Media contact: Brianna Hoge
Kristine Hopkins, professor in the UAB School of Optometry, has received the 2021 Educator of the Year award from the Alabama Optometric Association.The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Kristine Hopkins, O.D., was named the 2021 Alabama Optometric Association Educator of the Year.
Hopkins joined the UAB School of Optometry faculty in the summer of 1998 and founded UAB Eye Care’s Vision Therapy Clinic. She currently serves as a professor and the associate dean for Academic Affairs in the UAB School of Optometry.
“Dr. Hopkins gives so much of herself to our students and young patients,” said Kelly Nichols, dean of the UAB School of Optometry. “Everyone who has the opportunity to experience her gifts as a leader, educator and clinician is fortunate — she changes lives for the better. This honor is well deserved.”
Hopkins is a four-time awardee of the American Optometric Student Association Excellence in Teaching award and a recipient of the UAB President’s award for Excellence in Teaching. Her clinical responsibilities include treating young patients as an attending physician in UAB Eye Care’s Pediatric Clinic and overseeing the Vision Therapy Clinic.
“The students at the School of Optometry are brilliant — they challenge me and keep me sharp,” Hopkins said. “I love sharing my passion for pediatrics and for binocular vision disorders with them.”