Professor
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

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HPB 520

Schedule a UAB Eye Care Appointment: (205) 975-2020

Teaching/research interests: Eye teaming and focusing disorders (convergence insufficiency, strabismus, etc), amblyopia, and pediatric vision

Office hours: By appointment

Education:  

• OD, UAB School of Optometry
• Residency, Southern California College of Optometry, Pediatrics, Vision Therapy, and Binocular Vision
• MSPH, UAB School of Public Health, Public Health/Epidemiology

While attending undergraduate studies in math and chemistry at Georgia Tech, Dr. Hopkins worked as a vision therapist in a local optometric practice. This part-time job eventually led Dr. Hopkins to optometry school and then a residency specializing in pediatric vision and vision therapy. Following her residency, Dr. Hopkins returned to UAB School of Optometry to join the pediatric clinical faculty. Under her direction, the Pediatric Clinical Services added the Vision Therapy Clinic which delivers care to children and adults with eye-teaming and focusing disorders. In the 20 years since its inception, the vision therapy clinic has grown from administering 150 therapy visits per year to over 2,400. Dr. Hopkins provides routine eye care for pediatric patients in the Pediatrics Clinical Services.  She also provides care to patients with double vision and eye muscle disorders in the Double Vision Clinic and the Vision Therapy Clinical Services. 

Dr. Hopkins is the course director for course masters the Anomalies of Binocular Vision course sequence. These courses train our optometry students to properly diagnose and manage amblyopia and disorders of focusing (accommodation) and eye-teaming (vergences and strabismus). Dr. Hopkins is a four-time awardee of the AOSA Excellence in Teaching Award and two-time recipient of the UAB President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Hopkins also lectures nationally and internationally to other professionals in the areas of pediatric vision care and anomalies of binocular vision. Dr. Hopkins has also served as an advisor to the National Board of Examiners in Optometry and is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Optometry in Binocular Vision, Perception, and Pediatric Optometry.

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Research interests:

Dr. Hopkins’ research interests include convergence insufficiency, amblyopia, ocular motor dysfunction, strabismus, and children’s vision. Dr. Hopkins served as the Site Principal Investigator for the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) and the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial – Attention and Reading Trial (CITT-ART). Both of these studies were multi-center, randomized clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health. Both studies investigated the efficacy of vision therapy in the treatment of convergence insufficiency. Dr. Hopkins has also served as an investigator in the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG) since 1999. PEDIG is a collaborative network of pediatric optometrists and ophthalmologists supported by the National Institutes of Health. This group consists of over 100 clinical sites with over 300 investigators performing clinical research related to the management of amblyopia, exotropia, hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, and other pediatric eye conditions.

Select publications:

• Jenewein EC, Cotter S, Roberts T, Kulp M, Mitchell GL, Jones-Jordan LA, Chen AM, Hopkins K, Huang K, Amster D, Fecho G, Tyler J, Meiyeppen S, Scheiman M, CITT-ART Investigator Group. Vergence/Accommodative therapy for symptomatic convergence insufficiency in children: Time course of improvements in convergence function.  Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2023 Jan;43(1):105-115.

• Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial Study Group. Randomized Clinical Trial of Treatments for Symptomatic Convergence Insufficiency in Children. Arch Ophthalmol. 2008 Oct; 126 (10): 1336-1349.

• Lyon DW, Hopkins K, Chu RH, Tamkins SM, Cotter SA, Melia BM, Holmes JM, Repka MX, Wheeler DT, Sala NA, Dumas J, Silbert DI, Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group. Feasibility of a clinical trial of vision therapy for treatment of amblyopia. Optom Vis Sci. 2013 May; 90(5): 475-81.

• Bolding, M. S., Lahti, A. C., Gawne, T. J., Hopkins, K. B., Gurler, D., & Gamlin, P. D. Ocular convergence deficits in schizophrenia. Front in Psychiatry. 2012 Oct 17; 3:86.

• Hopkins KB, Pate CB, McGwin G. Objective measures of the effects of the “Read Without Glasses Method”. Optom Vis Sci. 2012 Aug;89(8): 1203-10.

• Orlansky G, Hopkins KB, Mitchell GL, Huang K, Frazier M, Heyman C, Scheiman M. Reliability of the developmental eye movement test. Optom Vis Sci. 2011 Dec; 88(12): 1507-19.

• Wallace D, Lazar E, Melia M, Birch E, Holmes J, Hopkins K, Kraker R, Kulp M, Pang Y, Repka M, Tamkins S, Weise K, PEDIG. Stereoacuity in children with anisometropic amblyopia. JAAPOS. 2011 October; 15(5): 455-461.

• Scheiman M, Kulp MT, Cotter S, Mitchell GL, Galloway M, Boas M, Coulter R, Hopkins K, Tamkins S, The Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial Study Group. Vision Therapy/Orthoptics for Symptomatic Convergence Insufficiency in Children: Treatment Kinetics. Opt Vis Sci. August 2010: 87(8): 593-603.

Academic distinctions and professional societies:  

• Diplomate of the American Academy of Optometry in Binocular Vision, Perception, and Pediatric Optometry
• Associate Member of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development
• Member of the American Optometric Association
• Chief of Vision Therapy Services

Clinical specialties/areas of expertise:

Pediatric vision, eye muscle disorders, strabismus, and vision therapy

If you are a clinician, in what UAB Eye Care clinic do you provide care?

• Pediatrics Clinic
• Vision Therapy Clinic