Professor, Department of Biological and Vision Sciences
Dr. Rapp joined the faculty of SUNY, College of Optometry, in 1973, and is presently Professor, Department of Biological and Vision Sciences. He served as Chairperson of the Department of Biological Sciences for 15 years (1973-88) and is a Founding Member of the college-affiliated Schnurmacher Institute for Vision Research. He is also a member of the Graduate Faculty in Vision Science. Dr. Rapp’s research interests have included the mechanism of energy transduction in the rod cells of mammalian retina, the effects of nutrition on ocular health and the mechanism of contact lens contamination. Dr. Rapp was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1982. Dr. Rapp teaches nutrition at SUNY and has lectured extensively throughout the United States and in Europe on various topics in nutrition. He was awarded a SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines grant in 1990 to organize a program entitled Nutrition and the Elderly. He has designed an elective course in nutrition at SUNY geared towards nutritional counseling in a clinical optometric practice. He also teaches the molecular genetics of ocular disease with an emphasis on clinical correlations and has published several essays over the years advocating for optometric involvement in genetic testing. In addition, he has designed an elective course focused on ways to incorporate genetic counseling into optometric practice.