Jason Nichols OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO

Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO, is the Senior Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also actively conducts ocular surface and contact lens research and trains PhD students and Fellows. Prior to his current position, Dr. Nichols was the Kevin McDaid Vision Source Professor (with tenure) at the University of Houston College of Optometry between 2011 and 2014, and an Associate Professor (with tenure) at The Ohio State University College of Optometry from 2004-2011. While at the University of Houston, he co-founded The Ocular Surface Institute (TOSI) and was its Chief Operating Officer; TOSI had a team of 20 scientists, project managers, faculty and graduate students dedicated in translational ocular surface-based research. Dr. Nichols received his undergraduate degree at Hope College (BA, biology), and Doctor of Optometry, a Master’s in Public Health (epidemiology), and PhD (vision science) all from Ohio State University.

Dr. Nichols has received research funding from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health to study dry eye diseases including meibomian gland disease, dry eye and contact lens-related dry eye. He currently receives R01 funding (NIH/NEI EY026947) to study the structural and functional changes in the tear film associated with meibum composition changes in meibomian gland dysfunction. He has also received funding from the American Optometric Foundation, in addition to a variety of industrial partners in excess of $10 million as Principal Investigator, and $100 million as Co-Investigator. He writes and lectures extensively on contact lenses and ocular surface conditions such as dry eye and meibomian gland disease. He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, over 200 clinical manuscripts, and over 200 abstracts, and has given over 200 lectures worldwide on these topics.

Dr. Nichols is currently the Editor of Contact Lens Spectrum and Contact Lenses Today®, whose publications reach over 50,000 eyecare practitioners worldwide. Dr. Nichols also serves as an Associate Editor for Eye and Contact Lens and is on the editorial board of The Ocular Surface. Dr. Nichols is a dual diplomate in both the American Academy of Optometry’s (AAO) sections of Public Health and Environmental Optometry and Cornea, Contact Lenses, and Refractive Technology. He has also the chair of the AAO’s Research Committee and is a prior member of the Board of Directors of the American Optometric Foundation—the philanthropic arm of the American Academy of Optometry. He also Chaired of the Tear Film and Ocular Surface (TFOS) Society’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board, and the TFOS International Workshop on Contact Lens Discomfort (2013). He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Sjogren Foundation. His awards include three Ezell Fellowships, the Borish Award from the American Academy of Optometry, the Legends Award of the Contact Lens and Cornea Section of the AOA, and Distinguished Scholar and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice. In 2016, Dr. Nichols was honored as one of Contact Lens Spectrum’s top 30 most influential in the field of contact lenses over the last 30 years.