General Program Areas: Research training, program development, data collection and information resource, and liaison to the AOA Council on Research, AAO Research Committee, NAEVR/AEVR and ASCO’s Government Affairs Committee.
Charge:
o Encourage the conduct of research (basic science, clinical and education) within schools and colleges of optometry.
Consider the impact of current issues upon research programs and research training and make recommendations on policy positions, advocacy efforts and programmatic initiatives to foster research and research training in schools of optometry.
Provide a forum for research directors and deans and presidents of schools and colleges of optometry to share programmatic issues and best practices related to developing and maintaining robust programs of research (basic science research, translational research, clinical research, education research) in the academic setting.
Work with the ASCO Government Affairs Committee, NAEVR/AEVR, the AOA Council on Research and the Research Committee of the American Academy of Optometry to advocate for optometric research.
Provide input on and support of the ASCO Education Starter Grants program.
Work with other ASCO committees, groups, SIGs and task forces to develop and implement programs that will encourage the necessary development of faculty interested in and capable of conducting high quality research on optometry and optometric education.
o Provide a central source of information on research and research training programs at schools and colleges of optometry.
Provide direction for and oversight of the annual ASCO Research survey.
Oversee the development of trends analyses of core data collected by ASCO and advise on the dissemination of summary charts and reports.
Advise in the development of new surveys and the dissemination of survey results.
Review proposals coming to ASCO from researchers wishing to use ASCO data in their studies.
Serve as a resource to other ASCO committees, SIGs, groups and task forces looking for assistance in data collection and research-based initiatives.