The National Academies of Practice (NAP) has elected Dr. Elizabeth Hoppe, founding dean of Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Optometry, as a distinguished scholar/member of the NAP. Dr. Hoppe was installed at a membership banquet on March 28 in Arlington, VA, at which the NAP inducted new members from 10 health-care professions.

Dr. Hoppe joined WesternU in January 2007 to establish the University’s College of Optometry, which will welcome its inaugural class in August. She previously was Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the New England College of Optometry, and was a tenured professor at Southern California College of Optometry, where she also was director of the outreach clinical programs, coordinator for the public health curriculum, and clinical preceptor in primary care and low vision. Dr. Hoppe was the first woman chosen as editor of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry’s peer reviewed journal, Optometric Education, and is the first woman in optometry to hold the DrPH, which to date is held by only a small percentage of women.

Also inducted to the NAP was WesternU College of Optometry Advisory Board member Dr. Jan Cooper. Dr. Cooper, a trustee of the California Optometric Association, has been practicing in the Inland Empire for more than 16 years. Prior to joining Community Health Systems, Inc., she had her own practice with an emphasis on children’s vision and learning-related vision problems. For the past nine years, she has been practicing primary eye care with experience in systematic related ocular diseases. She also teaches optics to resident students at Loma Linda University.

The National Academies of Practice was founded in 1981 in recognition of the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in health care. It is composed of distinguished practitioners and scholars from 10 primary health-care professions: Dentistry, Nursing, Optometry, Osteopathic Medicine, Medicine, Psychology, Podiatric Medicine, Social Work, Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy. Only 150 distinguished members can be elected to membership.