Participants

Dr. Gary Chu is the vice president of Professional Affairs at the New England College of Optometry. He received his Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree from the New England College of Optometry in 1995 and his Masters of Public Health (MPH) in 2002 from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

He has been in practice for over twenty-four years and is involved in the changing landscape of eye care and health care during this span of time. Dr. Chu has been in the forefront of leading change in eye care through the development of partnerships with health systems, federally qualified health centers, social service agencies, government, school systems, health payors, ophthalmic industry and optometry employer groups.

Dr. Chu has been involved in issues of diversity, equity and inclusion for over ten years and has served on the diversity and cultural competency committee for the Association of Schools (ASCO) and College of Optometry since 2011. He is the founding chair of ASCO’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) SIG and was the Guest Editor for the Journal of Optometric Education’s theme issue on diversity and cultural competency in 2017.

Prior to his appointment as President of New England College of Optometry in July of 2018, Dr. Howard Purcell served as the Senior Vice President of Customer Development for Essilor of America. He was part of the Essilor team for ten years. Before joining Essilor, he spent 13 years as Senior Director of Professional Affairs for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.

Dr. Purcell is a graduate of NECO, Class of 1984, and has long been involved in the college by presenting continuing education classes, supporting student development, and serving on the Board of Trustees. He began his optometric career by participating in a group optometric practice for 11 years with his father, NECO alumnus Saul Purcell, OD ’54, in Miami Beach, FL.

Dr. Purcell joined the faculty of Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry in June 1991. During his career at the college, he was a principal in the development of the Department of Cornea and Contact Lenses. As Associate Professor, Dr. Purcell was responsible for both the didactic and clinical components of the program. He later reached the rank of Deputy Dean of the college.

Dr. Purcell is a Diplomate in the Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the American Academy of Optometry. His energetic and enthusiastic style has made him a popular lecturer internationally. Dr. Purcell’s unique philosophies and practices have often attracted the media to focus attention on current optometric issues and research in the industry.

Erik Weissberg, OD, FAAO, serves as Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs. His professional career embodies his commitment to the College, optometric education, and clinical excellence. After graduating from New England College of Optometry in 1997, he completed a Residency in Pediatrics in 1998. He was appointed Assistant Professor in the Specialty and Advanced Care that same year and was promoted to Professor of Optometry with tenure in 2009. He was named Director of Clinical Education in 2008 and has served in that role ever since, continuing to develop and lead the clinical program at the College.

Dr. Weissberg has been equally dedicated to classroom and clinical teaching, research, and service throughout his career. This diverse set of experiences has provided him with a broad perspective on the different aspects of optometry that he brings to his new position as Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs.

With over twenty years in the pursuit of scholarship, education, and service to optometry, Dr. Weissberg has found countless ways to contribute to the profession. He has been an active part of the scientific research community as an investigator in several multi-centered clinical studies, serving as a grant reviewer for the NIH (National Institute of Health) and leading his own research focused on strabismus and international eye care delivery. He has developed clinical expertise in pediatric optometry with a focus on strabismus and amblyopia and has authored numerous manuscripts and lectured nationally and internationally in this area.

Dr. Amy Moy is the Director of the Health Center Network of the New England College of Optometry (NECO), with the goal to make eye care accessible for all. As NECO’s certified Chief Compliance Officer, Dr. Moy leads quality assurance initiatives to ensure compliant patient care. She has 19 years of experience in community health optometry and was the Director of Optometry at the Martha Eliot Health Center.

Dr. Moy is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and actively serves in the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. She was the principal investigator for the Boston Latino Eye Study, and has presented nationally on interprofessional care, optometric education, and infection control. She was a principal co-writer for the READ grant, which provided eyeglasses and social stories for children with disabilities. She has chaired committees on compliance, quality assurance, and NECO’s COVID response.

In her free time, Dr. Moy spends time with her family, advocates for children with disabilities, and has written “The Polka-Dotted Penguin,” a children’s book about kindness and celebrating differences.

Michael Curry, Esq. is President & CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the Mass League), which represents 50 health centers, serving over one million patients out of over 300 practice sites. He was named one of the Boston Business Journal Power 50 Movement Makers of 2023 and 2022, one of Boston’s Most Influential Men of Color by GetKonnected! and one of Boston Magazine’s 150 Most Influential Bostonians in 2024 and 2023, and a Bostonian of the Year in 2021 (along with his member health centers) by The Boston Globe and Boston Magazine.

He brings over 35 years of experience and results in civil rights advocacy, health reform and health equity. He is a current, nationally elected (4-term) member of the National NAACP’s Board of Directors (2014-present), the Regional Administrator for the New England Area Conference of the NAACP, and the Immediate Past President of the Boston Branch of the NAACP (2011-2016). Attorney Curry is also an Adjunct Professor at both New England Law Boston teaching Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession and Suffolk University’s Moakley Center and Sawyer School of Management teaching a health care management and policy course. He is a highly sought after commencement and keynote speaker, and his presentations include a “quantum leap” through the history of anti-Black racism in America from 1619 to 2024.

In 2022, Mr. Curry co-founded the Health Equity Compact in Massachusetts, a collective of over 80 c-suite leaders of color in health care, insurance, philanthropy, government and academia with a mission to realize bold statewide policy and institutional practice changes that center racial justice and health equity.

Mr. Curry earned a Bachelor of Arts from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from New England School of Law, and later graduated from the inaugural class of the Executive Leadership Council’s Pipeline to Leadership Program. He also has an honorary degree from William James college, a Doctorate in Business Administration from Curry College and Healthcare Administration from Labouré College.