The future of optometry: Dr Jamie Kuzniar finds the human element in patient care

Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS Image credit: Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS

Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS, couldn’t see herself practicing in any other place. Raised in Saginaw, Michigan, she has made permanent roots in the state that were further cemented in the opening of her practice, Elevate Eye Care + Eyewear, in 2022. However, she said that her patients have made it apparent that their loyalty, if need be, would travel state lines.

“It seems like every 5 years a new door opens, but I always tell my patients, my practice is always going to be here,” Kuzniar said.

Kuzniar’s passionate approach to patient care has caught the attention of her colleagues, including past mentors. “Dr Kuzniar’s passion for specialty lenses is only rivaled by her compassion for her patients,” said Robert J. Steinmetz, OD, FAAO, director and owner of SoLo Eye Care and Eyewear Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. “Her mission-driven focus at Elevate Eye Care has made her cold start practice the envy of others and the go-to destination for high-end corneal care in Michigan. Her role as an educator and highly regarded speaker has helped thousands of patients understand their condition and provided countless optometrists with the tools they need to serve this important population. She has been a trusted resource for our firm by providing expert advice on the technical aspects of advanced fitting techniques and the importance of ethical billing and coding procedures to provide an important specialty profit center for our cold start clients.”

“I was fortunate to have Jamie spend a year as my contact lens resident at Indiana University. She was a fantastic resident, a great educator, and over the last few years has become a premier specialty contact lens practitioner,” said Jason Jedlicka, OD, FAAO, FSLS, FCLSA. “As she has established herself as a true rising star in our profession, I am so blessed to have her as a partner in so much of the things that we love to do, teach other doctors how to be better fitters, help push the industry forward with ideas and developing new products, not to mention sharing a podcast. With her relatively new start-up private practice thriving, she is proving to be just as good at running an optometric business as she is at everything else she has tried. In just a few short years, Jamie has risen to the top of our profession. I am so proud of her and know she will continue to do great things in the world of optometry and specialty contact lenses specifically.”

Kuzniar also aims to bring this passion to her continued growth in other sectors of the optometric field, from teaching opportunities to research and collaboration opportunities.

“What excites me most about Jamie’s contributions to the field is her ability to bridge the gap between research and clinical application,” said Karen DeLoss, OD, FAAO, clinical associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center. “She doesn’t just adopt new advancements; she critically evaluates them and implements them in a way that truly enhances patient outcomes. Her dedication to specialty lenses and advanced treatment modalities makes her a driving force in shaping the future of optometry.”

Kickstarting a career

Kuzniar attended Saginaw Valley State University for her undergraduate degree, where she learned that optometry was her calling. “I knew I wanted to do something in health care, but it wasn’t until undergrad where I really started thinking about optometry,” she said, adding that she had the opportunity to shadow an optometrist whom she had been a patient of during her childhood. “I really fell in love with it in just 1 day of watching him with patients.”

After graduating in 2012, Kuzniar attended Michigan College of Optometry of Ferris State University, where she graduated in 2016. From there, she completed a 1-year cornea and contact lens residency at Indian University, something she hadn’t anticipated seeking out when in optometry school. “It was once I learned and discovered [scleral] lenses when I knew I wanted to do a residency and specialize,” she said, adding that landing the residency was a pivotal moment in the start of her career.

Kuzniar said that the impact that specialty contact lenses have on their patients was her main draw into the specialty. “You can put the lens on their eye, and they instantaneously see what they haven’t seen for decades, and they’re so grateful,” she said. “It’s kind of like an art, where I’m designing the lens that this patient is going to be wearing.”

After her residency, Kuzniar moved back to Michigan and joined a group optometry practice, where she then worked for the next 5 years and grew the specialty contact lens services for the practice. She said working in a group practice provided collaborative opportunities to gain insights from colleagues that would help her open her own practice in the future. “When you’re on your own, you’re the only doctor in the building,” Kuzniar said. “You don’t have anyone to say, ‘Hey, can you take a look at this really quick and just give me a second opinion?’ I think it’s great if you can work in that environment, especially when you first get out of school.”

A practice from the ground up

Much like her residency plans, Kuzniar had not initially planned to cold-start a practice. However, the stars aligned for her in unexpected ways. “I think I just got to a point where I had a vision for how I wanted to practice, how I wanted to take care of my patients,” Kuzniar said. “I wanted to be closer to home. I wanted to have a more flexible schedule for my family and my kids as they were growing, and I really felt like the only way I could do that is if I was my own boss. I just decided to create the experience for the patients that I wanted to create.”

Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS, right, conducting an eye examination on a patient at her practice. Image credit: Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS

Kuzniar said that this approach to patient care that she takes is personalized, something that she finds patients still value in their provider. “I spend more time with my patients than most other offices do, and I think the industry is shifting a lot to see more patients and shortening your exam times,” she said. “It’s becoming a lot more like a machine, and patients do not want that. I didn’t go into this field to be like that. I went into this field to help people and get to know them.”

Kuzniar said that the hardest part about the cold start was navigating the countless permits, protocols, and policies needed to set up the practice. “As optometrists, we like things in our control,” she said. “I just had to learn to just sit back and wait.”

Ultimately, Kuzniar said the practice experienced few to no hiccups once it was up and running, which she attributed to the help of an optometric advising firm. “They set the groundwork for me so I didn’t have any major mistakes,” she said.

What the future holds

Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS, presenting a lecture to optometry students. Image credit: Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS

Over the past few years, Kuzniar has also made her entrance into both industry and education spaces by speaking at conferences, lecturing to students, conducting research, and providing training in corporate offices. She is planning to integrate student rotations into her practice, in addition to growing her specialty lens niche to help advance the specialty. “It’s evolving really quickly, and I just want to be on the forefront of that,” Kuzniar said.

Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS, right, presented a lecture with Trevor J. Fosso, OD, at the 2025 Global Specialty Lens Symposium in January. Image credit: Jamie Kuzniar, OD, FAAO, FSLS

She also makes it a priority to integrate new technology into her practice, which has been noticed by both her patients and her colleagues. “Jamie is always on the cutting edge of the latest treatment options and technologies in optometry,” DeLoss said. “Her commitment to staying up-to-date ensures that she provides the highest level of care to her patients. From my observations, her clinical approach is both innovative and patient-centered—she seamlessly integrates new technologies with a strong foundation in evidence-based practice.”

Ultimately, better patient care is what fuels Kuzniar’s innovative mindset. “I love that my patients come in and they always say, '…every time I come in here, you’re always offering me something even better, even though I’m pretty happy where I’m at. But what do you have for me this year that can be even better?’ And I just always want to be that doctor.”