Northeastern Optometry Professor Receives Grant from Navy

TAHLEQUAH - Northeastern State University's Dr. Thomas Salmon has recently received a prestigious grant from the Navy Regional Medical Center. The San Diego based center is dedicated to the development of new vision correction techniques.

"They want to develop the best possible vision correction. They are really on the cutting edge of all the centers in the United States," said Salmon.

Dr. Salmon, a professor in the College of Optometry renowned for his work with wavefront sensing of the eye has been asked to aid on the science behind these corrective surgeries. By studying the optics of the eye, problems with surgeries like Lasik and PRK can be minimized.

"Refractive surgery changes the shape of the surface of the eye, and small aberrations can occur. These aren't really a problem in the daytime, when the pupil is small, but at night these aberrations can cause some vision problems," said Salmon. By researching these problems and their causes, the Navy Regional Medical Center and Dr. Salmon hope to minimize these aberrations and improve the effectiveness of these surgeries.

Dr. Salmon is a full colonel in the military, NSU professor for almost a decade, and winner of the prestigious Circle of Excellence Award. His research will aid in the development of new techniques and the correction of vision for thousands of people.

1/19/2006

Published: 2006-01-19 00:00:00