3 Ghanaian optometrists receive highest-ranked awards in the United States

  • Three doctors from Ghana have won highly-prestigious awards in the United States

  • Two of the three have become the first people from Ghana to win the coveted awards

  • The research works that earned them the prestige would solve eye problems for millions of people worldwide.

Three optometrists from Ghana, Dr. Eugene Appenteng Osae, Dr. Afua Oteng Asare and Dr. Heinz Otchere, have won big at the Third World Congress of Optometry (WCO) in Florida, USA.

The awards the three Ghanaian doctors received were part of the William C. Ezell Fellowships, and is one of the highest-ranked awards of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). It is reported that the Ezell Fellowship was named after the person who founded the American Academy of Optometry Foundation, Dr William C. Ezell. The awards scheme was instituted to recognize and honour individuals who were talented in optometry and engaged in outstanding measures of research work and pursuing careers in education.

As history would have it, Dr Osae and Dr Otchere became the very first Ghanaians to receive their noble, prestigious and highly coveted awards. Dr Heinz Otchere was recognized as an American Academy of Optometry Foundation Robert Mandell Ezell Club Fellow, 2019. On the other hand, Dr Afua Oteng Asare was honoured as the Vision Impact Institute Ezell Fellow for the year 2019. Last but not least, Dr Eugene Appenteng Osae also received the Danne Ventura – Essilor Ezell Fellow. Dr Heinz Otchere graduated from the University of Waterloo and University of Cape Coast whilst Dr Osae is product of KNUST and a former research fellow of the Ocular Surface Group at the University of Cologne, Germany.

The only lady among the two men also went to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi after which she went to Harvard University, Boston and the University of Waterloo, Canada.

The groundbreaking research works that the three brilliant doctors are engaged in are estimated to solve eye problems of millions of people when they become fully operational. Of great mention is Dr Otchere’s work which is focused on making special contact lenses for an eye condition called dry eyes, that affects about 20 million people around the world. Amazing feats have been attained by Africans.

Source:Legit

Email:elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com