Diana Canto-Sims and Lawrence Chavez knew the needs of the U.S. Latino community when it came to eyecare.
They recognized and witnessed first-hand the language barriers, cultural barriers, access barriers and educational barriers.
They wanted to do something about all of it. But they knew they couldn’t do it alone. So when they founded Latinos En Optometry (LEO) in 2021, the first order of business was to recruit more like-minded individuals.
Less than two years later, Canto-Sims, OD, CEO and founder of La Vida Eyewear and co-owner of Buena Vista Optical in Chicago, and Chavez, founder and CEO of EveryDay Contacts Inc., have filled out their seven-member board and are ready to publicly announce the launch of their nonprofit.
“We are excited to begin building Latinos En Optometry and sharing the resources and connections that will help better address the eyecare needs of the Latino community, and especially the doctors who serve the Latino community,” said Chavez, in a press release. “We are committed to creating generational change to better serve the needs of Latinos now and 20 years from now.”
LEO plans to provide assistance in a number of important areas:
- Supporting Latino optometry students
- Providing resources and communications for Latinos in optometry
- Providing resources and communications to eyecare providers who serve the Latino community
- Serving as a conduit between Latino communities and the eyecare industry
- Providing continuing education to everyone in optometry
“LEO will be a vibrant, engaging, growing organization to support you as you develop your optometric practice, your career, your life,” said Canto-Sims. “We are planning our 2023 events now and are open to ideas that will support, develop, and serve our membership, the Latino community, and the eyecare industry.”
The group will host an introductory event at Vision Expo East in March at the Javits Center in New York City.
Follow this link to join Latinos En Optometry. You can request more information about LEO by emailing info@latinosenoptometry.com.
LEO Board Members
Howard Purcell, OD, of The New England College of Optometry
Diana Canto-Sims, OD, of La Vida Eyewear and Buena Vista Optical in Chicago
Lawrence Chavez of EveryDay Contacts based in Albuquerque
Hector Santiago, OD, of Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Optometry
Glenda Aleman-Moheeputh, OD, of iSmart Vision Care in Miami and OK Love Myopia Control Experts
Karen Carrasquillo, OD, of BostonSight
Diana Shechtman, OD, of Eye Centers of South Florida, the American Academy of Optometry and Optometric Retina Society