OPT Visionary - Fall 2016

COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY • 25 The attendees appreciated my training videos, which were provided courtesy of Gregory Fecho, O.D., assistant professor. The students were extremely attentive, asked insightful questions, and seemed eager to learn. After I completed my presentations, we toured additional areas of the university and witnessed how diverse the faculty truly is. Some serve as clinicians, while others do pharmaceutical, eye mask, and filter research. When people hear that I went to China to lecture, the first question they ask is, “How was the food?” Most people know that the standard Chinese food they order as takeout in the United States is not true Chinese food. My husband and I found that out firsthand. The Chinese like to eat family style, and it was novel, yet intuitive, how the tables are set up. They are round with a large turntable in the middle so people do not have to pass the food around. You just turn the table and choose what you would like from each plate. The turntables always featured rice, vegetables, fruit, multiple fish dishes, and some other meat dish. Everything was fresh and contained few preservatives. Even though it was very cold when we were there, we did have some time to do walking tours in Shenyang and visit one of only two existing royal palaces in China—Gugong Palace. The most well-known palace is the Forbidden City in Beijing, where emperors lived, worked, and housed their families from 1420 until 1912. Gugong Palace served the same purpose for a shorter time period, from 1625 through 1644 and then off and on until 1917. Shenyang was and still is an important part of Chinese culture. I am fortunate to have had the chance to lecture there, learn from my Chinese colleagues, and explore their facilities and city. I hope to have the opportunity to go there again so we can exchange ideas, teach one another, and continue the fruitful partnership between He University and NSU’s College of Optometry. u Photos clockwise from top on opposite page: Ling, dean of He University College of Optometry, third from left, along with some faculty members, welcomes Nadine Girgis Hanna. The city offers so many wonders to explore. Girgis Hanna demonstrates specialty binocular vision testing. Girgis Hanna lectures to 60 Chinese optometrists and optometry students. The He Eye Hospital was one of the stops on the trip. A farewell dinner was set up at the President’s Faculty Club at He University. Photos courtesy of Michael Hanna