Meet Our Eye Doctor

Dr. Dorothy J. Park has been in private practice as an optometrist and as a small business owner for over 25 years. Her practice emphasis is primary care, meaning that she enjoys all areas of eye care without one particular specialty. She does especially enjoy helping patients who are motivated to have LASIK or who have conditions such as cataract, glaucoma or multiple sclerosis, etc.

Dr. Park enjoys patients who want high fashion at a reasonable price, who don't want to wait a long time for the doctor's attention , who don't want to pay large fees for their examination, who feel 'cowardly' about contact lenses, who want to control their myopia with CRT lenses. We even help people who want their eye lashes longer, darker and thicker.

Regarding her background, Dr Park was born and raised in Newberry, S.C., completing her degree in chemistry from Newberry College in 1982.

Having worked as a ward secretary in the Newberry County Hospital and as a doctor's assistant for ophthalmologists in Newberry, she was inspired to further her education in eye care. Before attending graduate school, she served for a year as a consultant for the Lutheran Church of America in the New Jersey Synod for Youth Ministry. She was accepted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry and finished her four years of training and a one-year residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in Birmingham in the areas of geriatric optometry and blind rehabilitation. She returned to S.C. in 1988 to begin her primary care private practice in Columbia.

Awards, activities, and recognitions include the Dr. Phillip Cooper Memorial Scholarship as a member and president of Omega Epsilon Phi, the #1 Sales Generator for the Business Association of Columbia, the Dee Dee Chewning/Healthy Learners Healing Award 2006, and the Newberry College Young Alumnus of the Year Award. She is past president of the Midlands Optometry Society. She is an active member of the South Carolina Optometric Physicians Association and the American Optometric Association and recently became a Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry.

Dr. Park has served in several capacities of service, including work as a trustee for the SC Optometric Physicians Association, Chairperson for Seeing is Achieving/Healthy Learners Board of Advisors, Chairperson for the student exchange program through the Columbia Rotary Club, and Chairman of Communications committee for Ebenezer Lutheran Church. Dr. Park has an ongoing desire to give back to the community by providing complimentary eye exams for needy patients through such organizations InfantSee, Vision USA, Healthy Learners, Mission 2010-2013, Community Care Foundation, and others. She participated in a mission trip to under privileged people in Jamaica, providing free optometric care to over 500 people in need.