Dr. Afua Asare’s journey to where she is today has been anything but simple or easy. With four degrees under her belt – a Doctor of Optometry (OD) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), a Master of Public Heal (MPH) from Harvard, a masters (MSc) in vision science from the University of Waterloo, and a PhD in health services research from the University of Toronto. She is now employed at the University of Utah, working to improve vision care access for underprivileged children.
Asare earned her OD degree in 2009 from KNUST, Ghana, where an OD degree is a six-year commitment. As a practicing optometrist following her graduation, Asare was quick to realize her interest in population health. She noticed how much of a need there was for vision care in her community, yet only those of high socioeconomic status could afford the services at her clinic.
“I didn’t really know what it was called at the time, but I was wondering how we could use health programs and policy to ensure people who couldn’t afford our services would get access to care,” says Asare.
She practiced for less than a year before making the move to Boston, Massachusetts to obtain her MPH at Harvard University. Once she understood the relationship between population health and vision care, Asare’s interest only grew.
The knowledge she gained from her public health degree was broad and she wanted to explore more of the field through a vision science lens, so Asare began to look for programs that would allow her to do so. Eventually, she landed on the Master of Vision Science program at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science. At the time, Asare was still considering becoming a licensed optometrist in North America, so she was attracted by the possibility of also joining the School’s International Optometric Bridging Program (IOBP), the predecessor of the Advanced Standing Optometry Preparatory Program (ASOPP).
However, after recognizing the arduous and expensive process it would be to acquire a North American optometric license, she decided to lean wholeheartedly into her public health interests.
From her time at the School, where she focused on physiological optics, Asare remembers a diverse, tight-knit and supportive community. She fondly recalls eating hotdogs at barbeques, attending social events and breathing fresh air. However, the resident campus geese are among her favourite memories of her time here at Waterloo.
“I remember one year, sometime in the spring, geese nested at the front entrance of the building, so the School issued an email asking us to use the back entrance,” she says with a laugh.
Asare graduated from the School over a decade ago, and recently, she returned as a guest speaker for the Vision Science Research Seminar Series. Stepping into the building, it felt like nothing had changed, except now her role was reversed – she was speaking to students who were sitting in the same chairs she sat in all those years ago. “It felt strange, but it was good; a nice reminder of how far I’ve come,” she says.
After graduating, Asare worked as a research assistant at the Lawson Health Research Institute and a research program coordinator at the Ivey Eye Institute in London, Ontario for a few years before pursuing a PhD at the University of Toronto.
Today, Asare is a research assistant professor in the department of Ophthalmology & Visual Science and an adjunct assistant professor in the department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two children, who are five and three years old. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the piano, hiking, and road biking. She doesn’t have any family in Utah, but she’s built a community of friends and colleagues who’ve become her support system.
Through her research, she is looking to bridge gaps in access to vision care for disadvantaged children. A major focus of her work involves improving the identification of children with vision problems in pediatric primary care and ensuring proper referral to eye care specialists. Over the next few years, Asare hopes to develop a clinical decision support tool that will be built into electronic health records to help pediatricians and primary care providers recognize when a child needs to see an optometrist or other vision specialist.
When asked why this issue is important to her, she says, “these children have their whole lives to live. Without good vision, they have fewer education and work options, which affects their socioeconomic status for the rest of their lives.”