Helen Metzler, COA

Helen Metzler, COA, is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the University of California/Davis. Her passion has always been in the area of service, both abroad and in the U.S., and she has a deep commitment to international aid. Over the past 11 years, Helen has participated in 7 medical/optical missions to Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Mexico. On these missions, she interpreted for medical personnel, conducted eye health screening and education, and dispensed eyeglasses.

Helen not only "provides fish," she teaches "how to fish." She had a permanent and enduring impact on local populations when she trained local volunteers in eye glass repair, and eye health screening. She has maintained contact with some of the children she helped in the Dominican Republic, and hopes as they grow up to connect them with eye technician training at the Santo Domingo Eye Center. In the U.S., she coordinated a Sight for Students outreach, and has solicited physicians and industry for donations of medications, instruments, and supplies. Her article "Ophthalmic Personnel Respond to Global Eye Health Needs" is an approved "CE on the Internet" article on ATPO's Web site.

Just as Virginia Boyce had a tremendous impact on the immediate, in addition to an eye towards the future, Helen has multiplied her service in developing nations by reaching out to other ophthalmic medical personnel, and by training local individuals to continue the work.