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Description

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About Elite School of Optometry
The Elite School of Optometry popularly known as ESO in the optometry field is the first and leading college of optometry in India offering a four year professional degree BSOptometry

The college is run by Sankara Nethralaya a tertiary eye care hospital Chennai in collaboration with the Birla Institute of Technology and Science BITS Pilani India Located at close proximity to the Anna International Airport Chennai ESO has a diverse student community coming from various States across the country ESO is considered the IIT of optometry in India The college gives its students a strong academic foundation and excellent clinical training

Optometry is a health care profession and optometrists are primary health care practitioners of the eye who provide comprehensive eye and vision care which includes

Measuring refractive errors

Prescribing glasses contact lenses and low vision aids

Early detectiondiagnosis management and rehabilitation of conditions of the visual system

Providing nonsurgical intervention for specific binocular vision problems like squint

Optometrists offer counseling services on preventive eye and vision care and collaborate with other health disciplines including ophthalmology neurology internal medicine and other health sciences

Mission
Be always the foremost and distinguished in the profession of Optometry Education

Be a unique contributor in the innovative research areas of eye care and vision science

Be indispensable in deciding on ways to improve eye care in the countryespecially in rural India

To work towards achieving societal recognition in Optometry

Work in harmony with ophthalmologists to provide quality and affordable eye care

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History

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ESO INAUGURATION

It was in 1985 that the great visionary and eminent ophthalmologist DrSSBadrinath felt that the eye care delivery system in India lacked sufficiently well qualified vision care professionals to cater to the primary eye care needs of the society There were not enough optometrists to evaluate the status of the eye render noninvasive diagnostic and remedial services and to scientifically deal with refractive errors and prescribe glasses and contact lenses for the same

To fill this vacuum in the eye care delivery system the Elite School of Optometry was started under the guidance of Prof Jay M Enoch the then Dean of the School of Optometry Berkeley and Prof SR Govindarajan Dr Enoch sent valuable books optometric equipments and also deputed eminent faculty members like Dr Cooper Dr HDSingh Dr Grisham Dr Tochiura and Dr McGleon from Berkeley to serve as shortterm teachers During the early years the school functioned at the Sankara Nethralaya campus and was awarding its own BOpt degree In 1987 the college moved to its present location at StThomas Mount a huge green airy campus built on 317 acres

DrsTSSurendran and K Ravishankar worked hard to make this new venture a succees Shri CKShah of the Elite Optical Industries donated the seed money for the creation of a modern program in Optometry and also offered to build a building The Elite School of Optometry was named after the Elite Optical Industries ESO always fondly remembers the invaluable services rendered by Professor Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan DrSrinivasan DrEVaithilingam and DrPPSantanam in helping ESO achieve high levels of excellence

The Elite school since then has excelled in optometric education with the guidance of its great principals and well wishers Since 1994 ESO has been offering its professional qualification as an off campus collaborative degree with Birla Institute of Technology and Science BITS Pilani The college has expanded further into PostGraduate and Doctorate levels offering MPhil and Ph D in Optometry The research activities carried out are of great clinical value To strengthen our research initiatives further the Uthrash Trust funded the department of visual psychophysics which was launched in 2008 Our alumni have been well placed in several countries including Australia New Zealand and the USA We are proud to quoteYou truly are elite elite whose contribution can make incredible differences to India and its people
Dr Brain A Holden Professor of Optometry the University of New South Wales Australia