April 4, 2024 — The World Council of Optometry (WCO), in partnership with CooperVision, is appointing a team of ambassadors for their education, outreach, and practice-building initiatives. Leading optometrists with extensive experience in myopia management in both clinical practice and educational settings, the four ambassadors serve a global role and represent a diverse set of regions, WCO shares.

WCO president Sandra Block, O.D., highlights the urgent need for the global adoption of myopia management as a standard of care as myopia continues to soar among children: “While more eyecare professionals have embraced evidence-based approaches focused on the mitigation, measurement, and management of myopia, there is still much work to be done,” she says. “Each ambassador will play a crucial role in our efforts, using their platforms to engage with the optometry community and reach a broader audience.”

The myopia management standard of care resolution was developed by WCO and CooperVision in April 2021. WCO shares that these four ambassadors are actively involved in day-to-day myopia management:

Nicola Logan, Ph.D., MEd, MCOptom, SFHEA, FHEA, acts as the global representative. A professor of optometry and physiological optics at the School of Optometry at Aston University in Birmingham, U.K., Dr. Logan also serves as the director of research for the Optometry & Vision Science Research Group, and she collaborates with researchers through the Myopia Consortium U.K. She received the Neil Charman Award for Excellence in Research from the College of Optometrists, U.K. Her research includes the Aston Eye study, which investigated refractive error prevalence in school children, and her areas of interest include the epidemiology of refractive error, the development and etiology of myopia, and myopia control. She operates a myopia clinic that offers myopia-control spectacles, myopia-control soft contact lenses, and orthokeratology lenses.

Jagrut Lallu, MSc Specialty Lenses, BOptom, FIAOMC, acts as the Asia–Pacific representative. A partner of Rose Optometry in Hamilton, New Zealand, he also serves as the director of Innovatus Technology, which develops software to make contact lens design accessible to contact lens practitioners. His areas of interest include keratoconus, dry eye, orthokeratology, and myopia management. In 2009, Dr. Lallu set up the first myopia control clinic in New Zealand devoted to evidence-based methods for management, and in 2023, he established the New Zealand Eye Research Centre. Lallu is also a clinical senior lecturer at the Deakin School of Optometry in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and is an honorary teaching fellow at the University of Auckland.

Síofra Harrington, Ph.D., FAOI, acts as the European representative. Dr. Harrington is a lecturer, researcher, and clinical supervisor with the School of Physics, Clinical and Optometric Sciences at Technological University in Dublin, Ireland, and a fellow of the Association of Optometrists Ireland. Harrington supervises pediatric clinics that address several conditions in addition to myopia including amblyopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and more. The principal investigator for the Ireland Eye Study—which measured the prevalence of ametropia, amblyopia, and vision impairment in school children—Dr. Harrington is also the author of multiple peer-reviewed academic publications and academic poster presentations reporting Ireland Eye Study findings. She was also the principal investigator for the Child Eye Health Study and coinvestigator for the BLU-RAY Project investigating blue light phototoxicity.

Ashley Wallace-Tucker, O.D., FAAO, FSLS, ABO Diplomate, acts as the U.S. representative. Dr. Wallace Tucker is a partner at Bellaire Family Eye Care and The Contact Lens Institute of Houston, where she primarily treats patients needing specialty contact lenses and myopia management. Dr. Wallace-Tucker is also a visiting assistant professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry, where she is the course master for the Ophthalmic Optics Laboratory. Dr. Wallace-Tucker regularly provides continuing education on myopia management and other topics through her affiliation with the University of Houston. A lecturer for the STAPLE (Soft Toric and Presbyopic Lens Experience) program, she also specializes in corneal diseases, complex contact lens fits, and myopia management, particularly orthokeratology.