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Tamara S. Oechslin headshot.

Associate Professor

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HPB 512

Schedule a UAB Eye Care Appointment: (205) 975-2020

Teaching/research interests: Pediatric optometry, binocular vision, vision therapy, vision and learning

Office hours: By appointment

Education:  

  • BA, Iowa State University, Chemistry
  • BS, Iowa State University, Biology
  • OD, The Ohio State University College of Optometry
  • MS, The Ohio State University, Vision Science
  • PhD, The Ohio State University, Vision Science

Dr. Oechslin is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Optometry. She graduated from Iowa State University with bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistry after which she began a decade-long career in the secondary-level science classroom. Having encountered many student limitations to reading and learning that could not be addressed as a teacher, she began considering how visual interventions could support students both inside and outside the classroom. Dr. Oechslin graduated from at The Ohio State University College of Optometry having earned concurrent OD and MS degrees. While working as a Clinical Instructor at The OSU College of Optometry, she pursued a PhD in Vision Science investigating eye movement patterns of young children in relation to early literacy and an fMRI investigation of vergence eye movements in those with normal binocular vision as well as those with convergence insufficiency.

At UABSO, Dr. Oechslin lectures and teaches labs for the binocular vision and pediatrics courses as well as is an attending in the Pediatrics clinic and the Vision Therapy Clinic. She also works with student interns in the Developmental Vision Clinic specialty rotation performing visual perceptual testing and examining low-birth-weight/preterm babies through their first four years. She is continuing research on convergence insufficiency and intermittent exotropia as well as starting further study on vergence eye movements. As her career progresses, she intends to explore further research into the relationships between vision development, binocularity, and the clinical implications of the results.

If you are a clinician, in what UAB Eye Care clinic do you provide care?

  • Pediatric Optometry Services
  • Vision Therapy
  • Developmental Vision
  • Newborn Follow-up Clinic