Jay Enoch

As a young man, Prof. Enoch was charged by the Subcommittee on Vision and Its Disorders (National Advisory Neurological Diseases and Blindness Council, NIH) to write what proved (later) to be the raison d'être and plan for the formation of the National Eye Institute. He has since served two terms on the National Advisory Eye Council, NIH.
He has led standards development in visual acuity, perimetry, spectacle lenses, contact lenses, sunglasses, and laser eye safety. He helped plan/execute the modern Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and played a role in development of publications of that body. He served as Chairman of the first Committee on Research of the American Academy of Optometry, and as Chairman of the first Council on Research of the American Optometric Association. And he has been the effective liaison between the senior ophthalmologic and optometric professional organizations for decades.

He led in the development of a quality school of optometry in Chennai (Madras), India. This was the first modern optometry school in that nation, and this has been achieved with cooperation of ophthalmology at the Medical and Vision Research Foundation in that city. The Elite School of Optometry has now been accepted as an external program of the Birla Institute for Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, and a graduate program in optometry has been developed. This school is a model for ca. 6 new schools of optometry in India (including Mumbai (Bombay), Puna, Calcutta, Hyderabad). And he has maintained a research laboratory at the Aravind Eye Hospital at Madurai, India.

During twelve years as Dean at the School of Optometry at U.C. Berkeley, he sought to develop further the research and clinical programs of this distinguished institution. In particular, he sought to develop enhanced programs relating basic to clinical science in pediatric and neonatal care, low vision, geriatric and gerontological care, etc. He led in the development of a substantial new research structure for the School (a two-floor addition to the original Minor Hall), and with then Clinic Director Dr. Weylin Eng, he created a modern clinic in the University Student Health Service (Tang Center) on the Berkeley Campus.