Biography

Dr. Knight is the owner of the North Shore Eye Center located in Evanston Illinois. She began her optometric career in a unique hospital based ophthalmology/optometry private practice. She was one of few optometrists with active hospital privileges at a major medical center. She specialized in pre and post-operative patient care, ocular trauma management, general /therapeutic contact lens designs, and glaucoma patient education. After five-year tenure with the hospital practice, Dr. Knight started a private practice in the Chicago Hyde Park neighborhood. She later purchased the North Shore Eye Center in Evanston, IL, now a sixty-year old practice. Dr. Knight has held many appointed and elected positions in Optometry, and in her community. She has been active in the National Optometric Association (NOA), the American Optometric Association (AOA), and the Illinois Optometric Association (IOA). Dr. Knight served as a National Board Examiner, and Assistant Chief Board Examiner for candidates seeking licensure to practice Optometry in Illinois. She served on the Illinois Licensing and Disciplinary Committee for the State Board of Optometry, and was very active with lobbying efforts throughout Illinois to allow properly trained optometrists to employ therapeutic as well as diagnostic pharmaceutical agents in their practices. Dr. Knight is an AOA PAC Congressional/Senatorial “Key Person” liaison, and served on the AOA Leadership Committee. In 2006, Dr. Knight was awarded the “Key Legislative Person of the Year” by the Illinois Optometric Association. Dr. Knight was selected “Young Optometrist of the Year” in 1997 by the Illinois Optometric Association and “Optometrist of the Year” in 1999 by the National Optometric Association. She was appointed to the National Advisory Eye Council of the National Eye Institutes. On this council she reviewed eye related research grants and made recommendations on their funding. In 1996, she was chosen as the “Finest under Forty”, an award presented to alumnus of Augustana College for outstanding contributions in their professional fields. She was a pioneer in the Augustana College Leadership and Mentoring Program. Dr. Knight was featured in the Today’s Chicago Woman magazine as one of the 100 Women in Chicago making a Difference. Dr. Knight has worked with Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) and Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) volunteering for eye care missions with optometrists and ophthalmologists throughout Central and South America. She has also been a member of many social, service, and professional organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Knight was granted a Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship and has traveled extensively addressing national and international leadership issues. The three -year fellowship is highly coveted and won through a highly competitive process. Currently, Dr. Knight serves on the Board of Trustees at the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO), and Augustana College, her alma maters. Dr. Knight is an Adjunct Professor and Pioneer for the Practice Management/Business Fellowship at ICO, and a Preceptor for UAB School of Optometry. While a student at ICO, she served in many student leadership capacities, and was awarded the Council on Professionalism and Ethics, “Most Professional Clinician Award”. Dr. Knight has served as an instructor for The Vision Care Institute of Johnson & Johnson, Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida. She has consulted for contact lens industry leaders, and currently is a Professional Affairs Consultant for Vistakon, a division of Johnson & Johnson. She has been a featured writer for the ASK THE EXPERT column in the Today’s Chicago Woman magazine. Dr. Knight has made guest appearances on both radio and television programs. She has been a principal clinical investigator for contact lenses, and is published in professional journals. Dr. Knight has been in practice for 20 years, resides in Evanston, Illinois, and is married to Harvey L. Echols, M.D.