Gary A. Lesher, PhD, FAAO

Dr. Lesher returned to Chicago and joined the ICO faculty in fall 1983. His main teaching responsibilities are for the pharmacology sequence in the second year of the professional program. He has been chair of the Basic and Health Science Department since 1999, and is currently the assistant dean for didactic education. Dr. Lesher has a number of publications and book chapters in the areas of Ocular Pharmacology. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, and served for a many years on the NBEO exam construction committee for Parts I and II. Dr. Lesher has been named Teacher of the Year by his class in three of the last four years.

Why ICO?

Having grown up in Chicago, and then moved away for my college and graduate education, and then taking my first job at the University of Maryland, I was thrilled to return to my home and family when I was offered this faculty position at ICO. Chicago is such a great city, with so much to offer – who wouldn’t want to live here? In addition, the professional program at ICO prepares you to be among the best optometric clinicians in the country. We have had some exceptional NBEO scores and our students are accepted to the top residency programs in the country, as just two examples of the quality of education you can achieve here. I would encourage you to look closely at all ICO has to offer before you decide where to spend your optometric education dollars. I think you will be happy to be a part of the ICO family.

CURRENT STATUS	Assistant Dean for Didactic Education
SPECIALTIES	General and Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
TELEPHONE NUMBER	312-949-7175
E-MAIL ADDRESS	This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ROOM NUMBER	1806

Education

1977	Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Ph.D., Pharmacology and Toxicology
1974	Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, M.S., Pharmacology
1972	Carroll College, Waukesha, WI, B.S., Chemistry, Biology

Experience

2009-present	Assistant Dean for Didactic Education
1999-2009	Chair, Department of Basic and Health Science
1993-present	Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Publications

Lesher, G.A., Get side effect savvy. Optometric Management, April 2003; page 45-52. Ecklund, J.A., Castells, D.D., and Lesher G.A. Variability in doses obtained from a multi-dose ophthalmic solution: further support for an objective compliance method. Optometry 2001; 72:185-188. Lesher, G.A., Bartlett J.D. and Jaanus, S. “Local Anesthetics”. In Clinical Ocular Pharmacology, 4th Edition, Bartlett, J.D. and Jaanus, S. (eds) Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, 2001. Jaanus, S., Chatham, J. and Lesher, G.A. “Anti-Inflammatory Agents”. In Clinical Ocular Pharmacology, 4th Edition, Bartlett, J.D. and Jaanus, S. (eds) Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, 2001. Jaanus, S. and Lesher, G.A. “Anti-inflammatory Agents”. In Clinical Ocular Pharmacology, 3rd Edition, Bartlett, J.D. and Jaanus, S. (eds) Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, 1995. Lesher, G.A. and Gunderson, G.G., Continuous drug delivery through the use of disposable contact lenses. Optom. Vis. Sci. 70:1012-1018, 1993. Lesher, G.A. A quick reference to the top prescription drugs: their mechanisms and ocular toxicities. 2nd Edition, 1992, ICO Press, Chicago. Lesher, Gary A., General Principles of Local Anesthetics. In Onofrey, B.E. (ed): Optometric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, chapter 53, pp 1-13. J.B. Lippincott Co. Philadelphia, PA. 1991. Chino, Y.M., Smith III, E.L., Wada, H., Ridder III, W.H., Langston, A.L., and Lesher, G.A. Disruption of binocularly correlated signals alters the postnatal development of spatial properties in cat striate cortical neurons. J. Neurophysiology 65:841-859, 1991.

Awards and Honors

2011: Outstanding Faculty of the Year, Class of 2013 2009: Outstanding Faculty of the Year, Class of 2011 2008: Outstanding Faculty of the Year, Class of 2010 2004: Illinois Optometric Association Friend of Optometry Award 2000: Outstanding Faculty of the Year, Class of 2002

Professional Organizations

Fellow, American Academy of Optometry Member, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Member, Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics