10.17.24

Seeing a difference in the world

Diana Ho ’16 remembers how the world changed when she put on a pair of glasses for the first time in third grade. She looked around the optometry office, amazed by the sudden clarity of the room’s detail, from the intricacies of the grain in the wood trim to the definition of the leaves on the tree outside the window.

In that moment, she knew she wanted to be an optometrist.

Today, Ho practices optometry at Adventure Dental and Vision, a pediatric clinic in Wichita, and also serves as clinical director for the Special Olympics Opening Eyes program, conducting vision screenings for athletes across Kansas.

“I consider my ability to practice optometry daily as my most satisfying achievement,” said the alumna. “Each day, I have the privilege of providing first-time glasses to help kids excel in school and sports, guiding patients to a greater understanding of their visual or systemic issues, and diagnosing and treating ocular diseases.”

But Ho’s path to her current role was not always paved. In addition to many lessons learned in the classroom, she sees grit and persistence as some of the most valuable concepts from her time as a biology student at Wichita State. As a part-time student with no professional credentials, she recalls the roadblock of securing experience in optometry.

“I called numerous offices until I finally found one willing to take a chance on me,” Ho said. “Coincidentally, the very office where I put on my first pair of glasses became my workplace when they hired me on as an optometric technician.”

In 2016, Ho graduated from Wichita State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and minors in chemistry and sociology. From there, she attended the Rosenberg School of Optometry at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, graduating with her doctorate in 2020.

A passionate advocate for eye health, Ho uses her education to promote vision wellness in communities across the state and around the world, from glasses donation drives to events for the visually impaired. The optometrist has served as a translator at the Kansas Health Department’s Asian Wellness Day, providing free eye screenings to underserved community members. She also traveled to Patna, India, where she provided vision screenings and glasses to more than 1,100 schoolchildren and helped to raise money for Unite for Sight, a nonprofit creating more equitable access to eye health care services.

In addition to her many volunteer engagements, Dr. Ho has been invited as a guest speaker to high schools in the Wichita community where she connects students to vision care resources and educates them on the importance of eye health to the overall health of the body.

For her relentless health advocacy and service, both within the Wichita community and well beyond, Dr. Diana Ho is the 2024 Social Impact Alumni Award honoree.

“As a child of immigrants, this award represents the American Dream that my parents have worked so hard to achieve,” she said. “They dedicated themselves to creating a better life for me, and now I have the privilege of using my talents to extend that care to my patients.”

Join us as we honor our 2024 Alumni Award recipients at the second annual Heritage Gala on Tuesday, October 29. Learn more about this event and purchase your tickets to celebrate the changemakers at Wichita State.