Journal of Neurology and Neurological Disorders

J. Vernon Odom, Ph.D. is Professor of Ophthalmology, Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at West Virginia University where he heads the West Virginia Lions Visual Function Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in 1978. He completed his undergraduate education at Davidson College in North Carolina. His postdoctoral training was completed at Case Western Reserve University, UC-Berkeley, UC-San Francisco and University of Florida. He has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters, and published abstracts.

Dr. Odom’s research has been supported by grants from major foundations and governmental agencies, including the Knights Templar, Benedum Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Social Security Administration. He was awarded the Francqui International Interuniversity Chair in 1996 by Belgium’s Franqui Foundation.  Dr. Odom holds four patents.

Dr. Odom has served in a number of leadership roles within WVU and the WVU Eye Institute. He directed the Center for Vision Enhancement Technology and served as Director of Research at the WVU Eye Institute.  Dr. Odom is a past editor-in-chief of Documenta Ophthalmologica, has served an editor for special issues in Documenta Ophthalmologica, International Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Visual Impairment Research, The Journal of Modern Optics, and Insight.  He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV), and has chaired the ISCEV VEP Standardization Committee twice. He has served the Association for Vision and Ophthalmology on its program committee and on its long range planning committee. For his service to ARVO he was recognized as a Gold Fellow. He has served on the rotating committee of officers for the Low Vision Research Group’s. He serves regularly on national grant review panels related to Low Vision. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.

Dr. Odom has also been active in promoting outreach services though the Appalachian Vision Outreach Project and the Lions Vision Clinic by the WVU Eye Institute.  He has served as the president of his local Lions Club and been the recipient of the WV Lions Sight Conservation Foundation’s Leonard Jarrett Award as recognition of his distinguished service for sight and hearing conservation.

• Assessment of visual function using electrophysiology and psychophysics in normal and abnormal vision
• Investigates higher order visual perception in older patients with low vision
• Optic flow as a means of controlling locomotion and navigation in patients with reduced visual abilities
• Strategies to assess quality of life in patients with reduced vision
• Development of strategies to noninvasively assess systemic diseases and toxic exposures.