OPT Visionary - Fall 2016

24 • NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Faculty Focus NSU’s College of Optometry has established an amazing educational partnership with He University in Shenyang, China. Each year, He University sends one or two optometrists to do vision research at NSUCO. Bin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., FAAO, an NSUCO professor, serves as their mentor while they work on research and attend classes taught by the college’s renowned faculty members. Last year, the visiting Chinese scholars—Ziming Liu, M.D., and Yuwen Wang, M.D.—attended my weekly Anomalies of Binocular Vision course and enjoyed gaining hands-on experience while learning about the binocular and accommodative system functions and dysfunctions. We kept in touch, and six months later, I found myself being invited to Shenyang, China, to lecture and hold workshops in my specialty area. My husband and I had visited China as tourists in 2011, spending time in Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai, but Shenyang was a much different city, because it is located in the northeast section of China, which is very close to Russia. Shenyang is well known throughout China for many things, two of which we were fortunate enough to experience—its famous dumpling house, named Lao Bian Dumpling, and He University. Privately owned and funded, He University was estab- lished by Wei He—a successful doctor and businessman who used his wealth to build the university. He Univer- sity is characterized as a dynamic institution at the forefront of ophthalmology and vision science education in China, although it is not just an eye university and also houses nursing, clinical medicine, and medical imaging programs. The main campus is 20 miles outside Shenyang; however, the university’s Eye Institute is in the heart of Shenyang. We were given a private tour of the Eye Institute, which featured a vast optical area with every type of eyeglass frame imaginable. The exam lanes were all auto- mated, and there was even a small vision therapy room with Brock strings, vectograms, and Hart charts. I was constantly surprised by the generosity of the students and faculty and staff members during my time at He University. We had dinner with the dean of the university’s optometry program, Ling Xu, and were always surrounded by their knowledgeable faculty members. We were so spoiled that one of our previous visiting scholars was with us all the time to drive us around, show us the city, and take us to the all-important dumpling house. Time Spent Lecturing in China Proves Enlightening Nadine Girgis Hanna, O.D., FAAO, assistant professor of optometry, reflects on her time spent lecturing at He University in Shenyang, China.