Gold Coast Retreat

Join us for the 2025 Gold Coast Retreat, January 18 & 19. Registration now open!

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Search our database of members and doctors for trusted referral sources for your patients.

Welcome to Broward County Optometric Association

We’re glad you found the BCOA online. Together with the American Optometric Association and the Florida Optometric Association, we have built a group of unified Optometrists who are working to protect your inalienable right to freedom of choice when selecting an eye care practitioner.

OUR MISSION

The BCOA’s mission is to advance the profession of optometry through education, professional development, and public policy advocacy. The BCOA is the only voice that speaks for optometry in Broward County and the only force that works to protect the interests of optometrists and their patients.

Upcoming Events

2025 Gold Coast Educational Retreat

January 18 & 19, 2025 at the The Diplomat Beach Resort | Registration Now Open
See Event
June General Meeting

June 25, 2024 at Eddie V’s
See Event
July General Meeting & FOA Convention

July 18-21, 2024 | FOA Convention at JW Marriott Turnberry
See Event

Click here to view all upcoming events.

Affiliates

Together with the collaboration between partners and affiliated organizations, we have built a group of unified Optometrists who are working to protect your inalienable right to freedom of choice when selecting an eye care practitioner.

Stephanie Frankel, OD

Dr. Stephanie Frankel currently utilizes a technology-based scleral lens only practice in an academic setting, targeting visual rehabilitation and treatment of ocular disease using scleral lenses. She completed her undergraduate education at University of Central Florida with dual bachelor’s degrees in biology, as well as Molecular and Micobiology. She then moved on to complete her Doctor of Optometry degree at Nova Southeastern University with honors and voted as Optometry Student of the year.

Shortly after the completion of her doctorate degree she accomplished her residency in ocular disease at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and joined an MD/OD private practice, where she established a successful dry eye clinic that focused on recalcitrant dry eye and began her research in ocular surface disease.

In 2018 she was approached to join the ocular surface team at Bascom Palmer and given the challenge of starting a scleral lens program within the University of Miami/Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Currently, Bascom Palmer is providing scleral lens services in Miami, Plantation and Naples using the newest technology, completes about 600 fittings annually and is continuing to thrive. She now obtains the titles of Director of the Scleral Lens program and Associate Medical director of the Ocular Surface Center of Excellence at the University of Miami/Bascom Palmer Eye Instutute. Her clinic is a rotation for optometry students, optometry residents, PGY3 ophthalmology residents, and is also frequently observed by international ophthalmologists and optometrists.

She is active as a co-investigator in several research studies sponsored by the NIH, with a focus on Phenotypes of Inflammatory and Neuropathic Ocular Pain Conditions using Morphologic Measures and Functional Brain Imaging, as well as Corneal Inflammatory diseases. She is a member of the American Academy of Optometry and is actively undergoing her fellowship in cornea and contact lens. She has also completed several lectures at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as well as the Inter-American Course in Clinical Ophthalmology. She has completed numerous publications and serves on the medical advisory board of several pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Frankel is happily married to a fellow optometrist and they have two sons together. She has special interests in long-distance running, reading, and overall mental and physical health.