J Vernon Odom

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
J Vernon Odom, PhD is Professor of Ophthalmology, Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at West Virginia University where he heads the West Virginia Lions Visual Function Laboratory.

EDUCATION:
He completed his undergraduate education at Davidson College in North Carolina and his graduate education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His postdoctoral training was completed at Case Western Reserve University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Francisco and University of Florida.

PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES:
Dr Odom has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters, and published abstracts. He is a past editor-in-chief of Documenta Ophthalmologica, has served as editor for special issues in Documenta Ophthalmologica, International Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Visual Impairment Research, The Journal of Modern Optics, and Insight.

GRANTS, AWARDS AND PATENTS:
Dr Odom’s research has been supported by grants from several governmental agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Social Security Administration. He was awarded the Francqui International Interuniversity Chair in 1996 by Belgium’s Franqui Foundation. Dr Odom holds three patents with several others pending.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Dr Odom has served in a number of leadership roles within WVU and the WVU Eye Institute. He directed the Center for Vision Enhancement Technology and served as Director of Research at the WVU Eye Institute.

He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV), and has chaired the ISCEV VEP Standardization Committee twice. He has served the Association for Vision and Ophthalmology on its program committee and on its long range planning committee. For his service to ARVO he was recognized as a Gold Fellow. He has served on the Low Vision Research Group’s planning committee serving on its rotating committee of officers. He serves regularly on national grant review panels related to Low Vision. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
His research has centered on assessment of visual function using electrophysiology and psychophysics in normal and abnormal vision. His current research investigates higher order visual perception in older patients with low vision. His specific interest is in optic flow as a means of controlling locomotion and navigation in patients with reduced visual abilities. Related topics which are actively being pursued in his laboratory include:

a) strategies to assess quality of life in patients with reduced vision, and
b) development of strategies to noninvasively assess systemic diseases and toxic exposures.

HOME PAGE
http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/Eye/Faculty/Odom