News from the AOA's Blog

The Vision Care Section (VCS) of the American Public Health Association (APHA) invites nominations for its 2012 awards.

The Distinguished Service Award: Established in 1981, the award is the highest honor the section can bestow and is presented to an individual, institution or group who has made an outstanding contribution or demonstrated continual high quality service in the area of public health eye/vision care (sponsored by Hoya Vision Care). Read the rest of this entry ?

A new research article reveals University of Cincinnati (UC) baseball team members significantly improved their batting performance in 2011 with the help of an enhanced vision training program, featuring a dynamic device called the Dynavision D2™.

The article was published last month in PLos One and showed the UC’s team batting average increased from 0.251 to 0.285 from 2010 to‐2011 and the slugging percentage increased by 0.033. Read the rest of this entry ?

The World Council of Optometry (WCO) has announced a preliminary program for its next conference “Advancing Optometry Worldwide.” This three-day conference, set to take place in Chicago from June 24-26, will include opening speeches from WCO’s President Tone Garaas-Maurdalen and AOA representatives.

Other speakers include Leonard Messner, O.D., Illinois Eye Institute, who will deliver an advanced lecture on the eye in neurological disease; Thomas Freddo, O.D., Ph.D., University of Waterloo, Canada, speaking on glaucoma; and Lee Ball, O.D., associate director from Vistakon, Johnson & Johnson Care Inc. talking on diabetes. Read the rest of this entry ?

Dr. Borish

The “Father of Clinical Optometry,” Irvin Borish, O.D., DOS, died earlier this past weekend. He was 99.

Dr. Borish was from Pennsylvania and graduated from the Northern Illinois College of Optometry in 1934. He was on the school’s faculty for eight years, serving as director of clinics, before leaving for private practice in Indiana in 1944. He was instrumental in starting the Indiana University School of Optometry and the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. Read the rest of this entry ?

Jason Porter, Ph.D., at center, assistant professor of vision science and biomedical engineering at the University of Houston, stands in front of the AOSLO device he built. Pictured with him are his two graduate students involved in the glaucoma research using the AOSLO, Kevin Ivers, at left, and Nripun Sredar, at right. Photo credit: Thomas Campbell

A University of Houston (UH) vision scientist has received a $1.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate whether his techniques are more effective than others in understanding the earliest changes of glaucoma, which could lead to developing a way to earlier diagnose this potentially blinding disease.

Jason Porter, Ph.D., an assistant professor of vision science and biomedical engineering, uses a state-of-the-art instrument that takes sharper, higher-resolution images of the eye than current clinical instruments.

The adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope, or AOSLO, device Dr. Porter uses corrects for the eye’s optical imperfections and captures high-resolution movies on a cellular-level in the living eye.

Since 2009, his team has been using the AOSLO to image normal and diseased eyes, and the instrument has become a key component of their work in glaucoma, with the goal of using it to better understand retinal diseases. Read the rest of this entry ?

 The AOA State Government Relations Center is pleased to report the November re-elections of three state legislators who are optometrists or family members of optometrists.

Sen. David R. Heitmeier, O.D., (D) was re-elected to represent Louisiana District 7. Sen. Heitmeier was first elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 2007.  Sen. Heitmeier has been appointed to chair the Health and Welfare Committee. Read the rest of this entry ?

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced the hiring of Shilpa J. Register, O.D., as associate dean for Academic Programs and Jeanette M. Sewell, O.D., as associate dean for Clinical Programs in the college’s School of Optometry. Read the rest of this entry ?

Addressing students at the fourth-annual State Day are, from left, Chris Eiler, O.D., from Tennessee; Jeff Kempf, O.D., from Illinois; Mark Shirey, O.D., from Alabama; David Parker, O.D., from Mississippi; Melissa Schwebach Wood, O.D., from South Carolina; Rusty Simmons, O.D., from Arkansas; Chris King, O.D., from Florida; and Ben Gaddie, O.D., from Kentucky.

More than 300 Southern College of Optometry (SCO) students attended the school’s fourth-annual State Day event hosting nearly 30 representatives from state and national optometric associations. The event was designed to promote the importance of organized optometry to students on campus.

Students heard a keynote address by AOA Secretary-Treasurer David Cockrell, O.D., a 1981 SCO graduate. He discussed the importance of both membership in the AOA and the importance of participating in AOA-PAC as a student.

“It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to join the leaders of the affiliates in talking to the students at the Southern College of Optometry State Day,” said Dr. Cockrell. “We had the opportunity to briefly discuss the changes in optometry over the past several years and look to the very bright future for our profession during their professional careers. We were able to discuss the volunteer activities by ODs that have helped advance our profession and encourage their participation in as many volunteer opportunities as they are able to during their professional school activities. I look forward to seeing their future accomplishments and am very pleased to welcome all of them to our profession.” Read the rest of this entry ?

Dear fellow optometrists: 

As I prepare to file for the Missouri State Senate in February, I am reaching out to fellow optometrists nationwide for additional support.

The Good News:  This race is on our governor’s radar and I am receiving some of the best help in the state.

Contributions and encouragement provided by OD’s have already gone a long way in allowing us to meet our campaign’s fundraising goals up to this point, but with needing to raise $200,000 this quarter alone, we are asking other OD members of the American Optometric Association throughout the country to offer any support they might be able to provide.  Please visit our campaign website. Read the rest of this entry ?

By Sam Quintero, O.D., AOA Practice Advancement Committee member

Buying an existing practice can be one of the most rewarding decisions for advancing one’s career path in optometry. There are many more advantages than disadvantages in buying into a practice: one can anticipate the income and operating expenses of the existing practice, there is higher income potential, and the staff is already familiar with existing practice operating systems, the established location and an active patient base. The greatest benefit comes from immediate equity ownership and financial and estate planning opportunities for the future. Read the rest of this entry ?