NSUCO - The Visionary Fall 2017

COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY • 27 Stuart I. Kaplan, O.D. (’01), who was selected as NSUCO’s Distinguished Alumni Award winner, practices optometry at Tyson Eye at the Cape Coral Eye Center in Fort Myers, Florida. He serves as director of the center’s dry eye treatment program and is involved in multiple clinical trials relating to glaucoma manage- ment, intraocular lenses, and dry eye therapy. Kaplan, who earned his Bachelor of Science in Vision Science, serves as the governor-appointed chair of the Florida Board of Optometry and is the immediate past president of the Southwest Florida Optometric Association. He is active in professional, veterans, and youth athletics groups. Kaplan, who is a Gulf War veteran, served four years in the U.S. Army and an additional four years in the Florida Army National Guard. He is the finance officer and past commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 9-1 in Fort Myers Beach. “After receiving my degree from NSU, I developed a peer relationship with professors and the administration by being involved in local and society memberships, legislation, and lectur- ing, which have helped me realize the importance of advocating for the profession of optometry,” he said. c Distinguished Alumni Award Winner April Jasper, O.D., FAAO, who graduated from NSUCO in 1995 with highest honors, complet- ed a residency program in Boston, Massachu- setts, during which she received specialized training in primary care, contact lenses, and ocular disease. During her residency, Jasper was an adjunct professor at New England College of Optometry, where she taught primary care and ocular disease to optometry students and ophthalmology residents. Jasper is in private practice in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, president of the Florida Optometric Association, coeditor of Women in Optometry magazine, and a contributor to several other publications. She also serves on several advisory boards, including Eyefinity, Marco, Shire, and Vision Source. A 2015–2016 Benedict Professor in practice manage- ment at Houston College of Optometry, Jasper has completed more than 180 speaking events around the United States and has more than 20 years of leadership experience. Her unfaltering basis for life is the belief that we are all leaders and have been given the responsi- bility to utilize our talents fully for the benefit of others, thereby living the most fulfilling life possible. A current passion project is the development of a com- pany called Distinctive Strategies and Leadership that will help others develop strategies, remove obstacles, and implement processes that allow them to create businesses of distinction. c Alumni Spotlight Stuart I. Kaplan (left) with George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., NSU president and chief executive officer