It was always clear to Dr. Joanne Palumbo Mozloom that she would work in the medical field.

Growing up in East Utica, she watched her father, opthalmologist Anthony Palumbo, and decided she wanted to help people lead better lives like he did.

While she attended Notre Dame High School she volunteered at St. Luke’s Hospital as a candy striper and sampled the hospital’s many departments.

While Mozloom attended Lemoyne College in Syracuse, she volunteered at Upstate Medical Center.

It was then that she decided optometry was the field for her, and earned her doctorate from Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1991, and moved back to the Mohawk Valley in 1995.

Now, the 38-year-old works with her father as clinical coordinator of Dove Eye and Laser Center in New Hartford, the only refractive surgery center in Oneida County.

Her mother manages the office.

Her father started the practice 27 years ago, and Mozloom expanded the practice with pediatrics eight years ago.

By choice, Mozloom sees most of the children who come for eye examinations, she said.

“Examining a young child, you have to be creative, and quick,” Mozloom said.

“You feel good about it because you know you really are making a difference in a child’s life. They might want to be a pilot or a state trooper. Knowing that I’m giving someone a better quality of life because of my service is a great feeling,” she said.

She mentions the importance of diagnosing children who have a lazy eye early in their childhood.

She’s chairperson of the Children’s Vision Task Force, and part of her goal is to bring more awareness to the importance of eye exams for children before they enter nursery school and kindergarten.

Mozloom was nominated by Symeon Tsoupelis Jr., a 2002 Accent on Excellence honoree.

“She is dedicated to her patients, showing thoughtfulness, respect and dedication for their well being,” Tsoupelis wrote in his nomination letter.

“Through her compassionate care, community service and positive attitude, Joanne inspires all the people she touches to extend themselves and make that extra effort needed to become successful,” he said.

Outside of the eye exam or laser surgery room, Mozloom continues to contribute to the community through her volunteer work with numerous organizations including the Diabetes Association and the Junior League of Greater Utica.

“It’s hard to balance between work, volunteerism and home. It’s something that you just do,” Mozloom said before getting ready to prepare the operating room for surgery.

“I hate to be just sitting still,” she said.

She doesn’t have much time for that.