AOS announces winner of 2013 Dr. Harvey Yamamoto Award

Los Angeles-The American Optometric Society (AOS) announced the recipient of the 2013 Dr. Harvey Yamamoto Award Scholarship, based on an essay specifically entailing how social media can be used in an optometric practice to improve patient care and outcomes.

Nicholas Gubler, Arizona College of Optometry at Midwestern University (AZOPT), is the winner of this year’s “Harvey” award, receiving a plaque and $1,000. The AOS presents the award to honor Dr. Yamamoto's lifelong history of giving back to the profession of optometry and the community in which ODs practice.

Gubler is a member of the inaugural class of the AZCOPT. He pursued optometry in college as a tutor for dyslexic students and with his studies in visual communication at Brigham Young University-Idaho. As a first-year optometry student, Gubler went to Ensenada, Mexico, with his classmates and faculty to provide eye care to the local population.

He first became involved in mission trips when he served an evangelical mission for his church in Hamburg, Germany. Gubler plans on being active in his local community and continuing his service internationally.