PHOTO SUBMITTED

Above, Dr. Jeremy Diamond, with his wife Candace, is awarded with the Young O.D. of the
Year award the Tennessee Optometric Association 2009 Congress at the Park Vista Hotel
in Gatlinburg.

NEWPORT-At the annual meeting on Aug. 27-30 at Gatlinburg's Park Vista Hotel, the Tennessee Optometric Association(TOA) named Dr. Jeremy Diamond the Young Doctor of Optometry of the Year.

Dr. Diamond practices at Drs. Foster and Steele Family Optometry in full scope primary care optometry, which includes fitting toric, bifocal, and post-surgical contact lenses; certified in the treatment of glaucoma and other ocular diseases; and co-manages with ocular surgeons to provide comprehensive eye and vision working with cataract, refractive, and retinal specialists.

Dr. Diamond serves as a current member of TOA; he is represented along with more than 600 doctors of optometry, optometry students and paraoptometic assistants and technicians from nearly every county across the state. The mission of TOA is to "promote the highest quality eye health and vision care for Tennessee residents; advance the profession of optometry through education and advocacy; and to serve as a primary resource for public health and vision care in Tennessee."

"This award was a total surprise," said Dr. Diamond. "I had no idea that I would be named Young Doctor of Optometry of the Year. It is an honor just to be nominated for, but actually winning the award is an even bigger honor."

Dr. Kurt Steele, who nominated Dr. Diamond for this award, explained that the state is divided into ten societies. Each society has a nominee each year for the award. A society can nominate a doctor for this award if he or she is a licensed optometrist and in practice for seven years or less.

"Dr. Diamond has been in practice for two years, and I am so impressed by what he has accomplished," said Dr. Steele. "He shows great leadership, and I could not think of anyone better to nominate."

Dr. Steele, winner of the 2008 Optometrist of the Year award, said that Dr. Diamond came to Drs. Foster and Steele as a resident because it is a teaching practice. After three months of working at the Newport practice, Dr. Diamond decided to stay.

Dr. Diamond earned his Bachelors of Science in chemistry from Eastern Kentucky University in 2003 and earned his Doctor of Optometry from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis in 2007. After his first externship for Commonwealth Eye Surgery in Lexington, KY, Dr. Diamond was placed for an externship in a private practice setting with Drs. Foster and Steele Family Optometry.

"Southern College of Optometry places you in different areas/niches that optometrists work in," said Dr. Diamond. "The last externship that I did was with Drs. Foster and Steele. After that externship, I was offered a full time position in 2007 when I graduated.

"I enjoy this area. I am a very avid hiker, and this area is near to my hometown in West Virginia. The college places you all over the country for your externships, but thankfully, Drs. Foster and Steele were closer to home."

Dr. Diamond explained that Southern College of Optometry has an adjunct faculty that takes students around different states to show them the ropes of being an optometrist and help transition them into patient care outside of the clinic. He said that the college can send you anywhere from Alaska to Florida, especially for your externships.

"Since I began working for Drs. Foster and Steele, I have the privilege to work with the Special Olympics state meet in Nashville," said Dr. Diamond. "I work in a tent known as Optometrists Giving Sight. Eight to twelve doctors donate time to screen athletes' eye pathologies such as nearsightedness or farsightedness. Many of these athletes are usually under-served, atypical patients.

"I am passionate about the Giving Sight tent because many people are under-served due to transportation problems due to some physical limitations that they may have. This gives the athletes and their families the opportunity to have a free advanced screening for eye diseases and pathologies. Many eye diseases in special needs patients are caused from birth defects that appear later in development or happen straight from birth. Myself and the other doctors who volunteer try to help and care for the patients by donating time and needs like glasses that are free of charge. Last year, we helped 200+ athletes and families at the state meet in May."

Along with the Optometrists Giving Sight, Dr. Diamond is working on making people in the county more aware of a program called InfantSEE.

"InfantSEE is a program where doctors volunteer to see children age one year old and younger for free. We check for gross vision development problems such as focus and depth perception. If any eye developmental problems are caught at an early age, it can be easily fixed so the child can begin to see what he or she should being seeing," said Dr. Diamond. "We also check the eye alignment to help prevent lazy eyes or wandering eyes, check the color vision, and check the overall eye health inside and out."

InfantSEE is designed to give a preventative screening with an optometrist to check for any development or eye diseases that a child may have but a pediatrician check-up may not reveal, Dr. Diamond explains. Making more people in the county more aware of this free service will greatly help children's overall eye health long before they are in grade school, which is when most eye and vision problems become most noticeable.

"Dr. Diamond has done a lot for such a young doctor in the practice," said Dr. Steele. "He spearheads the booth at the Special Olympics every year and is trying to make Cocke County residents aware of the InfantSEE program. Dr. Foster, Dr. Diamond, and myself are active participants in giving complimentary eye health evaluations to infants between nine months and twelve months of age. But Dr. Diamond is on the Optometry State Board and runs the East Tennessee State Committee for optometry. I honestly do not know if we would have won any awards if we were not such a successful practice. The residents of Newport and Cocke County have helped us to come this far."