Dr. Jennifer Gould is SUNY Optometry’s Biggest Cheerleader One day, Jennifer Gould got it. Completely. “I was being quizzed by one of my preceptors about a certain disease,” she recalls. “I’d never taken all of the basic science information and the clinical and pulled it together. He asked me a question and suddenly, all the threads came together and it made sense to me.” If she had been Oprah, she would have flung her arms wide and announced operatically, “Ahaaaa!” Instead, being a fourth-year student at the SUNY College of Optometry, Gould filed it away as a moment to return to again and again to help herself and others. That was in 2013. Four years later, Dr. Gould is an assistant clinical professor at the College. Now, she uses that moment in fourth-year clinic to teach her students. “One of the advantages of being a recent alum is that I remember what it was like being a student. I remember what I struggled with and try to teach what I did to understand those things,” she says. The story also symbolizes Dr. Gould’s journey to optometry: various threads that suddenly pulled together into one resonant aha. First, there was her desire to help people—a desire left unfulfilled in her initial career as a mechanical engineer. Thread number two: Dr. Gould believed that if she was going to return to school, it would only be at the very best place. “I wanted to make sure I got a good education and had a great clinical experience,” she says. “And where we are, in New York, means we get to work with an amazing cross-section of people. I knew it would be exceptional.” From nearly day one as a student, Dr. Gould knew she wanted to teach. Today, she teaches Clinical Optometry 1 and 2 and portions of the Ocular Disease 2 course. In addition, she is the interim chief of Advanced Care Services, holding administrative duties to keep the service operating optimally. 18 COMMUNITY SERVICE 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY 14-15 FY 16-17 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 PATIENT CARE Public Service Participants PATIENT CARE Charitable Care EDUCATION Enterting GPAs per Y EDUCATION Entering OAT Total Science Scores per Year Year Enrollment (OD Program) ar Entering Students EDUCATION Under-Represented Minority Students 0 100 200 300 400 500 EDUCATION Enrollment in Professional a EDUCATION Residency Certi cates Awarded 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 Homebound Visits Screenings Support Groups Events Dr. Jennifer Gould
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