Cliff Caudill (l), pictured with wife Leslie, received his 2017 Kentucky Optometrist of the Year award during the annual spring congress meeting of the Kentucky Optometric Association (KOA).
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PIKEVILLE, Ky.—The Kentucky Optometric Association (KOA) chose Cliff Caudill, OD, as the 2017 Kentucky Optometrist of the Year in recognition of his dedication and service to the profession of optometry and the advancement of vision care in Kentucky. The award is presented annually at the KOA’s spring congress meeting.

Caudill is an associate professor and assistant dean of clinical affairs at the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Optometry (KYCO). Before that, he served 12 years as an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences providing primary eyecare and supervision of the department’s optometric education program.

“Dr. Caudill has taken on the extremely difficult task of designing and contracting the entire clinical program which will produce optometry graduates who represent the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Andrew Buzzelli, OD, MS, vice president for optometric education at the University of Pikeville and founding dean of KYCO.

“He has produced the first hospital training program of any optometry college in the United States. He has seen that three Federally Qualified Health Centers that previously had no eyecare now have optometric eyecare. He continually demonstrates the characteristics of the best of the best,” Buzzelli said.

Caudill received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Kentucky. He earned his doctorate of optometry from the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Optometry and completed a residency in primary care optometry at the Northeastern State University College of Optometry.