AOA to recognize 2025 award recipients during Optometry's Meeting

All recipients will be officially honored during the AOA Experience: Opening Session on June 25. Image credit: AdobeStock/winyu

The 2025 American Optometric Association (AOA), American Optometric Student Association (AOSA), and The AOA Foundation award recipients will be receiving airtime throughout this year’s Optometry Meeting, taking place from June 25-28 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.¹ All recipients will be officially honored during the AOA Experience: Opening Session on June 25, according to a news release.

The awards announced include the AOA Excellence awards, the AOSA Student of the Year, the National Optometry Hall of Fame, the Dr. W. David Sullins Jr. InfantSEE Award, the Dr. Jerry P. Davidoff Vision Care Award, and the Paraoptometric Professional awards. The AOA Excellence Awards include Optometrist of the Year, Young Optometrist of the Year, Optometric Educator of the Year, Distinguished Services, and Apollo.

For the Optometrist of the Year, James Hardie, OD, of Ironwood, Michigan received this year’s award. Previously, he was the recipient of the Michigan Optometric Association’s 2025 Optometrist of the Year award and was selected as the Michigan Optometric Association’s Young Optometrist of the Year award in 2016. Hardie currently serves on the AOA’s State Government Relations Committee and as the Legislative Committee chair for the Michigan Optometric Association.¹

Annabelle Stroch, OD, was awarded with the Young Optometrist of the Year award. She currently serves at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at UCI Health in Orange County, California and has received multiple awards, including the George I. Deane, Jr. OD Memorial Leadership Award.¹

Aaran B. Zimmerman, OD, MS, FAAO, is named the Optometric Educator of the Year and serves as a clinical professor at The Ohio State University College of Optometry.¹

Richard Soden, OD, FAAO, CPC, recipient of the Distinguished Service award, will also be participating in continuing education in the form of a presentation at this year’s meeting. Soden will be giving his presentation titled “Low Vision Coding and Billing: Lessons Learned from the New ‘Evaluation and Management’ Codes” on June 26 and will be covering effective ways to adopt new “Evaluation and Management” codes to bill and code low vision services.² With over 4 decades practicing optometry, Soden has also served as president of the New York State Optometric Association (NYSOA) and currently leads the Optometric Center of New York. He has received numerous awards, including Optometrist of the Year from NYSOA.¹

The Apollo award was received by Napua Rich, has dedicated more than a decade to improving access, quality and collaboration within Oregon’s Medicaid Vision Services program according to the release. She currently works as a senior operations and policy analyst at the Oregon Health Authority.¹

The AOSA Student of the Year Award recognizes Cori Dorrell this year, a fourth year optometry students at the Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry (NSUOCO). She has served in various leadership roles in her last four years of optometry school, including the chairman of the philanthropy event Giving Sight Day at NSUOCO and the president of the Oklahoma Optometric Student Association, among other positions.¹

Optometrists inducted into the National Optometry Hall of Fame include Christopher Quinn, OD, and Timothy Wingert, OD. Quinn currently serves as the executive chairman of Omni Eye Services, president of Essex Specialized Surgical Institute, and a board member of Omni Ophthalmic Management Consultants. Wingert is a retired dean and professor at the University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry.¹

For the Dr. W. David Sullins Jr. InfantSEE Award, John Tassinari, OD, is this year’s recipient. He ran a private optometry practice in Pasadena, California from 1988 to 2015. In 2016, Tassinari joined the Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry full time and serves as the chief of pediatrics in the Eye Care Institute.¹

As for the Paraoptometric Professional awards, Jennifer Stroupe, CPO, received the Paraoptometric of the Year award. She began her career at Olive Branch Eyecare in 2013 and was named the practice manager in 2014. She now manages Olive Branch Eyecare, Horn Lake Eyecare and Desoto Family Vision. Kimberly Pickle, CPOA, of Southern Eye Care of Clinton, was awarded with the Paraoptometric Community Service Award and has previously taken on leadership roles as president of the Mississippi Paraoptometric Association and as a committee member for the AOA PRC Online Sub Committee. Tamara Franklin, CPOT, ABOC, won the Paraoptometric Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the senior director of staff education and development for Vision Source, LP.Franklin has also been awarded a number of other recognitions, including the 2018 Vision Monday Most Influential Women in Optical, among others.¹

The Dr. Jerry P. Davidoff Vision Care Award has recognized Tracy Matchinski, OD, for her work in a clinical vision rehabilitation practice setting. She previously served as Illinois College of Optometry’s Low Vision Service Chief and helped usher in the college's new Rosenbloom Center on Vision and Aging in 2012, where she served as service coordinator until 2019.¹

References:

1. American Optometric Association Announces 2025 award recipients. News release. American Optometric Association. March 27, 2025. Accessed June 17, 2025. https://www.aoa.org/about-the-aoa/press-room/press-releases/american-optometric-association-announces-2025-award-recipients

2. Session schedule. American Optometric Association. Accessed June 17, 2025. https://s2.goeshow.com/aoa/optometry/2025/session.cfm?_gl=1*14q6nhu*_gcl_au*MTE0NDM5MDM5Ny4xNzQ5NDkyMDk1*_ga*Mzg0Mzc5NDY2LjE3NDk0OTIwOTU.*_ga_YRE8WZ7M26*czE3NTAwODkxNjUkbzMkZzEkdDE3NTAwODkzNTckajYwJGwwJGgw