Optometry
General News
Heimraj Resaul ‘26OD believes learning is a lifelong process and is deeply motivated to continue expanding his knowledge.
And, while he has the opportunity to learn every day as a student in the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Drexel University’s Elkins Park Campus, a recent project gave him the opportunity to add to his wealth of knowledge.
Every year, ABB Optical, a contact lens manufacturer that supports students, has a poster competition where three winners are chosen to present their posters in early January 2026 at the Global Specialty Lens Symposium in Las Vegas.
Resaul was one of this year’s winners, and he presented his poster, titled “A Higher Order Aberration Corrected Dual Sagittal Scleral Lens in Traumatic Aphakia,” at the symposium.
“I know it sounds like a mouthful, but I chose the topic because it’s a relatively new field of optometry,” said Resaul. “We’ve known for a long time that specialty contact lenses can help to manage anterior segment disease and help the patient’s vision be better. But now, with Higher Order Aberration, because it’s so new, we’re able to improve a patient’s vision much farther than what we initially thought. So, it’s an exciting field of optometry, I’m super-interested in it, I’m very excited and I intend to be part of it.”
Originally from Guyana, South America, Resaul was recruited to play tennis at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. During his senior year, he attended a job fair and ended up asking an optometrist what he liked about his job and what set optometry apart from other professions.
The optometrist touted the profession’s work-life balance, something that appealed to Resaul. “I didn’t want a job that was super-demanding of my time, and I think optometry is great for that because it allows us to have that work-life balance,” he said. “It allows you to have a family and a life outside of work, and I really prioritize that.”
After graduating with a degree in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Exercise Physiology, Resaul set his sights on graduate school and chose PCO because it allowed him to stay in the Philadelphia area and offered a three-year Doctor of Optometry Accelerated Scholars program that appealed to him.
Researching the topic for his poster challenged Resaul to dig deep into the topic, something that appealed to his continued desire to expand his base of knowledge.
“Because it’s so new and relatively poorly understood — at least from my point of view as a student — there was so much to learn and so much to put onto the poster that I enjoyed the deep dive into the research and talking to well-known people in that space to learn about it,” said Resaul.
His co-researchers on the poster project were Jenny Dang, OD ‘24, Resident ‘25, and Nicholas Gidosh, OD ‘15, FAAO, assistant professor and chief of Cornea and Contact Lens Service at The Eye Institute (TEI), PCO’s main clinical facility.
After graduation, Resaul hopes to complete a contact lens residency and then remain in academia. He enjoys working with first-and second-year students in the clinical skills lab and wants to give back to those students.
“PCO has given me a great baseline of knowledge, and I’m grateful for everything that I’ve learned,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed working with my preceptors and lecturers, and I think I will look back and be appreciative of this experience.”
