Optometry & Visual Performance 117 Volume 14 | Issue 2 | June 2026 G!) as my supervisor was a privilege; I learned a tremendous amount from him about infant care. I am honored to say that he quickly became a close friend and mentor. During the year, I also had the opportunity to learn from a number of other notable optometrists in the areas of pediatrics and vision therapy, including. Harold Solan, Dr. Israel Greenwald, Dr. Ira Krumholtz, Dr. Sid Groffman, Dr. Neera Kapoor, Dr. Ida Chung, and Dr. Marilyn Vricella. All of these (and many more) showed me the wide variety of philosophies and treatment protocols available to us in pediatric care. Fitz (he goes by no other name) also inspired in me a love of teaching that provided me with a completely new direction for my future, and I’m so grateful! What was your path to becoming an educator? See above What led you to come back to SCO as an educator? Throughout my years at SUNY (I stayed on faculty there for a total of ten years to the day from the start of my residency) I always imagined one day being able to have a lifestyle more similar to what I had grown up with: a house outside the city and (finally!) a dog! I loved the people I worked with at SUNY, and I enjoyed life in NYC, but living in the Big Apple carries a level of background energy that can get to be a bit much as one gets older! I had stayed in touch with several friends back at SCO, and when one mentioned at an alumni event that they were looking for peds people— and my husband and I realized that the timing was right—we were off to Tennessee. When did you join OEPF and why? I joined OEPF in 2018 when I became a Director/ Trustee for the organization. I had been introduced to the behavioral philosophy when I returned to SCO, and I quickly fell in love with the holistic nature of the diagnostic and treatment ideas contained in it. To have an opportunity to serve the organization as a Board member seemed like something that I might do at some point, but the need arose to fill a position, and I was thrilled to accept! What are your responsibilities are Board Chairperson? As Board Chair for OEPF, my responsibilities largely involve working closely with our President What is your educational background? UNC Chapel Hill, BS Biol, 1996 SCO, OD, 2001 SUNY, Pediatric Optometry Residency, 2001 What was your motivation to become an optometrist? Lifelong interest & glasses as a young kid Tell us about your optometry school experience and how it shaped your desire to do a residency. Prior to optometry school, I enjoyed several opportunities to work with children, including working as an Assistant Leader for a local Girl Scout troop and teaching young children at church. I became interested in pediatric care during my 3rd year of optometry school, when we began seeing older kids come through our primary care clinics. I had enjoyed participating in school vision screenings during our 2nd year as well, and early clinical experience solidified that interest. Tell us about the residency program. I spent a fantastic year in pediatric optometry at the State University of New York College of Optometry. Working with Dr. David FitzGerald (always a capital Editorial • An Interview with OEPF Board Chair, Dr. Pamela Schnell
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