AXIM Biotechnologies Appoints Dry Eye Disease Expert and Accomplished Optometrist Dr. Kelly K. Nichols to its Medical Advisory Board

 

Source:  Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. 10/20/2021

Dr. Nichols Strengthens Board with 25 Years of Optometry and Academic Experience

AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AXIM) (“AXIM® Biotech,” or “the Company”), an international healthcare solutions company targeting oncological, COVID-19 and dry eye disease (DED) diagnostics, today announced it has appointed Kelly K. Nichols, O.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. to its Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Nichols joins AXIM’s three other new Advisory Board members, including doctors Henry D. Perry, Laura Periman, and Chairman Joseph Tauber.

A founding member of the Ocular Surface Society of Optometry, Dr. Nichols currently serves as Dean of the School of Optometry at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is an acknowledged expert on DED and Ocular Surface Disease and has been extensively published. She earned her second B.S. and a Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) at UC Berkeley, and an M.P.H in biostatistics and a Ph.D. in Vision Science at Ohio State University. 

“We are rapidly increasing the synergistic value of our Medical Advisor Board by constructing it strategically,” said John W. Huemoeller II, AXIM® Biotech Chief Executive Officer. “Optometrists are the US’ primary eye health care providers and the frontline of its eye and vision care. Accordingly, AXIM must communicate the benefit and accuracy of our DED diagnostic tests with the nation’s optometrists in a collaboration to enable increased diagnosis of this often-undiagnosed disease so its millions of sufferers can obtain the care they need.”

“At its essence, this will be an educational process, and Dr. Nichols is a respected optometrist, professor and published researcher with 20 years’ experience in optometry academia who brings acute insight into the culture of the American optometrist community,” continued Huemoeller. “She will be instrumental in helping shape the marketing communications strategy for our two DED diagnostic tests being readied for commercial launch beginning in early 2022. I’m delighted to welcome her to the AXIM medical board.”

Kelly K. Nichols, O.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. Summary Bio
Dr. Nichols currently serves as Dean of the School of Optometry at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has served extensively on the Executive Board and for the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society and on each of the steering committees (DEWS, DEWS II, Contact Lens Discomfort, and MGD workshops), and is a founding member of Ocular Surface Society of Optometry. She currently serves as president of the Association for Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) and secretary of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)/ Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR).

Dr. Nichols is a leading expert in dry eye disease who has been on the editorial boards of the journals “Optometry and Vision Science,” and “The Ocular Surface.” Her research encompasses meibomian gland dysfunction, dry eye in menopause, dry eye diagnostics and therapeutics, and tear proteomics and lipidomics. She received her Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of California at Berkeley, completed a residency in ocular disease at Omni Eye Specialists of Colorado, and earned her M.P.H in biostatistics and Ph.D. in vision science at Ohio State University. 

Dry Eye Disease Market
Recent estimates of the prevalence of dry eye disease are that over 26 million people in the United States and over 300 million globally suffer with dry eye disease. The prevalence is growing in both young and old adults, making it more urgent that clinicians are better able to diagnose and treat DED. As many as two-thirds of patients with symptoms of dry eye have never been diagnosed by their physician. Diagnosing DED is a challenge because of the multifactorial nature of the disease, with symptoms similar to other ocular surface conditions. It is well known that there is often a discordance between signs and symptoms, highlighting the need for more sensitive and accurate diagnostic tools.

About AXIM® Biotechnologies
Founded in 2014, AXIM® Biotechnologies, Inc. (AXIM) is a vertically integrated research and development company focused on changing the landscape of diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), dry eye disease (DED) and Oncological indications. AXIM’s COVID-19 neutralizing antibody test is the first rapid diagnostic test measuring levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that are believed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering the host cells. Additionally, the Company is developing rapid diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer and ophthalmological conditions such as DED. For more information, please visit www.AXIMBiotech.com.