Deidre (Dede) Rios serves as the Director of Optometric & Clinical Library Services at the University of the Incarnate Word-Rosenberg School of Optometry. She graduated from University of North Texas with a masters in library science in 2004, and Capella University with a doctorate in Education with a specialization in Leadership in Higher Education in 2013.  Passionate about helping people succeed, she is pleased to provide resources that support the optometry and vision science curricula and advances research.  She appreciates working at a faith-based institution that values the development of the whole person and fosters life-long learning.

 Dede Rios has been selected as a fellow in the 2017-2018 NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries.  The Program prepares emerging leaders for director positions in academic health sciences libraries through a year-long mentoring relationship with a director of another library and a curriculum focused on developing leadership knowledge critical to enhancing the value of libraries in their institutions. In this highly competitive program, Dede Rios will be one of ten fellows and mentors from academic health sciences libraries across the U.S. who will begin their work together in November.  Since the program began in 2002, 49% of all fellow graduates have assumed director positions.  More information about the program is available at https://aahsl.memberclicks.net/leadership-fellows-program.