Tareq Nabhan, O.D.

Dr. Tareq Nabhan (Assistant Clinical Professor) studied chemistry at Pittsburg State University and focused on chemical education at the graduate level at the University of Kansas. He taught at Kaplan Test Prep before starting optometry school in 2008 at UMSL. He held leadership positions as an optometry student and graduated with distinction. He soon joined the college as a part-time faculty member in 2014 and transitioned to full time in 2019. Dr. Nabhan is lead attending physician of the optometry unit at Affinia Healthcare, developed a novel telehealth course, guided the rollout of UMSL’s first-ever teleretina services, and is actively funded for his research to democratize eye care through hardware-software telehealth solutions. Dr. Nabhan is a Special Government Employee (SGE) for the Department of Health and Human Services - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (HHS-CMS) MEDCAC, is a member of the Johns Hopkins Medicine RReSTORe Consortium in regenerative medicine in glaucoma, and was selected to the 2020 class of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity International (VOSH/I), board member to the St. Louis Optometric Society (SLOS), on the clinical advisory panels of several national and international non-governmental organizations, and has co-led more than 25 humanitarian eye clinics across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. He is research advisor to his students in the optometry scholars program and faculty advisor to the college’s SVOSH chapter. Dr. Nabhan is a fellow of the UMSL Global Ambassadors Network and has been awarded the UMSL Optometric Educator of the Year Award in 2017 and in 2023.