Dr. Edwin Marshall Receives Honorary Degree from Western University

On May 16, 2024, Indiana University School of Optometry Emeritus Professor Edwin C. Marshall served as the keynote speaker for Western University of Health Sciences’s Commencement for its College of Optometry and College of Graduate Nurses. During the ceremony, he was bestowed with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his contributions to the field of optometry and public health.

Dr. Marshall served as chair of the National Commission on Vision and Health, chair of the Executive Board and vice president (USA) of the American Public Health Association, chair of The Nation’s Health Editorial Advisory Committee, chair of the IU Public Health Coordinating Council, and vice chair of the Indiana Public Health Institute. He is a past president of the National Optometric Association, the Indiana Optometric Association, the Indiana Public Health Association, and a current member of the Advisory Committee of the Center for Vision and Population Health. He also served as a United States Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellow and was the founding chair of the Minority Health Advisory Committee at the Indiana State Department of Health.

Dr. Marshall is a Distinguished Practitioner and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice and a Diplomate in Public Health and Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. He is a recipient of the Tony and Mary Hulman Health Achievement Award in Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the Indiana Public Health Foundation, the Indiana State Health Commissioner Award for Excellence in Public Health, the Distinguished Service Award from the Vision Care Section of the American Public Health Association, the Distinguished Hoosier Award from the Office of the Indiana Governor, and the Carel C. Koch Memorial Medal from the American Academy of Optometry.

Dr. Marshall was named the Indiana Optometrist of the Year by the Indiana Optometric Association and the National Optometrist of the Year by both the National Optometric Association and the American Optometric Association. He was honored by the Indiana Optometric Association with the Indiana Optometry Lifetime Achievement Award and by Indiana University with the President’s Medal for Excellence, the School of Public Health-Bloomington Founding Dean’s Medallion, the Bicentennial Medal, and the Indiana University Distinguished Alumni Service Award. Dr. Marshall is an inductee into both the National Optometry Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Optometry Hall of Fame.