New optometry school created

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Mass. Pharmacy readies Worcester optometry school
Pharmacy college names deans, picks Lincoln Square location


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Dr. Daum
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Dr. Walls
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WORCESTER — The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced yesterday that it has hired a leader and found a home for its new school of optometry.

Dr. Lesley Walls, who is coming to Worcester from the Southern California College of Optometry, will be the founding dean of the program.

Dr. Kent Daum, from the Illinois College of Optometry, will be vice dean.

The school will be at the college’s Lincoln Square Living and Learning Center, the former Crowne Plaza Hotel, which the college purchased in 2010. Capital improvements for the school of optometry will include an on-site optometry clinic, research space, administrative offices, faculty and staff offices, and an optical dispensary. The Lincoln Square center houses 200 students.

Dr. Walls served most recently as president of the Southern California College of Optometry. He is the former dean of optometry at Pacific University in Oregon and at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma.

“As we continue to expand into more health sciences, we are thrilled to have a world-renowned optometry expert leading this effort,” said MCPHS President Charles F. Monahan in a prepared statement. “The United States is a rapidly aging country with only 21 accredited optometry schools, and there is a real opportunity here to help fill the increased demand for eye care.”

The four-year optometry program will begin in August 2012, pending accreditation, with 64 students at each level.

Along with an increasing population, Dr. Walls mentioned changes in access to health care as reasons to start the program.

As founding dean, Dr. Walls will be responsible for developing the college’s optometry degree program on the Worcester campus, including oversight of the accreditation process, hiring faculty, planning the curriculum, and establishing clinical affiliations.

“MCPHS is known worldwide as a health care leader that continues to identify demand and build programs to match up with those needs. A new optometry school is a perfect example of that,” Dr. Walls said. “The opportunity to develop a program from the ground up is incredible. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Dr. Daum most recently served as vice president and dean of academic affairs at the Illinois College of Optometry.
 
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