Dr. Miriam Boyd Celebrates 50-year Reunion Dr. Miriam Boyd, O.D., the first female graduate of the IU School of Optometry and president of her class, celebrated her 50-year class reunion this year. Dr. Boyd still practices optometry in Vincennes, Indiana, and returned to Bloomington to attend the IOA Fall Seminar and celebrate her milestone reunion with classmates. There were few women in the field at the time she started optometry school, but Dr. Boyd had a powerful role model. Her late mother, Dr. Virlee C. (Metzger) Stemle, was a practicing optometrist in Jasper, Indiana, through 1991. “I had a strong example in my mother,” Dr. Boyd says, “so I always knew it was possible.” Reaching Out and Saving Sight Two vision care outreach programs received a boost this year, allowing the IU School of Optometry to expand vision care services to low-income members of our community. Providing eye exams, eyeglasses, and medically necessary contact lenses to patients who couldn’t afford them otherwise just got a little easier, thanks to a 2012 grant for the IU School of Optometry Community Outreach (IUSOCO) program from the Hoover Family Foundation. As one IUSOCO patient said in a thank-you letter, “Sometimes people fall on hard times and don’t or can’t carry insurance. I just wanted to thank you all for the care and courtesy. I left your office feeling that someone really cared for me and my eyes. I was stunned to learn I was getting glasses. I hope I said ‘thank you’.” Indiana University School of Optometry and Saving Sight Indiana (formerly Prevent Blindness Indiana) have recently teamed up to increase the impact they have on underserved patients in Indiana. Indianapolis optometrist Dr. Marjorie Knotts, O.D., a former IU School of Optometry faculty member, is among the group of optometrists who volunteer their services with Saving Sight Indiana to improve eye care for Indiana’s poor and indigent patients. “By joining forces, we are providing medically underserved Hoosiers around the state with better access to eye care services,” says Dr. Julie Torbit, O.D., associate clinical professor at the Indianapolis Eye Care Center and director of community outreach at the IU School of Optometry. We extend our appreciation to the Hoover Family Foundation for their generosity. Dr. Julie Torbit, O.D. Indianapolis Eye Care Center 16 VISION FOR THE FUTURE | ANNUAL REPORT 2012