Bill Mattingly Memorial Scholarship
2017 Receipient
Dr. Crystal Wang has been selected as the second scholarship recipient in the Spring of 2017. She is a fourth year student at the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry (UCBSO), and is currently applying for a low vision residency at Ian L. Bailey Low Vision Residency at UCBSO. She has received several awards, some of which include: 2016 Curtis W. Keswick Alumni VA Residency Low Vision Award, 2015-2017 UCBSO School of Optometry Departmental Awards, and 2014 Student Fellow of American Academy of Optometry.
Previously, she also served as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) to undergraduates at UC Berkeley as well as completed rotations at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco, California. She has also been part of a non-profit organization since 2012 as the VP of Recruitment and has attended two volunteer trips abroad, the most memorable of which was a volunteer mission trip in the rural mountains of Taiwan during the summer of 2014.
She has enjoyed the vast amount and unique diversity of low vision services she has encountered - both in the ages and ethnicities of patients as well as in the myriad of low vision challenges where she's had the opportunity to assist patients. Hoping that these experiences will prepare her to serve the low vision community domestically and abroad, she states, “This holistic care for the individual person is what I love most about low vision. Low vision examinations offer the opportunity for eye providers to deeply learn about their patients’ functional vision and its impact on all aspects of their lives.”
After graduation, she aspires to take her teaching background towards an academic career in a Low Vision clinic, and combine that with her passion for interacting with patients outside the examination room. She strives to inspire more young Optometrists to pursue a career in low vision and spread awareness of the field while still continuing to volunteer her time as an Optometrist.
