Top row, l to r, Joanna Latek, Kateryna Nahornyak and Baldemar Torres. Bottom row, l to r, Morgan Zbikowski and Dana Devito.
 
NEW YORK—The 2022 Student Innovator of the Year award from the Rick Bay Foundation recognizes the innovative and creative ideas of a current student at an optometry college. Named after the late Rick Bay, former publisher and president of Review of Optometry and Review of Ophthalmology, the Foundation’s Student Innovator Scholarship is awarded to the most outstanding and innovative idea presented by a student at optical colleges and universities throughout the country. The selected student is chosen by their school based on qualities that embody Bay’s commitment to the profession including integrity, compassion, partnership and dedication to the optical industry.

"Jobson and the Rick Bay Foundation are so pleased to celebrate this year's Student Innovator Award winners," said Marc Ferrara, president of Jobson's Optical Group. "Since its founding nearly ten years ago, the Rick Bay Foundation is dedicated to supporting excellence in eyecare education, and through its Student Innovator Award program, the Foundation provides funding for the creation and development of innovative solutions by the next generation of optometrists. This program would not be possible with the generous support of our valued partners—EssilorLuxottica, MyEyeDr. and VSP Vision Care."
 
The 2022 Student Innovators are:

  • Joanna Latek & Kateryna Nahornyak, 2024 graduates at SUNY College of Optometry, New York. Their scholarship was supported by EssilorLuxottica. The two honored for CLIR, a Mobile Contact Lens Insertion and Removal and Drop Education Station. Their entry summary said, “In various optometric practices, contact lens insertion and removal training occurs where it can, drop insertion education rarely happens in the office. The CLIR station was designed to allow for smoother transitions for both doctors and patients when performing a contact lens I&R training, as well as drop instillation training. CLIR is designed with a drainage system, adjustable mirrors and adjustable table height, which allows for patients to find themselves in a personalized environment, and will feel much more confident and better prepared when it comes to contact lens insertion or removal and drop instillation education.”
     
  • Baldemar Torres, a University of California Berkeley School of Optometry 2025 graduate, whose scholarship was supported by VSP Vision Care, was honored for OPTOlingual, “an app that empowers you to better treat and serve your diverse patients. This app guides an optometrist to complete the confrontation sequence, an essential part of an eye exam, for their foreign monolingual patients. I included my own voice recordings for all those steps in several languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and French, and the patient is also given clear, specific instructions to respond using non-verbal cues. We are currently failing our diverse patients, but by reimagining how we communicate using this very simple, creative approach, we can revolutionize patient care across the industry.”
     
  • Morgan Zbikowski, a 2024 graduate of the New England College of Optometry, for a scholarship supported by MyEyeDr. was honored for OVERSEE (Optometry Video Education Records of a Skilled Eye Exam). “The goal of OVERSEE is to improve optometry education by creating a video archive of any skill you could ever need in an eye exam. Each video would be a short demonstration and reminder of the proper testing conditions and recording. They would be easily accessible in an app, organized into folders based on the type of test, and would also be searchable for specific skills. This will allow for consistency when learning new skills and a quick and easy way to get a refresher of skills you don’t perform on a regular basis.”  
     
  • Dana Devito, a 2023 graduate of the Indiana University School of Optometry, in a scholarship also supported by MyEyeDr., was honored for Rinse and Run.” A device similar to a pre-existing contact lens blister pack that only contains multipurpose solution. If a contact lens falls out of your eye, if it folds, or if you just need to refresh it and re-insert the lens, this device provides sterile solution for disinfecting the lens and a sterile basin to briefly hold the lens while it is prepped for re-insertion.”
The Rick Bay Foundation for Excellence in Eyecare Education is a non-profit tax exempt foundation. More details and ways to donate are posted here.