Andrew Buzzelli, OD, MS.

PIKEVILLE, Ky.— Andrew Buzzelli, OD, MS, vice president for optometric education and founding dean of the new Kentucky College of Optometry at the University of Pikeville, has appointed the executive council as the founding members of the new administration of what is destined to be a new school of optometry in the U.S.

Donald Egan, OD, has been chosen as the associate dean of academic affairs. Roya Attar, OD, has been selected as the director of student affairs and a senior clinical instructor for primary care optometry and anterior segment. Heather Keene will serve as the executive assistant to the dean and the director of support personnel.

Egan comes to the college as a full professor with additional teaching responsibilities that will include contact lenses and primary care optometry. After receiving his doctor of optometry degree from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and completing a post doctorate residency program with an emphasis in clinical optometry and contact lenses, he became a faculty member at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science. He then joined the faculty at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and developed the contact lens program for its newly established school of optometry.

Egan later joined Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., as an associate in the department of ophthalmology where he provided patient care and developed an instructional program for ophthalmology residents and the technical staff. He also served at the Western University of Health Sciences’ new college of optometry where he developed the contact lens program serving as course leader for the contact lens curriculum.

“We feel Dr. Egan’s extensive background in optometric and ophthalmologic education and administration, coupled with years of working in interprofessional health care, will be a major asset in developing our professional education program here at the University of Pikeville,” said Buzzelli.

Attar practiced optometry in San Antonio, where she graduated with the inaugural class of the Rosenberg School of Optometry. “Dr. Attar had extensive experience in marketing in the business community prior to her matriculation in optometry,” said Buzzelli. “Her previous success in business will be crucial in her role to recruit highly qualified students nationwide for the new program.”

Keene, in addition to being executive assistant to the dean and director of support personnel, will also teach business management and rural health care. A native of the Appalachia region of Pikeville, Ky., Keene received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Morehead State University where she graduated with honors. Buzzelli noted that Keene has a thorough understanding and knowledge of all administrative tasks and will serve a vital role within the Kentucky College of Optometry’s executive council.

The University of Pikeville is in the process of applying for accreditation to become the 22nd educational institution in the country to have a college of optometry. The mission of the Kentucky College of Optometry is to provide health care in the underserved areas of Appalachia and rural America, according to the school’s statement announcing the new executive council. The school will serve as a venue to offer access to professional education for the first generations of rural populations, the announcement said.

Construction is currently under way to build a new, state-of-the-art, six-story educational facility to house the Kentucky College of Optometry. Sixty students will be admitted per class, for a total of 240.