NSUCO - The Visionary Fall 2010

Eva Duchnowski, O.D. Dr. Duchnowski earned her undergraduate degree in 2004 from Fordham University and her Doctor of Optometry degree from NSU’s College of Optometry in 2008. Fol- lowing graduation, she completed a one- year residency at NSUCO in primary care with emphasis on cornea and contact lens, earning the Resident of the Year award. Upon completing her residency, Dr. Duch- nowski joined the NSU faculty full-time in August 2009 as an instructor. Dr. Duchnowski currently serves as a clin- ical preceptor in third- and fourth-year NSU clinics and as an equipment liaison for all the students. Her professional interests lie in ocular disease and specialty contact lens fits. She is actively involved in writing papers, has authored posters for the American Academy of Optometry, Ameri- can Optometric Association, and SECO In- ternational. Dr. Duchnowski has been a lecturer for the 2008 AAO Resident’s Day and various continuing education events and is a member of the American Opto- metric Association, the Florida Optomet- ric Association, and the American Academy of Optometry. She is currently working towards her AAO Fellowship. Melissa A. Misko, O.D. Dr. Misko graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 2004 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. She received her Doctor of Optometry degree from the Illi- nois College of Optometry in 2008 fol- lowed by a one-year residency in primary care/ocular disease at the Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute. In 2009, Dr. Misko joined the NSUCO faculty with the rank of instructor. Her teaching responsibilities include serv- ing as an attending optometric physician in the primary care clinics at Davie, North Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. Dr. Misko’s academic interests include primary care, ocular disease, and geometric and vi- sual optics. She has authored and pre- sented posters on various topics at the American Optometric Association and SECO meetings. Dr. Misko, who is currently working towards her AAO Fellowship, is a member of the Florida Optometric Associ- ation, the AmericanOptometric Association, and the American Academy of Optometry. Bin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Zhang earned his M.D. degree from the School of Medicine at Nanjing University in 1995. He then practiced as an ophthal- mologist, specializing in cataract surgery at Jinling General Hospital in China. In 2003, he received his Ph.D. degree in Phys- iological Optics and Vision Science from the University of Houston College of Op- tometry and dedicated the following six years to various scientific research proj- ects funded by the National Eye Institute. Dr. Zhang is currently a full-time faculty member at NSUCO and holds the rank of associate professor. In this role, Dr. Zhang teaches ocular anatomy to the profes- sional students and experiment design and methods to the graduate students. Dr. Zhang’s research interest is centered on the normal and abnormal development of the visual system. For example, he stud- ies how the response properties of neu- rons in the visual cortex develop under the guidance of normal visual experience in early life. On the other hand, he investi- gates how abnormal visual experience, such as short sight (myopia), unequal re- fractive errors of the two eyes (ani- sometropia), and misalignment of the two eyes (strabismus) disrupts the smooth de- veloping process of these properties and finally leads to lazy eye (amblyopia). The techniques applied in his research mainly include psychophysical testing, extracel- luar single unit recording, local field po- tential recording, and multifocal visual evoked potentials. His research has been published in numerous high-impact jour- nals such as Nature Neuroscience , Cell , Proceedings of National Academy of Sci- ence USA , Investigative Ophthalmology , and Vision Science . NEWS Faculty the VISIONARY • Summer/Fall 2010 6 EVA DUCHNOWSKI, O.D. MELISSA A. MISKO, O.D. BIN ZHANG, M.D., PH.D. NSU Welcomes Trio of New Faculty Members