JoAnndria Brown, OD, has joined the UAB School of Optometry faculty as an assistant professor. She joined the faculty following her Cornea and Contact Lens Residency at the school and will continue focusing on this specialty.
Brown, who is the first doctor in her family, decided to become an optometric educator during her residency.
“As a resident, I worked in the contact lens lab with students, I was an attending, and I presented lectures,” she said. “I realized that academia was the right setting for me to give back to a field that has given me so much fulfillment.”
Brown developed an interest in cornea and contact lenses as an optometry student at the Southern College of Optometry, where she earned her Doctor of Optometry degree in 2025.
“At my external rotations, I fit scleral lenses for the first time on a patient with keratoconus,” she said. “I watched her entire life change. Fitting sclerals and working with patients who have keratoconus has been so meaningful to me.”
In addition to her academic and clinical responsibilities at the school, the Madison, Mississippi, native hopes to become involved in research.
“I am excited about the support of other faculty throughout this process,” she said.
Brown demonstrated exceptional leadership and professional achievement as an optometry student, serving as international president of both Gold Key and the National Optometric Student Association. She also participated in the Professional Eye Care Associates of America (PECAA) Propel Program and the VSP Future Leaders Academy, earned the X-Cel Contacts Outstanding GP Fitting Award, and received multiple scholarships, including the Dr. David White Memorial Scholarship and the Dr. Richard A. Goodson Memorial Endowed Scholarship.