Yuno Iwabuchi, OD.
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ORLANDO, Fla.—A committee of members in the Cornea, Contact Lenses and Refractive Technologies section of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), named Yuno Iwabuchi, OD, this year’s inaugural recipient of the Joseph T. Barr Early Cornea and Contact Lens Research Award.

Iwabuchi is a fourth-year OD/MS student and teaching assistant at Pacific University College of Optometry. The award is intended to provide MS, PhD, vision science or physiological optics students attending a North American School/College of Optometry research seed funding for a project in cornea/ocular surface or contact lenses, the academy said.

“Dr. Iwabuchi embodies that extremely rare mix of researcher and clinician,” said Patrick J. Caroline, FAAO, associate professor and director of contact lens research at Pacific University College of Optometry. “All of us here at Pacific look forward to Yuno’s future contributions, which will undoubtedly be numerous and of the highest clinical and academic standards.”

Yuno will receive a $2,000 education award and a $750 travel fellowship to attend the Academy 2017 Chicago annual meeting in October.