COMPANY NEWS

• ABB Optical Group offers the following workshops on the ICD FlexFit scleral lens: March 12, Newport Beach, Calif.; March 18, Sacramento; April 22, Salt Lake City; May 27, Kansas City, Mo. Visit abboptical.com/sclerallenseducation .
• Allergan plc has partnered with Prevent Blindness in the awareness campaign, See America. Its goal is to educate the public on diseases that can cause preventable blindness and to improve access to vision care. It will include vision-screening events in various cities. Visit SeeAmerica.vision .
• Asahi Vision Inc. announced its first shipment of aLC-100 Lens Checker units to the U.S. Visit asahi-vision.com .
• CareCredit celebrates 30 years in business in 2017. Cardholders may enter its “My Best 30 Sweepstakes” through March 31 at carecredit.com/mybest30 . The company will select 30 random winners to receive $1,000.
• CooperVision recognized its 2017 “Best Practices” The 10 U.S. honorees include: Amarillo Vision Specialists, Amarillo, Texas; Blount County Eye Center, Maryville, Tenn; Caruso Eye Care, Lake Worth, Fla.; Castle Pines Eye Care, Castle Pines, Colo.; Complete Eye Care of Medina, Medina, Minn.; Havasu Eye Center, Lake Havasu, Ariz.; Lawrenceville Family Eyecare, Lawrenceville, Ga.; Little Eyes, Carmel, Ind.; Premier Eyecare, Knoxville, Tenn.; Specialty Eyecare Group, Kirkland, Wash. The program is open to all U.S. optometry practices currently fitting contact lenses.
• At Vision Expo East, Costa (booth 2400) will offer a trip on OCEARCH, where data will be collected on the movement, biology and health of sharks. Attendees can visit Costa’s booth to enter. Non-attendees can also enter by emailing coastaocearch@dja.com.
• Paragon Vision Sciences has opened the Paragon Education and Training Academy at its headquarters in Gilbert, Ariz. Visit paragonvision.com .
• Shire welcomes Sushanta Malik as vice president and global development lead for clinical development. Also, Christie Markowtiz was appointed senior director and ECP marketing lead.
• Transitions Optical has named Darragh O’Connor vice president, global marketing .
• Professional Eyecare Resource Co-operative (PERC) is partnering with Vision Associates to provide its members with dispensary services. Visit Visionassociates.com or Percalliances.com .
• Volk Optical has named Jyoti Gupta, Ph.D, president. She replaces Pete Mastores and previously served as vice president and general manager of Unilife Corp.

NONPROFIT

• Envision received a National Public Health Thank You Day award from Sedgwick County Health Department for its Public Education and Envision Vision Rehabilitation Center programs. In other news, its “Evening with Envision” gala raised $438,000.
• Foundation Fighting Blindness raised more than $109 million in new funding for retinal disease research via its Gordon and Lulie Gund Family Challenge.
• OneSight launched #UNBLUR campaign to raise awareness for lack of access to vision care. A study by the group found that nearly two-thirds of Americans are unaware this is a significant issue in the U.S. Visit Onesight.org .
• Prevent Blindness named Richard Sanchez, of Visibility Management, chairman of its board of directors. Sandra Block, medical director of Illinois Eye Institute at Princeton Vision Clinic and professor at Illinois College of Optometry; Stephen Carman, president of Corman Enterprises LLC and Corman Properties of North Carolina LLC; and Mark Ginsberg, chief marketing officer for VSP Global, were elected as members.
• Think About Your Eyes has achieved 2.5 million visitors to its campaign website since its launch. In addition, The Vision Council has announced it will contribute $3 million to the campaign in 2017.

COLLEGES

• The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) won a $1.9 million grant to study molecular markers that may predict structural and functional changes of the eye due to dry eye disease. The university also has added a dual Doctor of Optometry and Master of Public Health degree.
• The UIW Rosenberg School of Optometry won the first University Education Challenge, a program hosted by ABB Optical and Paragon Vision Sciences. Six other colleges competed. OM