EYECARE: Optometry SUNY Optometry Opens Sports and Performance Vision Center By Staff Monday, September 14, 2015 12:00 AM NEW YORK—The new Sports and Performance Vision Center (SPVC), a state-of-the art facility directed by one of the foremost authorities on sports vision, has opened at the University Eye Center at the State University of New York College of Optometry in Midtown Manhattan. Daniel M. Laby, MD, an ophthalmologist with more than two decades of experience enhancing and improving the vision of professional and elite athletes, directs the SPVC and holds an appointment of associate clinical professor in the Vision Rehabilitation Service. “I am very excited and appreciative of the opportunity to develop the Sports and Performance Vision Clinic at SUNY Optometry,” Dr. Laby said. “New York is the center of the sporting world and the College is at the center of optometric care. This is a perfect storm that will undoubtedly lead to success.” Dr. David Troilo, vice president and dean for Academic Affairs at SUNY Optometry, said, “Sports vision is a burgeoning area in eyecare and we’re very pleased to have him here to build what we expect will be an important element of our educational and clinical activities at the College.” Sports vision involves developing and implementing evaluation and training techniques that are specifically designed to improve the visual abilities of an athlete. Sports vision specialists often look to improve skills such as eye-hand coordination, dynamic visual acuity, peripheral awareness, focusing and visual reaction time in addition to the basic visual functions of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity as well as binocular vision. The field has grown exponentially in recent years, with many professional sports teams now regularly employing sports vision specialists as part of their training and medical staffs. Dr. Laby’s work in sports vision began more than two decades ago when he started working with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, a relationship which continued for 18 seasons. Laby has also been responsible for the visual performance of the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, and he currently works with the Boston Red Sox (which he has done for the past decade), as well as the Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs. Laby also spent the last three seasons working with the National Basketball Association’s Boston Celtics as well as the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings. Laby also worked with the U.S. Olympic team prior to the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and attended the games with the team. Prior to joining the SUNY faculty, he was an assistant clinical professor of ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, and was a member of the clinical faculty at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary as well as the New England College of Optometry. “We’re very pleased to welcome Dr. Laby and look forward to the work that he’ll be doing in our new Sports and Performance Vision Center,” said Dr. Neera Kapoor, chief of Vision Rehabilitation Services at the University Eye Center, one of the largest vision care clinics in the country with approximately 70,000 patient visits annually. “People are becoming increasingly savvy and aware of the vast range of specialized visual skills required for improving function and success at their respective occupation, sport or hobby.”