Ghanaian-Trained Optometrists Make Ghana Proud

Three Optometrists, Dr. Emmanuel Alabi, Dr. Heinz Otchere and Dr. Afua Oteng-Amoako, specializing in various fields on eye health, have made Ghana proud by winning various awards at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

The awards were presented at the annual School of Optometry and Vision Science Awards ceremony on March 13th, 2013. Dr. Emmanuel Alabi won the prestigious University of Waterloo Senate Award for academic excellence as well as the University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship Award. Dr. Alabi is specializing in diseases of the anterior part of the eye and special imaging techniques.

Dr. Heinz Otchere won the acclaimed Desmond Fonn Contact Lens Research Award, one of the two first recipients of the award since its establishment, and the University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship Award.

His specialty area is in cornea (the transparent layer overlying the black part of the eye) and contact lenses with a subspecialty on keratoconus and complicated cases of the cornea. Harvard University graduate, Dr. Afua Oteng-Amoako, was the second time award winner of the University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship.

Her specialty area is in retinal blood flow and oxygen saturation with direct implications for the diagnosis of glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration affecting the eye. The three optometrists are currently conducting their research at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Heinz Otchere receiving the award from Prof. Emeritus Desmond Fonn.