Learn more about our presenters for the pre-conference session – Bioptic Driving: Methods for Screening, Training & Licensing Candidates
Thomas I Porter, O.D., F.A.A.O.
Dr. Porter is an Associate Professor and Director of Low Vision Services in Saint Louis University’s Department of Ophthalmology. He also serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri College of Optometry.
For his entire forty-two (42) year career, Dr. Porter has limited his practice to patients with low vision issues. His clinic sees in excess of 1,000 low vision patients each year. Dr. Porter has also served as a clinical consultant to several manufacturers of low vision aids as well as a medical advisor to the Vision Council of America.
Chuck Huss, COMS, DRS
Mr. Huss is a certified orientation and mobility specialist (COMS) and driver rehabilitation specialist (DRS). He is nationally known for his work and experience in formalized bioptic driver training and assessment over the past forty-one (41) years. Mr. Huss served as one of the principal researchers and instructors for the:
- West Virginia Pilot Low Vision Driving Study (’85-’88),
- Its continuum of related services (’89-’08), and the
- Current West Virginia Bioptic Driving Program (’09-’22).
For his years of service, knowledge sharing and professional advocacy efforts revolving around “bioptic driving”, he was awarded the
AER Ambrose Shotwell Award in 2012, a NOAH Distinguished Service Award in 2014, and an ADED Scholar’s Award in 2018.
Mr. Huss is a former 1976 M.A. graduate of Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI.
Derrick P. Scott, CDRS, LDI
Mr. Scott is a California licensed driving instructor (LDI) and ADED-certified driver rehabilitation specialist (CDRS) with over 35 years of experience
as a driver educator and evaluator. Mr. Scott is the founder and President of A – Safer Driver, Inc., dba, Apex Driving School. Derrick specializes in assessing and training individuals with distinctive learning needs.Mr. Scott develops personalized learning programs for individuals diagnosed with vision/visual impairments, physical limitations, and cognitive concerns. Derrick has served five (5) years as a member of the American Heart Association’s Stroke Education Committee. Mr. Scott served as the first secretary of the Western Chapter of ADED. In 1999, Derrick received state examiner training from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, while working in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and The Buck Institute on Aging to study the effect of aging on safe driving habits.In 2012, The Berkeley Low Vision Clinic recognized Derrick Scott with a commendation for his contributions to a research project studying low-vision drivers.
Education: City College of San Francisco, College of San Mateo, and The University of Phoenix
Degree: Associate in Applied Science.
Karen O’Fearna, CAPM*, CMS**
Karen has been employed with the state of Oregon’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) since 2021 and currently serves as its Program
Coordinator for the Limited Vision Condition: Bioptic Lens Device Adaptive Driver’s Program. She has been improving government programs and educating customers about using those programs effectively since the late 1990s. Her training, skillset, and background includes adult education and training, facilitation, technical writing, critical thinking, third-party review and analysis, systems and process improvement, and project and change management in the public and private sectors.
*CAPM – Certified Associate, Project Management, ** CMS – Change Management Specialist
Dennis Kelleher, Ed.D.
Dr. Kelleher earned his Doctorate Degree in Education from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972 in special education. He Holds 5 teaching credentials, a school psychometry credential and an Administration credential. He served as the Superintendent of Schools for the West Sacramento Unified School District and taught graduate courses in Low Vision and Special Education at California State University, San Francisco, California State University, Sonoma and California State University, Sacramento. Dr. Kelleher was the first person to be licensed in the state of California using bioptics in March 1971. He was appointed to serve on the California Dept of Motor Vehicles Vision Advisory Board in 1975 and served until 1984. He helped develop procedures, forms and regulations that are still used today to license persons who drive with Bioptics in California.
Dr. Kelleher became a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry in 1975 and taught Ellerbrock continuation education classes and gave presentations at the Academy Low Vision Section on “Driving with Bioptics” on numerous occasions. He has over 21 publications in professional journals including one book chapter on Driving with Bioptics and the production of a training video in 1982 used by California DMV.
Dr. Kelleher wrote several grants to fund the multi-disciplinary low vision clinic at the Sacramento Society for the blind in July 1975 and served as its first clinic administrator. The clinic still exists and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. It has helped many persons with low vision and has prescribed bioptics for driving for a number of patients. His professional career spanned 37 years beginning in 1971 as a teacher and mobility instructor for visually impaired students that culminated with his retirement in 2008 from the California Department of Education as the state consultant of programs for visually impaired K-12 students in California public schools.