Centennial
A pioneer in pediatric optometry, Dr. Jack Richman has always been a leader, mentor, and friend to many. Publishing an average of one to two publications per year, lecturing more than 350 times, creating new vision tests for children, and carrying his optometric expertise into law enforcement – Dr. Richman’s career has been anything but ordinary.
Born and raised in South and then West Philadelphia, Dr. Richman attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science from 1960 to 1964. Around that time, Dr. Richman met his wife, Judi as she worked as an obstetrics nurse at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. A few years later, they welcomed their son Harvey into the world and their daughter, Roni, a few years later after that.
In 1964, he began his journey into optometry as a result of the Board of Trustees full scholarship at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO). Dr. Richman credits his work at local summer camps as the place his interest in children originally began. “I found that pediatrics was a very new area and kids with disabilities were especially underserved,” he said. He saw how important and impactful it was for children to have their vision tested and receive treatment because he knew it would affect them for the rest of their lives.
After graduation, Dr. Richman remained at PCO, lecturing and working as the assistant chief of the Binocular Vision Department. He also spent his time as a staff pediatric optometrist within various public schools, including Bucks County public schools and the Ashbourne School for Children with Learning Disabilities.
In 1973, PCO president, Dr. Norman Wallis, approached Dr. Richman with the hopes of creating a pediatric optometry service and clinic – a concept that was in its infancy at the time. When he told his wife, Judi, about Dr. Wallis’ proposition, she said “go out and buy two nice suits, go back to Wallis and say you’re in – but you will need help.”
Dr. Wallis supported Dr. Richman in this new endeavor as he visited three other optometry and medical clinics, learning about their staff, protocols and administration. Together with Dr. Wallis, the process of creating the College’s own Pediatric Optometry program was started. Dr. Richman was then appointed as the first chief of Pediatric Optometry Services and coordinator of the Pediatric Optometry Residency Program. Working closely with Louis Hoffman, OD ’56, the department flourished and developed rapidly.
Over the next two years, Drs. Eric Cohen, OD ‘74, Jerry Rosenstein OD, Ted Smiley OD ‘75, Ralph Garzia, OD, and Christopher Weidig, OD ‘75, became the first graduates of PCO’s pediatric residency program.
In 1974, Dr. Richman became the seventh and youngest person in the country to be awarded the Diplomate in Binocular Vision and Perception from the American Academy of Optometry. He eventually became the chair of the Binocular Vision and Perception section in the American Academy of Optometry in the 1990s.
When asked about his mentor and friend, Anthony F. Di Stefano, OD ’73 said, "Dr. Jack Richman played a pivotal role in advancing PCO's educational and clinical programs in binocular vision and pediatric optometry. He strengthened and expanded the binocular vision curriculum at a time when the PCO curriculum was undergoing significant transformation. He laid the foundation for the Pediatric Optometry Clinic and Residency Program. Very importantly, he played a historical role in networking at the local and state levels. His leadership built a unique relationship with the Ashbourne School for Children with Learning Disabilities and represented PCO in the Pennsylvania Department of Health School Health Committee for Comprehensive Planning. The foundation that Dr. Richman built has been instrumental in the many PCO achievements in the field of Pediatric Optometry over the last three decades."
Dr. Richman left PCO in 1977 and moved to Michigan to begin working as chief of the Pediatric Optometry Binocular Vision Services at the new Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University. “Being a new school, our team of eight faculty members and the dean worked very hard to build the program. In the small town of Big Rapids, many of us lived in the same neighborhood and worked together to improve the new College of Optometry and clinic,” he said.
After seven years in Michigan, he and his wife decided it was time to relocate back east. Torn between offers in New York City or Boston, Dr. Richman accepted a teaching position as a full professor at the New England College of Optometry (NECO) lecturing in pediatric optometry, binocular vision, and strabismus – where he would remain for the next 26 years. Along with serving as chief of Pediatrics at the New England Eye Institute for several years, and affiliated clinics, such as the Dimock Community Health Center in Boston; he also served on the consulting staff at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital assessing and treating vision problems related to traumatic brain injuries.
Throughout his career, Dr. Richman frequently found a need for easier and rapid vision tests for young children – so he decided to design his own. In 1984, he developed the Broken Wheel Acuity Test. Used for testing visual acuity in children aged two through five, the test is independent of verbal responses and can thus be administered to pre-verbal or nonverbal children with disabilities. Twelve years later, he developed the Richman Face Dot Test (RFDT™), with the similar intention of accurately testing the visual acuity of children with disabilities.
One of his most notable vision tests however is the Developmental Eye Movement Test (DEM). Dr. Stanley Hatch, the current chief of Pediatrics and Binocular Vision Service at The Eye Institute (TEI) of Salus University described the test as “One of Dr. Richman’s major contributions (in association with Dr. Ralph Garzia, OD), which is the most widely used test for eye movements (eye tracking, reading eye movements).”
Unique to Dr. Richman’s career is his association with law enforcement. Based on his training and experience in binocular vision disorders and eye movements, he became involved in research and teaching in the area of eye movements in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) in 1993. After completing police training and becoming a certified SFST instructor and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE), he performed hundreds of evaluations on alcohol and drug impaired drivers. Nationally, he served on the Highway Safety Technical Advisory Committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police for over 16 years. During that time, he published numerous studies on the effects of alcohol and drugs on eye movements and pupillary functions. He continues to teach and train police officers throughout the United States and Canada as a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and instructor.
In 2010, Dr. Richman retired and was promoted to professor emeritus at NECO. In the same year, he was awarded the 2010 Public Service Award from the New Jersey Society of Optometric Physicians. Though retired from full time teaching and practice, Dr. Richman is not one to sit around and therefore remains quite active professionally.
Today, he remains on the consulting staff at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, is an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, School of Optometry, and continues his work with drug identification and enforcement as a DRE. He also lectures and continues to publish on these drug related topics. Two of his most recent scientific contributions are, “Drug Abuse in Your Patients: The Application of Common Clinical Visual Tests in Identifying Possible Drug Abuse” published in 2017 in Advances in Ophthalmology and Optometry and “Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) examination characteristics of cannabis impairment,” published in Accident Analysis and Prevention in 2016.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Harvey Richman, OD, FAAO, FCOVD, graduated from NECO in 1991 with a focus in pediatrics. Throughout his career, Dr. Harvey Richman has been dedicated to helping the visual welfare of children and the needy. In 1997, he was given the Young Optometrist of the Year award in New Jersey and the Special Recognition Award for his work with visually impaired children in 1999.
Similarly, Dr. Harvey Richman’s wife, Maria Santullo-Richman, OD ’90, FAAO graduated from PCO with a focus in low vision. Together, they run their practice, Shore Family Eye Care in Manasquan, N.J. and continue to work closely with people with disabilities. When asked about her father-in-law Dr. Santullo-Richman said, “Being around Jack for the generations of optometrists he taught, there’s always someone whose past was influenced by him. He leads by example with a strong will and teaches you how to connect with people.”
Dr. Richman and his wife, Judi, have been married for 54 years and she has since retired from nursing. They are the proud grandparents of four children, three girls and one boy, ages 17 to 25.
