Dr. Charlie Ho, is the Chairman of the Board and a four-term national president of the Integrated Philippine Association of Optometrists (IPAO). He is the founding President of the Vision Science Institute, which was organized to give optometrists opportunity for post-graduate specialty training. He is a member of the Career Progression and Specialization (CPSP) Committee for Optometry of the Professional Regulation Commission and member of the Commission on Higher Education – Technical Committee for Optometry Education since year 2000. He is the Administrator of the IPAO Vision Referral Center, a multi-specialty clinic and training center for optometry.
Dr. Ho established and chairs the Philippine Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control and the Philippine Academy for Low Vision & Rehabilitation. He is the administrator of the IPAO Dry Eye Management Institute, Myopia Management Center and Ocular Therapeutics for Primary Eye Care programs, considered major priority projects in the next five years.
Dr. Ho is currently the President of the Philippine Federation of Professional Associations (PFPA), a federation of forty-three PRC-accredited professional organizations, and is the Immediate Past President of the Council of Professional Health Associations (COPHA). Dr. Ho is the vice-president and founding member of the Asia Optometric Congress (AOC), representing the Philippines and chairs the AOC Academy for Sports Vision and Rehabilitation. He is a member of the International Sports Vision Association (ISVA), College of Optometrist in Vision Development (COVD), Neuro Optometric Rehabilitation Association or NORA, College of Syntonic Optometry (USA), Australia College of Syntonics, Clinical Associate of the Optometric Extension Program Foundation. From 1995 to 2005, Dr. Ho was the country coordinator for the International Association of Contact Lens Educators (IACLE) and International Centre for Eye Care Education (Australia) under Professor Brien Holden. He was awarded PRC Outstanding Optometrist of the Year in 2000 and recently awarded the “2019 Making VT Visible Award” by the College of Optometrist in Vision Development (COVD) – USA.
Dr. Ho is a Fellow of IACLE and a contact lens specialist, and is considered the pioneer of sports vision practice in the Philippines, where he has been in sports optometry for twenty-five years. Dr. Ho pioneered neuro-vision rehabilitation practice in the country in 2016, employing vision rehabilitation on stroke patients. He was the first sports optometrist to be recognized by the major sports bodies like the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
He was elected Vice-President of the Asian Netball Federation, President of the Southeast Asian Netball Association, President of Philippine Netball Federation and was Acting Secretary-General of the Philippine Olympic Committee in April 2019. He was elected and currently serves as Board Member of the Philippine Olympic Committee 2021-2024, a first for Philippine optometry.
