Bill Mattingly Memorial Scholarship

2023 Recipients

Dr. Payton Holden                                           Curt Fritts-Davis

Dr. Payton Holden was awarded a $2500 scholarship in the Spring of 2023. A graduate of the Illinois College of Optometry, Dr. Holden is currently a Low Vision Resident at ICO and the Chicago Lighthouse.  Her interest in low vision stems from the fact that her father lost his sight due to diabetic retinopathy before she was born. She grew up in a household filled with low vision aids such as bump dots, white canes and talking watches and as a result she is passionate about educating her colleagues on the importance of low vision referrals and addressing the gap of understanding regarding the resources available to patients through low vision exams.  Her advisor wrote "Outside of knowing that Payton will be a force in the low vision community for years to come, she is already an outstanding clinician.  She graduated her clinical areas with honors...and develops great rapport with patients." Dr. Holden has secured a position at the Milwaukee Veteran's Affairs hospital as well as with a private practice interested in expanding it's scope to include low vision rehabilitation services.

Optometry student Curt Fritts-Davis was awarded a $1000 scholarship in the Spring of 2023. He is a fourth year student at The Ohio State University College of Optometry.  His passion for low vision is grounded in a fascination with vision and perception that dates back to his youth spent studying optical illusion books.  It was further solidified while studying the principles of light in the optics unit of his biomedical engineering courses.   Ultimately, Fritts-Davis' path to a future in low vision was won by the tears of joy he experienced with patients on a weekly basis when he started rotations in the low vision clinic.  Curt serves as the President of the OSU Student Chapter of the AAO and has presented at annual meetings on the "Assessment of a Smartphone Pupillometer as a Screening Tool for Visual Dysfunction after TBI" and a "Relationship Between Pupillary Light Reflex and Accomodative and Binocular Vision Dysfunction in Individuals with TBI."