NORA Names New Executive and Advisory Board Members

The Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association, International (NORA) announced the appointments of its new Executive and Advisory Board members. NORA is an interdisciplinary group of professionals dedicated to providing a complete ocular health evaluation and optimum visual rehabilitation education and services to patients who have physical or cognitive disabilities as a result of an acquired brain injury to improve their quality of life.

The new Executive Board is Charles Shidlofsky, OD, President; Melissa Zarn Urankar, OD, Vice President; and Shirley Blanc, OD, Secretary/Treasurer.

Kathryn Collins, OD, and Cheryl Letheren are new members of the NORA Advisory Board, joining returning member Gina Kim, MOT and Past President DeAnn Fitzgerald, OD.

As summarized in the NORA press release, the biographies of the new board members include the following:

• Dr. Shidlofsky is Clinical Director of Neuro-Vision Associates of North Texas in Plano, Texas, which is a specialty clinic serving children and adults with neurological vision issues, and a member of the medical staff at Baylor Scott and White Institute for Rehabilitation in Frisco, Dallas, and Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Shidlofsky also serves as a consultant for several Texas-based rehabilitation centers, including the Centre for Neuro Skills and Pate Rehabilitation. He is residency director for a private practice residency in vision rehabilitation through Southern College of Optometry (SCO) in Memphis, Tennessee.
• Dr. Zarn Urankar is an Assistant Professor of Optometry at SCO. She evaluates and manages patients with traumatic and acquired brain injuries (TBI/ABI) at the SCO clinics as well as at local rehabilitation hospitals. She is the faculty advisor for SCO’s Student NORA Chapter; the lead instructor for the Interprofessional Education (IPE) series; and is engaged in curriculum development to enhance IPE and collaborative practice opportunities for students at SCO.
• Dr. Blanc assesses and treats patients with visual problems due to acquired and traumatic brain injury. She has conducted many speaking engagements on the topic of vision and concussion for organizations including Brain Injury Canada, Sports Physiotherapists of Canada, the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and the University of Toronto. Dr. Blanc was a co-investigator with the University of Toronto David L. Macintosh Sports Medicine Clinic, looking at various visual manifestations of sport related concussion.
• Dr. Collins is in private practice in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Her practice offers comprehensive examinations for adults and children, contact lenses, treatment of ocular disease, and dry eyes. She has a special interest in treating patients with concussions, dizziness, vestibular issues, and migraines. Dr. Collins works with several multidisciplinary concussion centers in Lancaster County and the greater Philadelphia area.
• Dr. Letheren has more than 20 years of experience with visual rehabilitation. Dr. Letheren helped to form the first multidisciplinary team to assess and treat brain injury patients in a hospital setting in Canada. For the past 18 years, she has been on staff at Parkwood Hospital, a rehabilitation facility in London, Canada, treating acute in-patient and out-patient brain injury, complex care, and stroke patients. She also acts as a consultant for adult concussion patients.