Clinic Will Serve Tens of Thousands of New Yorkers Annually, Fuel Creativity in the Classroom, Enhance Educational Experience for Students & Improve Health Outcomes for Patients Coinciding with World Optometry Week, Ceremony Brings Together Over 170 Optometry Community Members, Including Patients, Alumni & Students
New York, NY — SUNY College of Optometry is celebrating the grand opening of their new, state-of-the-art Primary Eye Care Clinic in a ceremony coinciding with World Optometry Week. A ribbon cutting ceremony last week was attended by over 170 members of the SUNY Optometry community – including patients, alumni, and students.
The new facility emphasizes SUNY Optometry’s core mission to serve patients, students, and faculty, by enhancing the college’s ability to provide compassionate, evidence-based care for the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who visit their clinics annually, while also providing students with hands-on training alongside some of the nation’s top optometrists. The new clinic also gives SUNY Optometry students access to cutting-edge technology, which in turn will improve accuracy and efficiency in clinical treatment and enhance growth in the classroom. The use of new technology in the Clinic will facilitate more accurate diagnoses and help tailor treatment plans, both of which result in improved patient outcomes.
“This new Clinic embodies our mission at SUNY Optometry, which is to provide the highest quality of care for our patients while training the next generation of eye care professionals,” said Dr. David Troilo, PhD, President of SUNY Optometry. “The Primary Care Clinic, which will serve tens of thousands of patients annually, will also provide our students and faculty with the resources they need to continue shaping the future of eye care for years to come. I am grateful to everyone who made this plan a reality, and I am excited to see all the incredible work that happens in this breathtaking facility.”
Through the use of innovative technology, the Clinic will also expedite care and allow faculty, residents, and interns to improve levels of detection and assessment for refractive disorders. Using the new Clinic’s VTS 4 HoloLens augmented reality glasses, faculty will be able to better screen and identify eye teaming and focusing disorders. Using Optos Silverstone and Cirrus OCT 6000, along with Haag-Streit BQ900 and IM910 3D slit-lamp cameras, they will be able to identify and assess eye diseases rapidly and accurately.
“To meet the challenges of a changing healthcare delivery system, health education must occur in state-of-the-art facilities: ones that promote coordination, applied learning, and holistic care. The redesigned Primary Care Clinic serves as a model for what the future of healthcare education should look like. It is a place where patient care, education, and research will converge, all while providing our patients with the best services possible. I offer my deepest thanks and appreciation to our donors, the Foundation Board members, the SUNY Construction Fund, and all the individuals and industry partners who have supported our efforts through the years and made this day possible,” said Liduvina Martinez-Gonzalez, Vice President for Clinical Administration and Executive Director of the University Eye Center
The new facility also prominently displays 35 photographs selected as part of the Thru Your Lens Photo Challenge, a contest which celebrated the SUNY Optometry community and their storied connection to New York City. The 35 photographs on display were chosen from nearly 200 submissions and now hang throughout the renovated Clinic.
SUNY Optometry’s University Eye Center is one of the largest clinics in the country. It provides full scope optometric care for patients in the metropolitan area and beyond, and serves over 60,000 patient visits a year. Utilizing funding from the SUNY Expanded Investment and Performance Fund, the new Primary Care Clinic represents a fundamental redesign of SUNY Optometry’s patient care and clinical education program.
More photographs are available on request.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2025
Media Contact: Dawn Rigney
communications@sunyopt.edu 212-938-5600
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About SUNY Optometry
Founded in 1971 and located in New York City, the State University of New York College of Optometry is a leader in education, research, and patient care, offering the Doctor of Optometry degree as well as MS and PhD degrees in vision science. The College conducts a robust program of basic, translational and clinical research and has 65 affiliated clinical training sites as well as an on-site clinic, the University Eye Center. SUNY Optometry is regionally accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools; its four-year professional degree program and residency programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association. All classrooms, research facilities and the University Eye Center, which is one of the largest optometric outpatient facilities in the nation, are located on 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan. To learn more about SUNY Optometry, visit www.sunyopt.edu.