Spring Convention Speakers

April 27-29, 2023 | Little Rock, Arkansas

General Information | OD Schedule | Para Schedule | Students | Exhibitors |Speakers | Registration | Lodging

Kelly Malloy, O.D.

Dr. Kelly Malloy holds the rank of Professor at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry of Salus University, where she specializes in neuro-ophthalmic disease. She is the Chief of the Neuro-Ophthalmic Disease Specialty Clinical Service at The Eye Institute, and has achieved Diplomate status in this specialty at the American Academy of Optometry. Besides her clinical patient care responsibilities, she also teaches the Head & Neck Anatomy, Neuro-Anatomy, and Neuro-Ophthalmic Disease courses at Salus.

Classes: Tuesday, April 25, 7-9pm (Virtual):  7pm-7:50pm Getting to the Heart of the Matter; 8pm-8:50pm Papilledema

 April Jasper, O.D., FAAO, FASOS, Dipl ABO, Dipl Ant Segment

Dr. April Jasper is owner of Advanced Eyecare Specialists, in West Palm Beach, Florida.   Dr. Jasper is currently Medical Monitor for Bausch Health’s CHAPERONE myopia study and served as Medical Monitor for Eyenovia’s VISION 1 and 2 Clinical studies and serves on several advisory boards in eye care. Currently Dr. Jasper is Chief Optometric Editor of Optometric Management magazine and lectures over 50 times a year on topics related to Eye care, customer service, personal growth and business.
She is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry as well as Chair of the Corporate relations committee for the American Academy of Optometry and serves as a director for the American Academy of Optometry Foundation and the Lighthouse Guild. She is Past-President of the Florida Optometric Association and Past Benedict Professor of Practice Management at Houston College of Optometry.

Classes: Friday, April 28: 8am-9:40am Best Practices in Ocular Emergencies; 10am-11:40am Glaucoma Patient Management for the Team; 1pm-2:40pm The Future of Optometry 

 Sophia Leung, O.D.

Dr. Sophia Leung is a residency-trained and fellowship-trained optometrist with a clinical emphasis in cornea, advanced glaucoma, and anterior segment disease.  She is currently practicing at a surgical referral center in Calgary, Alberta where she performs surgical triage, secondary and tertiary medical management, and surgical co-management alongside ophthalmologists of various subspecialties.

Classes: Saturday, April 29: 8am-8:50am Rapid Fire Cornea Survival Tips; 9am-9:50am Glaucoma: Beyond the Diagnosis; 10am-11:40am Practice Pearls to Advanced Procedures 

Aaron Bronner, O.D.

Aaron Bronner currently works at Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute, a multicenter surgical co-management practice, at their Boise, ID office.  He has written extensively and lectured across the nation on topics relating to Anterior segment pathology and surgical co-management.  He has served as editor or columnist for Primary Care Optometry News, Review of Optometry Review of Cornea and Contact Lens and was one the first class of two optometrists to achieve the status of Diplomate of the American Academy of Optometry in Anterior Segment Disease.   Aaron enjoys spending his free time with his wonderful wife Becky and their kids Zoe and Liam.   

Classes: Tuesday, May 2, 7-9pm (Virtual): 7pm-7:50pm New and Noteworthy Topics in Anterior Segment; 8pm-8:50pm The OD’s Guide To Corneal Transplants

Katie Brown, O.D.

Dr. Brown graduated from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN in 2012.  During her career she has enjoyed practicing in a variety of settings such as commercial, private practice, and academics.  Dr. Brown has found her home at UAMS Jones Eye Institute for the past 10 years where she enjoys teaching soft and medically necessary contact lens fittings, geometric, physical, clinical, and ophthalmic optics to technicians, ophthalmology residents, and medical students.  Due to the high volume of irregular cornea patients being referred from community doctors, cornea specialists, and retina specialists at Jones Eye Institute, Dr. Brown has had experience fitting thousands of patients with specialty lenses.  Since UAMS is a Level 1 Trauma Center, there is an especially high volume of aphakia patients with penetrating corneal injuries who are in need of specialty lens care once they are stabilized. This exposure provides a unique opportunity to experience difficult specialty lens fittings in an academic setting.  Dr. Brown’s passion is to educate students and other doctors in real-world scleral fittings to make this type of service more available for those in need.  Another passion of Dr. Brown’s is bridging the gap in communication between ophthalmology and optometry to provide better eye care for patients in Arkansas.   

Tom Kornhauser, M.D.

Tom Kornhauser, M.D. is an oculoplastics fellow and Instructor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the UAMS Jones Eye Institute. Dr. Kornhauser is a native of Israel. He completed medical school at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary in 2011. Dr. Kornhauser completed a successful internship at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center; followed by an ophthalmology residency at Sororka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, which led to a fellowship in Oculoplastics at Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem. A significant part of Dr. Kornhauser’s life is his volunteer work in his role as Clinical Director for Opening Eyes (Special Olympics Israel), inspired by his sister Lin, who has an intellectual disability.

A Paula Grigorian, M.D.,

A Paula Grigorian, M.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of ophthalmology. Dr. Grigorian is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and specializes in pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus.  She sees children at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and adult patients with strabismus at Jones Eye Institute.  An active researcher and educator, Dr. Grigorian has published in numerous ophthalmology journals and has presented at numerous international, national and regional meetings.  A native of Romania she received her medical degree at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila in Bucharest, Romania. She completed her ophthalmology residency at UAMS and a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas. Her clinical expertise includes adults and children with complex strabismus, children with cataracts, genetic eye conditions, retinopathy of prematurity, oculoplastic and neuro-ophthalmologic conditions.  

 Ahmed Sallam, M.D., Ph.D., FRCOphth

Ahmed Sallam, M.D., Ph.D., FRCOphth is a professor of ophthalmology at the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Dr. Sallam specializes in managing ocular inflammation (uveitis), emphasizing the use of the most advanced systemic and intraocular medications. He is also a retinal specialist with extensive expertise in both surgical and medical expertise. Prior to relocation to the US in 2015, Dr. Sallam was a specialist in England, UK for 6 years. He received advanced specialty training in managing uveitis and retinal disorders following 5 years of fellowship training. This included 2 uveitis and medical retina fellowships at the world-renowned Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and 2 further fellowships in vitreoretinal surgery. Dr. Sallam is the quality officer, clinical research director, and the residency program director at UAMS. Active in educational speaking and research, Dr. Sallam has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and book chapters and regularly presents at national and international meetings. His research interests include big data outcomes, science of service delivery and surgical benchmarking.

Carina Sanvicente, M.D.

Carina T. Sanvicente, M.D. is an assistant professor of Ophthalmology and the Director of Glaucoma Services for the Department of Ophthalmology at the Jones Eye Institute.  Dr. Sanvicente is a native of Porto Alegre, Brazil.  She completed medical school at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and ophthalmology residency at the Hospital Banco de Olhos in southern Brazil. She then underwent additional training and completed a glaucoma research fellowship in 2018 at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and a glaucoma clinical fellowship in 2020 at Emory University in Atlanta. During her glaucoma research fellowship, she was the inaugural recipient of the Ann and George Spaeth Scholar Award, and during her residency she served as chief resident. Her clinical interests include medical and surgical treatment of Glaucoma including minimally invasive glaucoma surgery, cataract surgery, and comprehensive Ophthalmology.

Sami Uwaydat, M.D.

Dr. Uwaydat is the Director of the Vitreoretinal Services and the Medical Director of the Jones Eye Institute.  Dr. Uwaydat is also a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology in the UAMS College of Medicine.  Dr. Uwaydat is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Raymond and Mary Morris Residency Research Award and the Martha Wood Bentley Chair in Ophthalmology.  He completed his residency in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Jones Eye Institute. He has also completed two retina fellowships in his extensive training.  Dr. Uwaydat’s clinical interests include repair of retinal detachments, surgical repair of traumatic eye injuries, treatment of age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, and diagnosis and treatment of retinal infections. He also has special interest in inherited retinal diseases, with an emphasis on applying the most advanced treatment modalities available.

 Paraoptometric Education Speakers

Mary Schmidt, ABOC, CPO

Mary E. Schmidt is the President of EyeSystems, a leadership development firm specializing in the eyecare field. Mary has over 40 years’ experience within the eyecare field. The last 30 years have been focused on leadership and staff development. She has trained thousands of practice leaders and paraoptometrics. Her passion is the professional development of new and emerging practice leaders and team members. She was voted one of Vision Monday's 50 Most Influential Women in Optical.

Paraoptometric Classes:  Friday, April 28: 9:00am – 10:00am: Time Management ‐ How to Prioritize Your Day (ABO, CPC);  10:00am– 12:00pm: I Object ‐ Overcoming Patient Objections (ABO, CPC); 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Optics ‐ The Fundamentals‐ How We See What We See (ABO, CPC); 3:00pm – 4:00pm: Customer Service ‐ Top 10 Absolutes (ABO, CPC); Saturday, April 29: 8:00am – 9:00am: Leadership – Top 10 Traits of a Great Leader  by Mary Schmidt (ABO, CPC); 9:00am – 10:00am: 23 Life Skills Every Staff Member Must Know by Mary Schmidt (ABO, CPC); 10:00am – 11:00am: 10 Ways to Lose a Patient & Not Even Know It (ABO, CPC)

Angela Howell, O.D.

 Dr. Howell is in private practice primary care, with emphasis on pediatrics and vision therapy where patients of all ages and abilities receive optometric care. She is an adjunct and consulting faculty with Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee. She has co-authored a chapter on ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and the ocular side effects of behavioral medicines in the textbook, Visual Diagnosis and Care of the Patient with Special Needs.

Paraoptometric Classes:  Saturday, April 29: 9:00am – 10:00am: Assisting Pediatric Eye Exams (CPC); 10:00am ‐ 11:00am: Providing Visual care to Patients on the Autism Spectrum (CPC)