Dr. Ethan Jones graduated from the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences with a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2016.
After taking a gap year to complete a few additional science pre-requisite courses, Dr. Jones graduated with a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree in 2021 from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Jones now practices in a Burlington primary care optometry practice.
Dr. Ethan Jones graduated from the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences with a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2016. After taking a gap year to complete a few additional science pre-requisite courses, Dr. Jones graduated with a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree in 2021 from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Jones now practices in a Burlington primary care optometry practice.
Dr. Jones found his path to becoming an Optometrist after serving as a technician at a local Burlington, Vermont optometry clinic between his Junior and Senior years of undergraduate at UVM. This was the primary experience that encouraged him to become an optometrist, slightly altering his career path that was originally focused on Speech Pathology. Dr. Jones was also involved on campus as a member of the co-ed, service based Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity. He explained this experience to be very rewarding to give back to the community and build connections with other members of the fraternity.
When asked about his experiences in Optometry school, Dr. Jones describes the classes, labs, and clinical experience to be extremely rewarding. As a first-year student, he would attend classes from 8:00 am until noon, followed by a lunch break, then labs in the afternoon on top of studying materials. As second-year students, his cohort would attend clinics and then would be involved in clinics or shadowing experiences. The third and fourth years become focused on mo clinic and board examinations. Dr. Jones says that while the material is rigorous, it is highly rewarding in the end. One thing that stuck out to Dr. Jones was the differences in regions in the US from the Southeast to the Northeast and how this plays out in health care.
Now in his practice, Dr. Jones reports one of the most rewarding parts of his job to be interpreting the unique conditions and symptoms of patients. He described each encounter as “not cookie cutter” and noted his focus was always on finding the end-result that works best for the patient.
Outside of schooling and his current profession, Dr. Jones enjoys playing disc golf in the spring, summer, and fall months before the winter begins, which is when he enjoys playing board games with a group of friends. When asked about one piece of advice he would give to students, Dr. Jones shared that, in his experience, all the schooling, studying, and work is well worth it in the end. Keeping this goal in mind can be motivating for students in pre-health career paths.