Susan A Cotter OD, MS, FAAO

Susan Cotter is a Professor of Optometry at the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University. Dr. Cotter is a pediatric optometrist and clinician scientist with primary research interests related to clinical management strategies for strabismus, amblyopia, non-strabismic binocular vision disorders, and childhood refractive error. 

Dr. Cotter has served in numerous leadership positions (including Vice Chair and Executive Committee member) for the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG), a NEI-funded clinical research network of pediatric ophthalmologists and optometrists who perform clinical investigations related to pediatric eye disease. She has also served in leadership positions for other NEI-funded studies including the population-based Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS), the school-based Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Refractive Error (CLEERE), and the randomized clinical trials - Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) and the CITT-Attention & Reading Trial (CITT-ART).

At present, Dr. Cotter serves on the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Optometry where she is a Diplomate and past Chair of the Academy’s Binocular Vision, Perception, & Pediatric Optometry Section and serves as a topical editor for the Academy’s journal, Optometry & Vision Science.  She currently serves on the National Advisory Committee of National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health (NCCVEH) and is a Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.

Dr. Cotter received her OD degree from the Illinois College of Optometry, completed a residency in Children’s Vision at the Southern California College of Optometry, and received a M.S. in Clinical and Biomedical Investigations from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.  She is editor of the textbook Clinical Applications of Prisms, and lectures internationally in the areas of pediatric eye care and binocular vision.