These are the words of our beloved past President, Dr. Stuart Richer. Considered by many to be the father of ocular nutrition, Dr. Richer was promoting health, wellness, and prevention well before the AREDs trials were published. I had the privilege of being his Vice-President for 6 years and the President of OWNS for 3 years. My tenure is now up and it is with excitement that I am passing on the baton to Dr. Neda Gioia who like myself is a passionate advocate for the power of nutrition to not only mitigate the course of disease but prevent it. Dr. Richer and I interviewed Dr. Gioia for her Fellowship with OWNS and we both knew at that time that she has the perfect qualities to carry on our beloved Dr. Richer’s vision of “Repairing the roof before it starts raining”. Together, we can change lives through the power of evidence-based research. 

 

Julie Poteet, OD, MS, CNS, FOWNS

President Emeritus, OWNS