in Business Administration at Auburn University. Dr. Spear has worked in a variety of clinical and industry settings including: Senior Director, Professional Relations, Vision Group Holdings; Consulting Director, Professional Development and Program Implementation at Alcon; Assistant Professor of Optometry at Northeastern State University College of Optometry where he taught courses in laser therapy, systemic medications, and advanced therapeutic and diagnostic clinical procedures; Southeast Region Director Growth and Development Vision Source; Director of Professional Relations for Novartis Ophthalmics; Director Education and Vendor Relations Consultant, Vision Source; Center Director, Omega Health Systems; and Military Practice at Fort Benning Georgia. Currently, Dr. Spear and his wife Dr. Katie Gilbert Spear practice in a multi-location private group optometry/ophthalmology practice in the Panhandle of Florida. In addition to lecturing, writing and consulting, Dr. Spear is also a member of the Florida Board of Optometry, Commander of the 919th Special Operations Medical Squadron at Duke Field, Florida, Chairman American Academy of Optometry Exhibits Committee and an active member of The American Optometric Association and the Florida Optometric Association.