IACLE calls for 2021 awards entries
Past IACLE Award recipients
Three contact lens educators from around the world will be attending major international meetings next year, as winners of the 2021 International Association of Contact Lens Educators (IACLE) Awards.
IACLE is offering educators worldwide the chance to become IACLE Contact Lens Educator of the Year and travel to a major international meeting, providing Covid-19 restrictions allow. IACLE Contact Lens Educator of the Year will be awarded to three individuals, one from each of IACLE’s three global regions:
• 2021 IACLE Americas Contact Lens Educator of the Year
• 2021 IACLE Asia Pacific Contact Lens Educator of the Year
• 2021 IACLE Europe / Africa – Middle East Contact Lens Educator of the Year
The 2020 winners, Professor Renée Reeder (USA), Professor Bariah Mohd Ali (Malaysia) and ABDO College principal, Jo Underwood (UK), will also receive their awards at meetings in 2021, when restrictions allow.
The awards recognise and reward achievements in contact lens education and are sponsored by CooperVision. The winners will each receive a bursary of up to US$3,000 towards the cost of attending an international meeting and permission to use the title 2021 IACLE Contact Lens Educator of the Year for their region.
The IACLE Educator Awards are open to all contact lens educators who have been IACLE members for at least three years. Applicants can either nominate themselves, or be nominated by another member, their IACLE regional/country coordinator or IACLE staff. Educators must demonstrate impact on their institutions and the ways that they inspire their students to become future contact lens practitioners.
IACLE president, Dr Shehzad Naroo, commented: “We are proud to be able to continue to offer the IACLE Contact Lens Educator of the Year Awards for our three global regions. IACLE encourages all members to consider applying for the 2021 Awards, or to nominate someone for the Award.”
The IACLE Travel Awards are bursaries of up to US$3,000 allowing IACLE Educator Members to attend international meetings. Three 2020 Travel Award recipients, Dr Elizabeth Chetty (South Africa), Professor Martín Guzmán (Venezuela), and Associate Professor Nirav Mehta (India) will receive their awards at an international meeting in 2021, providing Covid-19 restrictions allow. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, there will be no IACLE Travel Awards for 2021.
The deadline for entries for the IACLE Contact Lens Educator of the Year 2021 awards is midnight (EST) on Sunday 31 January 2021.
Our photograph shows IACLE president Dr Shehzad Naroo (far left) and CooperVision’s Marcella McParland (far right), pictured with some of the 2018 IACLE Award winners (l-r) Professor Martha Lucia Marquez Garcia (Colombia), Runa Mazumder (India), Wim Borst (Netherlands) and Henri Eek (Netherlands), at the 2018 American Academy of Optometry.