Susan Cotter

Dr. Susan Cotter, a Professor at the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B Ketchum University, is a paediatric optometrist and clinician-scientist with primary research interests related to clinical management strategies for amblyopia, strabismus, convergence insufficiency, and childhood refractive error.  She is the co-Chair of the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG), a clinical research network of 350+ paediatric optometrists and ophthalmologists funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute (NIH/NEI), who perform clinical investigations related to pediatric eye disorders. Sue has served in leadership positions for several large-scale NEI-funded studies - the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS), the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Refractive Error (CLEERE), the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT), and the CITT-Attention & Reading Trial (CITT-ART). 

Sue began her Presidency as the Academy of Optometry starting in November 2022. She also serves on the Scientific Bureau of the World Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (WSPOS) and recently served as the Co-Chair of the Public Health & Disparities Research Panel for the NEI’s Strategic Plan for the Future (2021-2025). 

Sue is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the Excellence in Optometric Education Award from the California Optometric Association, Women in Optometry’s Theia Award of Excellence in Education, and Outstanding Faculty of the Year from 18 third-year optometry classes. Sue is a Diplomate in Binocular Vision, Perception, and Pediatric Optometry and a Fellow of COVD. She is a former American Optometric Foundation (AOF) Ezell Fellow and the 2019 recipient of the Glenn A Fry Lecture Award from the Academy.

A graduate of the Illinois College of Optometry, Sue completed a residency in Children’s Vision at SCCO, and received an MS in Clinical & Biomedical Investigations from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. Sue is the editor of the textbook "Clinical Applications of Prisms" and lectures internationally in the areas of pediatric eye care and binocular vision.