Skip to Content
OD Student Keith Uyemura performin an eye exam.
OD Student Keith Uyemura performing an eye exam in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.
Photo by: Katie Brugger.

About VOSH

Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) International is an organization aimed to provide the gift of vision and eye health to people worldwide, especially to those in underserved communities. VOSH at Berkeley is a student chapter affiliated with VOSH that utilizes Berkeley student volunteers for service trips locally and internationally.

Their Mission

VOSH believes in the freedom to see. Providing the gift of vision and eye health to people worldwide. They facilitate the provision and the sustainability of vision care worldwide for people who can neither afford nor obtain such care. Their goal is to increase our global impact whenever possible by supporting sustainable eye clinics, optometry schools and optometric educators in areas lacking sufficient eye care.

VOSH in Nicaragua


OD students Landen Longson, Evan Toy, Jessica Wang, Cindy Nguyen, and Keith Uyemura in San Juan del Sur, January 2023.

The student VOSH chapter at Berkeley successfully completed a 4-day, free eye health clinic in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua in January of 2023. The team consisted of 17 Berkeley Optometry students, multiple volunteers from UC Berkeley (including faculty and staff), 8 optometrists, volunteers from VOSH-Connecticut, and many more. They provided free eye exams to 3,963 people while offering prescription glasses, reading glasses, sunglasses, medications for glaucoma and dry eye, referrals for cataracts and pterygia, and other donations.

To read more, click the button below!

VOSH Nicaragua 2023

Instagram Takeover

To watch an instagram story takeover by our Communications Coordinator,
Liza Shevchuk, click the link below to view the Berkeley Optometry Instagram, and find the “VOSH NICA 2023” highlight on our profile!

Berkeley Optometry Instagram

Berkeley VOSH Leadership

President
Landen Longson, Class of 2025

Faculty Advisor
Elise Harb, OD, PhD, FAAO

Landen is a second-year optometry student and the Berkeley VOSH President. He grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and earned a B.S. in Biology at the University of Utah before moving to the Bay Area. Landen enjoys trail running, reading, golfing, camping, snowboarding, and cooking. He loves everything that UC Berkeley and the Bay have to offer.

'As I decide where I want to specialize and which mode of practice I want to be involved in, I never want to lose sight of how much of an impact I can make through volunteering.'

Landen plans on utilizing his optometric knowledge and passion as a student and future provider to bring high-quality eye care to underserved communities throughout his life.

Contact: landen_longson@berkeley.edu

Dr. Harb is a Clinician Scientist and pediatric optometrist for myopic children. Her work is focused on better understanding how habitual human behaviors (e.g. near work and outdoor/indoor activity), measured in an objectively and dynamically way utilizing wearable technologies, might play a role in myopia development/progression. Dr. Harb was previously on the pediatric faculty at the New College of Optometry (Boston, 2004-2015) and currently see patients at the UC San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital (Assistant Professor).

Dr. Harb works in the Wildsoet Lab at Berkeley.

Contact: harbe@berkeley.edu

Vice President
Megan Sajer, Class of 2025

Treasurer/Fundraising Chair
Chiara Miranda, Class of 2025

Megan is a second-year optometry (OD) student and the Vice President of Berkeley VOSH. Megan is from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania and completed her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at Clemson University. Megan first became involved in VOSH as an undergraduate volunteer in June 2019 when she assisted the VOSH Connecticut chapter, led by Dr. Matthew Blondin, in operating a free optometry clinic in Emporia, Virginia. She subsequently joined Dr. Blondin at VOSH’s annual trip to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua in January 2020 and again in January 2023. Outside of her studies and leadership role with VOSH, Megan enjoys hiking in Tilden Regional Park and the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden.

Contact: megan_sajer@berkeley.edu

Chiara Miranda is a 2nd year Optometry student. She graduated from UC Davis in 2020 where she studied Neurology, Physiology, and Behavior (NPB), with a minor in Human Development. Before attending Optometry school, she worked at a private practice in Pleasanton, CA, where she started interacting with patients in and out of the exam room and learned about the many administrative tasks that are necessary to keep a practice running.

As VOSH Treasurer and Fundraiser chair, she plans fundraising events and oversees the club’s funds. In her free time, she enjoys trying new restaurants, taking ballet and group exercise classes, and crafting items like candles or stickers!

Contact: chiaramiranda@berkeley.edu

c/o 2026 President-elect
Mai Nguyen, Class of 2026

c/o 2026 VP-elect
Vickie Kuo, Class of 2026

Mai Nguyen is a first-year optometry student and President-elect for Berkeley VOSH. She attended San Francisco State University (SFSU) where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. During her time at SFSU, she worked as an optician and volunteered at the Loving Eye project mission in Vietnam.

Mai’s upbringing in Vietnam and her experiences as an immigrant in the U.S. have nurtured her fierce passion for supporting and advocating for communities that have been historically underrepresented, underserved, and vulnerable. Through her pursuit of optometry and vision science specifically, Mai hopes to promote awareness on eye care among these marginalized communities, ultimately helping them to “see” a better and brighter future.

In her free time, she loves to spend time with her family and her two dogs - Max and Malika. She enjoys hiking, playing video games and watching movies.

Contact: mhpnguyen@berkeley.edu

Vickie Kuo graduated from UC San Diego with a Bachelors of Science in Human Biology and a minor in Law and Society. She is the VP-elect for Berkeley VOSH. As a first year, Vickie wanted to join VOSH and attend Berkeley VOSH’s Nicaragua trip, because she is passionate about being involved in health equity and providing vision care to underserved communities.

In her spare time, she can be found long-distance running, drawing frogs, or color coding her planning binder.

Contact: vickie_kuo@berkeley.edu

Berkeley VOSH Members

NameClass
Amy Ahn2026
Joselyne Calvillo2026
Liliana Chavez2025
Amy Chen2024
Shaila Emani2025
Kerry Feng2024
Camilo Garcia2025
Trang Hoang2026
Taea Jackson2025
Jordan Kennedy2025
Makayla Koochou2026
Vickie Kuo2026
Anderson Lao2026
Kaitlyn Lee2026
Jennifer Liang2025
Landen Longson2025
Joanna Lopez2025
Vy Vy Lu2026
Chiara Miranda2025
Vanessa Morales2024
Alexia Movsessian2026
Cindy Nguyen2025
Mai Nguyen2026
Svetlana Nunez2025
Kimia Safavi2026
Megan Sajer2025
Lindsey Sano2026
Nour Sarsangi2026
Danielle Smerdon2026
Kitty Sun2026
Erwin Sunga2026
Susanna Tan2026
Cindy Tieu2025
Baldemar Torres2025
Evan Toy2025
Keith Uyemura2025
Jessica Wang2025
Rachel Yoo2026

Early Humanitarian Efforts

Berkeley Optometry has a long history of providing humanitarian eye care to underserved populations. Services to local Bay Area populations began in the 1920s, continuing uninterrupted to the present day. The first international project took place in 1968–69 when optometry student volunteers traveled to Tijuana, Mexico for Christmas and Easter vacations under the auspices of Project Concern, a nonprofit organization headquartered in New York and operating healthcare clinics in New Mexico, Appalachia, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.

In 1989, students established our Berkeley chapter of VOSH and conducted their first chapter mission when volunteer students and clinicians traveled to the Philippine island of Negros Occidental, where they screened approximately 3,000 patients. The success of these international eye-care projects set the stage for efforts in humanitarian vision care that continue today. Berkeley Optometry VOSH missions include visits to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Mexico, Kenya, and Vietnam.

Berkeley VOSH in Narra
In 2018, Berkeley VOSH traveled to the municipality of Narra, on the island of Palawan, where they saw ~2,200 patients in five days of vision screenings. Students performed retinoscopy and refractions, evaluated for medical referrals, and dispensed free glasses that were collected from friends, family and other donors before the trip. Day 1 was at an elementary school, day 2 at a small village, and the rest of the days they set up at the office of the mayor of Narra. Click the button below to watch a video dedicated to the trip on YouTube.

VOSH in Narra

Questions?

For general questions and how to join, please contact Berkeley VOSH President,
Landen Longson: landen_longson@berkeley.edu