Awards
- School of Optometry Foley House Basement Key Award - 2011
- IU Indianapolis Spirit of Philanthropy Award - 2010
About Gerald Lowther
Dr. Gerald Lowther received his B.Sc, O.D., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio State University. He has been on the optometry faculties of Ohio State University, Ferris State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He was also Chair Professor of Vision Science (part-time) under the Distinguished Scholars Program of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Lowther served as dean of the IU School of Optometry from 1998 until 2008, a period when externally funded research increased from less than $500,000 to more than $5.5 million and the number of individuals supported by research grants rose from four to more than 20. In 2007, he saw ground broken on Third Street in Bloomington on what is now IU's $3 million Atwater Eye Care Center. Under his leadership, the school became a premier institution for optometric education, patient care, and research.
Lowther is credited with developing a computer-controlled videodisk for contact lens education and a computer program for contact lens calculations. A past member of the American Optometric Association's Council on Research and charter member and executive council member of the International Society for Contact Lens Research, he worked to start the first optometry program in Poland and was instrumental in setting up community clinics in Bloomington and Guanajuato, Mexico, and an optometry program at the Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Thailand. He has also served as the external academic advisor to the optometry program at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Lowther, who was inducted into the American Optometric Association's National Optometry Hall of Fame last year, received the Boucher Award from NAP Optometry Academy Chair Satya B. Verma. A past president of American Academy of Optometry, the National Board of Examiners in Optometry and the International Society for Contact Lens Research, Lowther has also been elected as a Distinguished Scholar to the National Academy of Practice in Optometry, has received the Life Fellowship Award from the American Academy of Optometry and been a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Indiana Optometric Association.