ALUMNI & DONORS Administrator
Alumni & Donors
Administrator
Melanie is dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet.
Website URL: E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Leonard V. Messner, OD, FAAO, is the Vice President for Patient Care Services of the Illinois College of Optometry and serves as the Executive Director of the Illinois Eye Institute.
Dr. Messner holds the rank of Professor at the Illinois College of Optometry, and has clinical privileges in the areas of vitreoretinal and neuro-ophthalmic disorders. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and currently serves as the chair of the Neuro-Ophthalmic Disorders Special Interest Group of the American Academy of Optometry.
He is the author and co-author of numerous professional articles and textbook chapters on retina-vitreous and neuro-ophthalmic disorders, and a frequent guest lecturer in the United States and abroad. His areas of research include: optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetic macular edema and visual-motor abnormalities with traumatic brain injury.
| Vice President for Patient Care Services/Executive Director of the Illinois Eye Institute | |
| Neuro-ophthalmic disorders, Retina-vitreous | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Awards and Honors
Professional Organizations
Dr. Allen completed a residency in pediatrics and binocular vision in 2008 and has been working at the Illinois Eye Institute since completion of her program. In addition to working for ICO in the Pediatric/Binocular Vision Department, she also works in Primary Care at the IEI. Dr. Allen participates in the Pediatric Outreach Program, where she provides eye examinations, along with students, to Head Start Preschool children across the city. She is the coordinator of the first-year optometry laboratory course where essential entrance testing is taught. She also is the course lecturer for the second year fall quarter optometry course where near point testing is taught along with an introduction into binocular vision conditions. She is an investigator for the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigative Group and is currently working on other research in the areas of traumatic brain injury in correlation with saccadic dysfunction. Dr. Allen is fluent in Spanish and enjoys working with the Hispanic and Spanish communities in Chicago.
Why ICO?
ICO is a renowned college of optometry known for its excellent clinical education and challenging patient population. The clinicians that graduate from ICO are well prepared for all types of patient encounters upon graduation. They are given excellent training in all different facets of optometry from pediatrics and contact lens to advance care and low vision. ICO is also located in one of our nation’s best cities filled with friendly people, great food, and lots of activity!
| Assistant Professor | |
| Pediatrics/ Binocular Vision PEDIG Investigator King- Devick Ocular Motor Research |
|
| 312-949-7112 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| BH2003 | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Awards and Honors
Professional Organizations
Dr. Schlange joined the ICO faculty in 1965 following a residency in children’s vision. He has sustained an active didactic and clinical teaching commitment throughout his career at ICO and provided a leadership role in many areas, with emphasis on development of the pediatric and binocular vision curriculum and clinical services. He developed an Eye Movement Lab with an active research program. He was a key faculty member developing the clinical programs for pediatric, infant and developmentally disabled patients. He began a three-year speaking program to 100 area schools and organizations, with a goal of enhancing educators’ understanding of vision and learning and services optometrists could provide to facilitate this. He has demonstrated a commitment to the profession through active participation in local, state and national optometry groups including AOA and IOA. In the 1980s, he was the HEW Liaison for Midwest Region 5 for developing federally funded programs for optometrists, including Medicare. He was a founding father of Beacon Therapeutic School for children with learning and behavioral disorders. He is active in mentoring groups fostering an appreciation of learning, community service and support for special needs people. During these years, he has sustained a passion and love for teaching and patient care, mentoring and supporting thousands of ICO students and graduates.
Why ICO?
ICO has an excellent academic and clinical program, providing graduates with the knowledge and clinical skills required for comprehensive eye care in all medical setting. Top board scores and extensive post-graduate opportunities are outcomes that attest to this exceptional program. Student life has many social and enrichment opportunities on-campus and also within the city of Chicago. Life-time learning is a reality at ICO with the many post-graduate and alumni programs.
| Associate Professor of Optometry, Attending, Illinois Eye Institute | |
| Pediatric Optometry, Binocular Vision, Vision Therapy, Ocular Motility and Visually Related Learning Problems. Research: Developed Ocular Motility Lab for nystagmus, reading eye-movements, attention/ ADHD, brain concussions, adult and child developmental disabilities. | |
| 312-949-7284 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| Brady 2021 | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Awards and Honors
Professional Organizations
While completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Zoltoski fell in love with research. Her early experiences in sleep anatomy research led her to pursue a PhD in pharmacology and neurosciences at Wake Forest University. In her postdoctoral training positions at University of California, San Diego, and Brock University, she realized she wanted a career where she could combine teaching and research. She came to ICO in 1997 to teach biochemistry, with courses in neuroanatomy and evidence-based health care to be added later. She also has established an active research laboratory working with clinicians on a wide variety of topic ranging from dry eye to vision therapy. Her main focus has been changes in lens ultrastructure with age and accommodation, for which she has received federal funding to pursue this research. Her background has provided her with the training necessary to add this important component to ICO. She has been fortunate enough to mentor more than 100 students, and feels that her research is successful today in large thanks to the excellent clinicians as well as her students at ICO.
Why ICO?
My transition to ICO was a rough one. I had never done any teaching or research related to the eye and felt as if I had landed in a foreign country without really knowing the language. When I was hired to teach biochemistry, I was not even confident I knew why optometrists needed to know biochemistry. By the end of my first week here, I had learned why they needed to know it, but it took me a bit longer to be able to convey those important ideas to the students. At the end of my second year, I was given the opportunity to attend a course designed to assist medical educators in becoming better instructors. I turned my course on its head, and I finally enjoyed teaching by using cases to help the students see the value of what they were learning. About the same time, I was fortunate to find some colleagues in the Chicago lens research community to accept me into their lab and my research found a new meaning as well. More recently, I have been able to bring some of that research back into ICO so that I am now more able to combine my research and teaching, as I set out to do so many years ago.
Students at ICO have not only the educational/clinical community to gain experiences from, but they also have the larger Chicago community. ICO offers programs that strive to increase cultural awareness and diversity within the school and the clinic, as well as vision screenings, health clinics, and tutoring programs that allow the students to reach out to our neighbors in Bronzeville, as well as across the Chicagoland area. It is the diversity, not only in our clinic, but also in our student body, that makes ICO an unending educational experience.
| Associate Professor of Biological Sciences | |
| Lens form and function and how it changes with age and accommodation, nutrition, aberrations, dry eye and vision therapy | |
| 312-949-7188 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| 2016 | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Awards and Honors
Professional Organizations
Dr. Erica is an assistant professor at ICO, teaching third- and fourth-year optometry students in a primary care setting with a focus on ocular disease. In addition, she teaches the refraction course for the optometry sequence for first-year students. When not at work, Dr. Ittner can be found riding her bicycle around Chicago and enjoying the amazing food in this city.
Why ICO?
ICO provides an excellent educational experience and learning environment. As an ICO alumna, I can personally attest to the superior education received by our students. The comprehensive didactic and clinical experience of ICO students and graduates continues to impress me and I am proud to be a graduate of ICO.
| Assistant Professor | |
| Primary Eye Care | |
| 312-949-7147 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| 2028 Brady Hall | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Awards and Honors
Professional Organizations
Dr. Wyles is an assistant professor ICO and is the Primary Care Educational Coordinator. She received her optometry degree from the Southern California College of Optometry and completed a residency in hospital-based primary care optometry at the Crownpoint Indian Health Care Facility in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Dr. Wyles is an attending optometrist in the Primary Care Service of the Illinois Eye Institute and teaches several didactic and elective courses. She has authored papers and co-authored a chapter in a text book. She has participated extensively with the National Board of Examiners in Optometry as a committee member for the Applied Basic Science Exam and previously served as the ICO site coordinator for the Clinical Skills Examination. Dr. Wyles is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.
Why ICO?
The Illinois College of Optometry offers a unique blend of a rigorous didactic education with a strong clinical experience. The Illinois Eye Institute is an incredible educational clinic that provides the opportunity to our students to experience all that they have learned in the classroom.
| Assistant Professor/Primary Care Educational Coordinator | |
| Primary Care Optometry, with a special interest in retina. | |
| 312-949-7187 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| Brady 2018 | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Professional Organizations
Dr. Castells is a graduate of the State University of New York College of Optometry where he also completed a residency in urban family practice. He is currently teaches extensively in the didactic curriculum at ICO. He also provides clinical-based education and patient care as an attending optometrist in the Primary Eye Care Service of the Illinois Eye Institute. Dr. Castells lectures regularly on a variety of eye care issues and has a number of publications.
Why ICO?
There are only a few optometry schools in the country that offer the challenging patient population served by the Illinois Eye Institute. One of the main reasons I came to ICO was to work with students in caring for this challenging and often underserved population.
| Associate Professor | |
| Glaucoma, Dry Eye Syndrome and Allergic Diseases | |
| 312-949-7247 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| Brady Hall 2007 | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Awards and Honors
Professional Organizations
Dr. Gabriel received her optometry degree from ICO in 1989 and completed a residency in primary eye care at Northeastern State University College of Optometry in Tahlequah, Okla., in 1990. She joined the ICO faculty in 1990 and currently serves as attending staff in the Pediatric/Binocular Vision Service, Primary Care Service and the Chicago Public Schools-based community program of the Illinois Eye Institute. She teaches and coordinates the laboratory for part of the optometry sequence (accommodation and binocular vision) as well as the physical diagnosis lecture and laboratory. Dr. Gabriel is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, an associate member of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, and a member of the American Optometric and Illinois Optometric Associations.
Why ICO?
ICO provides an excellent education, both clinically and didactically. What you learn in the classroom and the laboratory prepares you well for our challenging patients in all the various clinics of the Illinois Eye Institute. You will have an opportunity to give back to the community through some of our community based programs as well. It’s a great place to interact with a varied student body, faculty and patient population!
| Associate Professor | |
| Pediatrics/Binocular Vision and Primary Care Clinics; Research in binocular vision, ocular microbiology, children’s vision. | |
| 312-949-7313 | |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | |
| Brady 2011 | |
Education
Experience
Publications
Professional Organizations
