April 05, 2021

SAN RAMON, Calif., April 5, 2021—Following the announcement of its 2021 Best Practices honorees, CooperVision has revealed the recipients of its second annual Best Practices Scholarship. Offered to outstanding third-year optometry students, the scholarship enables future eye care professionals to learn directly from some of the best in optometry.  

The 2021 Best Practices Scholarship recipients are:

  • Erika Bendert, University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry
  • Melody Kordnaij, SUNY College of Optometry
  • Lakshmisahithi Rani, New England College of Optometry

Recipients were chosen based on their academic standing at a U.S. optometry school, their demonstration of leadership and participation in school or community activities, honors, and additional optometry-related experience. The Best Practices Scholarship provides them the opportunity to attend the 2021 Best Practices Summit—to be held virtually this spring—where they will listen to and collaborate with both the 2020 and 2021 Best Practices honorees, as well as last year’s scholarship recipients.

“Peer-to-peer collaboration has become a highlight of the Best Practices program, and we are excited to extend those opportunities to exceptional future eye care professionals,” said Michele Andrews, OD, Vice President, Professional and Government Affairs, Americas, CooperVision. “This year’s scholarship recipients stood out for their drive and passion for advancing the profession, so I expect that the Best Practices honorees will gain as much inspiration from the students as the students gain from them.”

The Best Practices Scholarship Program is an expansion of CooperVision’s annual Best Practices initiative, which recognizes optometric practices that advance the profession through innovation, leadership, and the provision of exceptional patient experience.

For more information, visit https://coopervision.com/practitioner/best-practices/academics.

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About CooperVision
CooperVision, a division of CooperCompanies (NYSE:COO), is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of contact lenses. The company produces a full array of daily disposable, two-week and monthly soft contact lenses that feature advanced materials and optics, and premium rigid gas permeable lenses fororthokeratology and scleral designs. CooperVision has a strong heritage of addressing the toughest vision challenges such as astigmatism, presbyopia, childhood myopia, and highly irregular corneas; and offers the most complete portfolio of spherical, toric and multifocal products available. Through a combination of innovative products and focused practitioner support, the company brings a refreshing perspective to the marketplace, creating real advantages for customers and wearers. For more information, visit www.coopervision.com.

About CooperCompanies
CooperCompanies ("Cooper") is a global medical device company publicly traded on the NYSE (NYSE:COO). Cooper operates through two business units, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. CooperVision brings a refreshing perspective on vision care with a commitment to developing a wide range of high-quality products for contact lens wearers and providing focused practitioner support. CooperSurgical is committed to advancing the health of women, babies and families with its diversified portfolio of products and services focusing on medical devices and fertility & genomics. Headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., Cooper has a workforce of more than 12,000 with products sold in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.coopercos.com

Media Contact
Maggie Munley, Associate Counselor
McDougall Communications for CooperVision
maggie@mcdougallpr.com or (585) 434-2149