Feature

Erin Kenny, OD ’15, Resident ’16, FAAO, was a fourth-year student in the low vision rotation at PCO/Salus when she first met PCO/Salus professor Sarah Appel, OD ’79, Residency Low Vision Rehabilitation ’81, FAAO, Diplomate Low Vision Rehabilitation AAO

Because Dr. Appel was strictly clinical, students oftentimes didn’t meet her until their fourth year.

“It sounds very dramatic, but she changed my life. I thought I was going to be a contact lens specialist,” said Dr. Kenny, now chief of the William Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center housed at The Eye Institute (TEI). “Then I did the low vision rotation with Dr. Appel, and she made me fall in love with low vision. She was so intelligent and approachable, but it was her passion that made me realize low vision was what I wanted to do.”

Looking back on her 40-plus years at the Feinbloom Center, Dr. Appel tells a similar story. And, now that she’s officially retired, effective May 2023, as the director of the Pediatric Low Vision Services at TEI and co-director of the Special Populations Assessment and Rehabilitation Center (SPARC) program, which is now known as Disability Services, she’s had a chance to reflect on her passion to help those with visual impairments, which initially developed during her PCO residency in the early 1980s.

“It was a uniquely rewarding experience to work within an interdisciplinary rehabilitation team, to address the goals of adults and children with visual impairments and to practice holistic healthcare,” said Dr. Appel. “I think that passion was communicated to the (optometric) interns and residents by the staff, and it all gelled for me during my residency. I wanted to share that with future generations of optometry students and residents.”

Richard Brilliant, OD ’76, FAAO, AAO Diplomate, department chief at the time, current professor emeritus, along with Randall Jose, OD, FAAO, William Feinbloom, OD, PhD, FAAO, and Audrey Smith, PhD, CLVT, COMS, MEd , professor emerita, helped to develop the interdisciplinary low vision rehabilitation program at PCO/Salus. Dr. Brilliant, who was widely respected within the field of Low Vision Rehabilitation, asked Dr. Appel if she would like to work at the Feinbloom Center.

Dr. Appel jumped at the opportunity. “It was a dream come true for me,” she said about being able to fulfill her innate passion.

There were a lot of exciting things happening then at PCO as the Feinbloom Center had been established in the late 1970s. Dr. William Feinbloom — who had donated his practice to PCO — came to see patients biweekly. In addition, Dr. Jose was the clinic