This
past week I had the privilege to speak about our Academy to students at
The Ohio State University and the Southern College of Optometry. While I
have had the honor of teaching optometry students throughout my
professional career, it is always special to travel to other parts of
the country and have the opportunity to speak with optometry students.
They are inquisitive, bright, articulate, excited about the profession
they have chosen and passionate about the future of our profession. I
attempted to enlighten them to the values and benefits of Academy
Fellowship to their personal and professional lives as optometrists,
clinical educators, career academics, or vision scientists.
Many students join our Academy as student members. Some schools have
developed Academy Student Chapters to promote student membership and the
values of life-long learning promoted by Academy Fellows. Increasing
numbers of student members participate at a higher level and attend our
annual meeting. During the annual meeting, student members have the
opportunity to achieve Student Fellowship by attending a broad range of
programs including lectures, Section and SIG symposia, the awards
program, and the business meeting. Yes, we even had to enlarge the room
for our business meeting to meet this enthusiasm of our future
colleagues.
While my fellow board members and I continue our
tradition of visiting each school and college of optometry every other
year, the day to day work of making students aware of the benefits of
student membership and facilitating the transition of student members to
candidate members is accomplished by our Faculty-Student Liaison
Committee under the leadership of Dr. Etty Bitton. She and her committee
members ensure that the next generation of optometrists understand the
benefits and importance of Academy Fellowship. We are most grateful for
the service of these dedicated Academy volunteers.
Dr. Etty Bitton, Committee Chair, University of Montreal
Dr. Richard Trevino, RSO
Dr. Robert Dister, UCBSO
Dr. Mayra Rullan, IAUPR
Dr. Susan Kovacich, IU
Dr. Aurora Denial, NECO
Dr. Andrew Gurwood, SALUS
Dr. Mary Flynn Roberts, ICO
Dr. Gregory Nixon, OSU
Dr. Tammy Than, UAB
Dr. Raymond Maeda, WESTERN
Dr. Jennifer Bulmann, UMSL
Dr. Lee Eunice Myung, SCCO
Dr. Latricia Pack, NSUCO
Dr. David Berntsen, UH
Dr. Kathryn Richdale, SUNY
Dr. Andrew McLeod, MCPHS
Dr. Daniel Arnett Taylor, SCO
Dr. Matthew Lampa, PUCO
Dr. Julie Rodman, NOVA
Dr. Kristine Dalton, WATERLOO
Dr. Amy Dinardo, MCO-FSU
Dr. Kaila Osmotherly, Arizona
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
A TABLE FOR EIGHT
At
our Academy Banquet last October, the theme of my comments centered on
mentorship. I shared my wish with those in attendance that the most
significant mentors in my life could join me at the front table, so I
could thank them for their contributions to the bit of success I have
had in both my personal and professional lives. I would have also
relished the comments they would have made to me as I stepped forward to
lead this prestigious organization. What would be their sage advice
that would propel me into a productive two-year term of effective
leadership and accomplishments as our Academy prepares to enter its
second century of service to the Fellowship and our profession?
Sister Virginia Marie, who was a most inspiring teacher, guided me toward the enjoyment of seeking knowledge and instilled a quiet confidence in a shy and awkward boy. Mr. Moy challenged me to develop analytical skills and developed my excitement for the study of science. Dr. Robert Alexander Schooley was, no doubt, the most influential mentor of my young life. He was an exemplary teacher, effective motivator and extraordinary mentor. In his quiet and unassuming manner, he set a high standard of academic achievement mixed with the ability to be an advisor and friend without compromising his role as teacher. He was a most gifted lecturer. His anatomy, histology, and endocrinology lectures were just superb! He presented the material in a clear and logical manner, building from basic concepts to the more intricate, weaving them into an understandable product while expertly sketching effective diagrams on the overhead projector. The result was a masterpiece in clarity of thought and comprehension. He provided me with my first teaching opportunities and under his guidance these skills were enhanced. His influences led me to my career in clinical teaching.
Joining the mentors of my youth would be the mentors of my professional education. Dr. Tony Adams has been a consistent source of guidance throughout my profession life. During my clinical observations as a first year optometry student, he taught me the use of the direct ophthalmoscope and the importance of solid clinical thinking. Later as Dean to a clinical faculty member and again as Editor to a new member of the Editorial Board, he challenged me to adapt, think in new directions and be more effective in my clinical thinking and scholarly activities. Dr. Mert Flom provided lessons in critical thinking, experimental design and writing as my optometry thesis advisor. He was an accomplished teacher and introduced me to the Academy. During my residency, Dr. Albert LeMoine, Jr. challenged my clinical skills, my clinical thinking and my problem solving abilities. Our after-clinic discussions of the issues of the day were enlightening and thought provoking life-long lessons. Joining them would be Dr. John Stanley, who provided me the guidance and the path to develop the clinical teaching program that has been my professional career and accomplishment.
Take a moment and reflect upon those who have contributed to your success. Who would fill the seats at your table? Stop! Take a moment today to reach out to them and express your appreciation for their guidance. Do it now, before there are more open seats at your table.
Sister Virginia Marie, who was a most inspiring teacher, guided me toward the enjoyment of seeking knowledge and instilled a quiet confidence in a shy and awkward boy. Mr. Moy challenged me to develop analytical skills and developed my excitement for the study of science. Dr. Robert Alexander Schooley was, no doubt, the most influential mentor of my young life. He was an exemplary teacher, effective motivator and extraordinary mentor. In his quiet and unassuming manner, he set a high standard of academic achievement mixed with the ability to be an advisor and friend without compromising his role as teacher. He was a most gifted lecturer. His anatomy, histology, and endocrinology lectures were just superb! He presented the material in a clear and logical manner, building from basic concepts to the more intricate, weaving them into an understandable product while expertly sketching effective diagrams on the overhead projector. The result was a masterpiece in clarity of thought and comprehension. He provided me with my first teaching opportunities and under his guidance these skills were enhanced. His influences led me to my career in clinical teaching.
Joining the mentors of my youth would be the mentors of my professional education. Dr. Tony Adams has been a consistent source of guidance throughout my profession life. During my clinical observations as a first year optometry student, he taught me the use of the direct ophthalmoscope and the importance of solid clinical thinking. Later as Dean to a clinical faculty member and again as Editor to a new member of the Editorial Board, he challenged me to adapt, think in new directions and be more effective in my clinical thinking and scholarly activities. Dr. Mert Flom provided lessons in critical thinking, experimental design and writing as my optometry thesis advisor. He was an accomplished teacher and introduced me to the Academy. During my residency, Dr. Albert LeMoine, Jr. challenged my clinical skills, my clinical thinking and my problem solving abilities. Our after-clinic discussions of the issues of the day were enlightening and thought provoking life-long lessons. Joining them would be Dr. John Stanley, who provided me the guidance and the path to develop the clinical teaching program that has been my professional career and accomplishment.
Take a moment and reflect upon those who have contributed to your success. Who would fill the seats at your table? Stop! Take a moment today to reach out to them and express your appreciation for their guidance. Do it now, before there are more open seats at your table.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPTOMETRY AWARDS
One of the most special sessions of our annual meeting is the Awards Program on Friday morning. Our Awards Committee, under the able leadership of Chris Johnson, selected this year's honorees from a highly competitive group of nominees. For each of the awards there was much discussion as to the relative merits and achievements of many of the nominees. Although many deserved recognition, the committee was forced to narrow its choice to the most commendable among the nominees. Please join us in Seattle at 8:00 AM on Friday, October 25th to honor our award winners.
Gordon E. Legge, PhD, of the University of Minnesota will receive the Charles F. Prentice Medal and will present the Prentice Lecture. This is the Academy's highest award for a distinguished career and accomplishment in research. His studies include the role of vision in real world situations including reading, spatial navigation, and object recognition. His significant contributions in understanding problems encountered by people with low vision have earned him our most cherished recognition of excellence in research.
David B. Elliott, PhD, MCOptom, FAAO of the University of Bradford will receive the Glenn A. Fry Award and will present the Fry Lecture. His studies cover numerous topics including the assessment and management of patients with cataract, clinical contrast sensitivity and glare testing, vision related quality of life issues, and the visual control of gait and posture.
Pete Kollbaum, OD, PhD, FAAO of Indiana University will receive the Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award. This award honors a young distinguished investigator and Dr. Kollbaum's work primarily in contact lenses, includes laboratory studies with translational clinical care implications to clinical patient care research, has earned him this honor.
Sandra Block, OD, MEd, FAAO, will receive the coveted Carel C. Koch Memorial Medal Award due to her significant involvement in the Special Olympics Lions International, the American Public Health Association, Prevent Blindness America, and Chicago Public Schools promoting better interprofessional relations for optometry.
George Woo, OD, PhD, FAAO will receive the American Academy of Optometry-Essilor Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Optometry for his establishment, leadership and development of the outstanding optometry program at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, contributions to the development of optometry in the Pacific Rim, and then adapting those skills to promote optometry throughout the world.
Murray Fingeret, OD, FAAO will be honored with the inaugural Vincent Ellerbrock Clinician Educator Award for his outstanding teaching within our Lectures and Workshop Program for so many years.
Louis Catania, OD, FAAO will be honored with the Eminent Service Award for his many years of contributions to the Academy and the profession.
Barbara Junghans, BOptom, PhD, FAAO will be honored with the Michael G. Harris Family Award for Excellence in Optometric Education for distinction in teaching within the University of New South Wales optometry program.
Michael Harris, OD, JD, FAAO and Anthony Cullen, OD, PhD, FAAO, will be honored with Lifetime Fellowship Awards for their commitment and service to the Academy.
Krystal Schulle, OD, will be honored for her paper on optics as a student at the University of Houston with the Julius F. Neumueller Award in Optics. She spiked the competition as first author of "Repeatability of On- and Off-Axis Eye Length Measurements Using the Lenstar" which was published in Optometry and Vision Science.
The Garland W. Clay Award is given to the authors of the most cited paper published in Optometry and Vision Science over the past five years. Padmaja Sankaridurg, BOptom, MIP, PhD, and co-authors Leslie Donovan, BOptom, Saulius Varnas, PhD, Arthur Ho, PhD, FAAO, Xiang Chen, MS, Aldo Martinez, PhD, FAAO, Scott Fisher, BscPsych, Zhi Lin, MSc, Earl Smith, III, OD, PhD, FAAO, Jian Ge, MD and Brien Holden, PhD, DSc, FAAO will be honored for their paper, "Spectacle Lenses Designed to Reduce Progression of Myopia: 12-Month Results."
Please join me in congratulating this most distinguished group of our colleagues, our 2013 American Academy of Optometry Award winners!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
SEATTLE IN OCTOBER: STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE
For the past thirty years, I have had the pleasure of
attending the annual meeting of our Academy. These meetings have been the
highlight of my professional life. Academy meetings have improved my clinical
practice, enhanced my knowledge in order to better teach my students and
residents, and enriched my personal life through the development of life-long
friendships with Fellows from many states and countries. Our Academy has been
my personal professional compass, guiding me in my career as I continually strive
to provide excellence in patient care and teaching.
The 92nd annual meeting of our American Academy of Optometry promises to be another exciting educational experience. Our Lectures and Workshops Committee, under the guidance of Gay Tokumaru, has put together an outstanding program on a range of topics that provide the opportunity to both enhance your knowledge and apply that knowledge toward improved patient care. Presently, our Scientific Program Committee, lead by Michael Twa, is reviewing the abstracts of new discoveries, studies, and insights in clinical optometry and vision science. The submissions they select will be presented in our papers and poster sessions, which is at the heart of our mission as we provide Today's Research for Tomorrow's Practice. In addition, our Sections and SIGs have developed unique symposia with focused presentations from experts on timely topics with direct clinical application. Our Plenary Session will highlight the advancements in stem cell research with potential new ocular treatments in both corneal and retinal disease, led by international leaders in these fields. Our Awards Program includes the Glenn A. Fry and Charles F. Prentice Lectures where distinguished international leaders in ophthalmic research will outline their significant advancements of knowledge in eye care and vision science. Our Residents Day program provides a review of interesting cases and their management in both oral case reports and clinical posters. The highlight of our meeting is clearly the ability to meet, greet, and catch up with friends and colleagues from across the nation and the world, as well as the opportunity to greet our class of new Fellows at the Fellowship Banquet on Saturday evening. Please make plans to join me in Seattle from Wednesday, October 23 through Saturday, October 26, 2013. Make our meeting YOUR meeting, as we challenge ourselves to strive for professional excellence. |
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
TRAVELS TO BOSTON AND MALAGA
Boston was the site of the most recent meeting of our Academy's Board of Directors. It was also marathon weekend in Boston. We shared our hotel with many of the runners who had come with their families to watch mom, dad, sister, or brother run in the big race on Monday. Young children were inquiring why mom or dad did not choose the treadmill with warmth of the workout room, rather than the cold and damp weather outside for their Friday work out. Some of us even wandered over to the finish line a few days before the event to grab an evening meal.
The city was alive with the anticipation of the celebration of this famous race where participation is valued as much as winning. We departed on Sunday; some of us early in the morning, others later in the day after walking the streets filled with runners completing their pre-race rituals. We were all shocked by the news that such a celebration and family gathering was violated by such a tragic event. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those whose loved ones were killed or injured in this senseless act of violence.
After I left Boston I headed to Malaga, Spain, the site of the combined meetings of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics, the European Council of Optometry and Optics, the World Council of Optometry (WCO), and the Spanish General Council of Optometry. This coalition of meetings brought together over 300 optometrists and opticians from over 40 countries. I primarily attended the European Academy of Optometry and Optics meeting.
I met with many of our European colleagues and had the opportunity to have thoughtful discussions with many of our European Fellows. Our Academy Fellows hold key leadership positions in the European Academy of Optometry and Optics, with Paul Murphy succeeding Roger Crelier as President, as well as Ellen Svarverud, Annemieke Coops, and Marten Fortuin serving on the Board of Directors. Among those honored with Fellowship in the European Academy were American Fellow Andrea Müller-Treiber and Fellow Candidate Caroline Christie.
Tim McMahon primarily attended the WCO meeting and will serve as one of the North American representatives on the WCO Governing Board for the next two years. Academy Fellows are well represented within the WCO, with Susan Cooper succeeding Tone Garaas-Maurdalen as President and George Woo completing his term as Immediate Past President. In addition, Pete Kehoe is the new Treasurer replacing Richard Wallingford, who has served in that role for the past six years.
Other Fellows serving in leadership roles include Committee Chairs Jerry Lowther for Education and Kovin Naidoo for Public Health, and Uduak Udom and Carly Lam who serve on the WCO Governing Board. Brien Holden gave a rousing keynote address at the European Academy of Optometry and Optics meeting and was honored with the Distinguished Service Award of the World Council of Optometry.
Friday, March 29, 2013
THE PASSING OF A GENERATION
Over the last 30 years, I have provided eye care to America's veterans. Early in my career the mainstay of my patients were WWII veterans. Over the years, I have been honored to serve those who participated in many of the major conflicts of that struggle: Pearl Harbor, Corregidor, Batan, Midway, Guadalcanal, Sicily, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Bougainville, New Guinea, Omaha Beach, Saipan, Battle of the Bulge, and Iwo Jima. They never spoke of their individual contributions or thought of themselves as heroes. They just did their duty as best they could. Their spirit was characterized by a Marine who lost an eye in combat and had glaucoma in his only eye. When I was about to complete the request for the VA to purchase his eyeglasses he told me, "Just put my prescription on that other form, I can buy my own glasses. Save that one for those who need it!"
While over 16 million Americans served in WWII, there are only a little over a million of them still living. Last month a very special WWII veteran passed away, my Dad. He was a devoted family man who with my mother created within our home a place of unconditional love and support, a place to retreat from the realities of life, a place to tend to scars from the challenges of life, and a place to nurture self-confidence. While deeply saddened by the loss of this remarkable man, I am truly blessed for the many years of this wonderful life he shared with me and the remarkable life he gave to me. He quietly and effectively set a standard of integrity, love and devotion to family, warmth and respect to friends and acquaintances, which I will honor as I make my meager attempt to emulate him. He was a man of few words; he quietly set an example of how to live. His only words of advice to me came as I was departing on my honeymoon. He simply said, "Take good care of her."
Our Academy has also experienced a passing of a generation as none of the present board members have any direct knowledge of our early Academy leaders. It is only our mentors, many of whom we have lost over these past few years, who had the benefit of knowing some of the legendarily early Academy leaders such as Carel Koch. We must build on the legacy of these past leaders and chart the course for the future of the Academy and our profession. This past generation has provided us with this wonderful profession of modern optometry. Perhaps we could benefit from the example of this passing generation by being a bit more self-less in our actions and working toward the common good of the profession as we heed my father's words of advice, "Take good care of her."
[To Top]
While over 16 million Americans served in WWII, there are only a little over a million of them still living. Last month a very special WWII veteran passed away, my Dad. He was a devoted family man who with my mother created within our home a place of unconditional love and support, a place to retreat from the realities of life, a place to tend to scars from the challenges of life, and a place to nurture self-confidence. While deeply saddened by the loss of this remarkable man, I am truly blessed for the many years of this wonderful life he shared with me and the remarkable life he gave to me. He quietly and effectively set a standard of integrity, love and devotion to family, warmth and respect to friends and acquaintances, which I will honor as I make my meager attempt to emulate him. He was a man of few words; he quietly set an example of how to live. His only words of advice to me came as I was departing on my honeymoon. He simply said, "Take good care of her."
Our Academy has also experienced a passing of a generation as none of the present board members have any direct knowledge of our early Academy leaders. It is only our mentors, many of whom we have lost over these past few years, who had the benefit of knowing some of the legendarily early Academy leaders such as Carel Koch. We must build on the legacy of these past leaders and chart the course for the future of the Academy and our profession. This past generation has provided us with this wonderful profession of modern optometry. Perhaps we could benefit from the example of this passing generation by being a bit more self-less in our actions and working toward the common good of the profession as we heed my father's words of advice, "Take good care of her."
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
GIVING RECOGNITION TO THE BEST OF THE BEST: THE ACADEMY AWARDS
We all appreciate a kind word or a note of recognition for our efforts and
accomplishments. Particularly when the acknowledgement is from someone we admire
or value in a special way. When professional achievements are honored by a
respected group of accomplished colleagues, this is usually the source of
exceptional pride. Thus, our Academy seeks to honor those who have achieved
noteworthy levels of sustained excellence with significant contributions to the
profession of optometry or the field of vision science. Chris Johnson and the
Awards Committee will soon begin deliberations to identify those who will be
honored at our Awards Program on Friday, October 25, 2013 in Seattle, WA.
This cannot happen, however, without first identifying those individuals who deserve our thanks and recognition for their high level of devotion and attainment. So take this opportunity to review the criteria for our awards and nominate qualified and deserving individuals. Their contributions have gone unappreciated long enough! The deadline for the submission of nominations for our Academy and American Optometric Foundation awards is April 1, 2013.
In addition to our traditional awards listed below, the Academy has a new award—the Vincent Ellerbrock Clinical Educator Award.
Vincent Ellerbrock Clinician Educator Award – recognizes a distinguished clinician who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to the Academy’s Lectures and Workshops Program. Individuals considered for this award will be widely recognized by both Academy peers and the profession for their clinical expertise and willingness to share their knowledge for the benefit of improved patient care. Awardees are required to be active in direct patient care. Additional contributions to the ophthalmic literature relative to sharing clinical knowledge may also be considered.
Charles F. Prentice Medal Award - recognizes a distinguished scientist or clinician scientist in recognition of a career-long record of advancement of knowledge in vision science. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Glenn A. Fry Award (AOF) - given to a distinguished scientist or clinician scientist (typically mid-career stage) in recognition of the quality, significance, impact, and relevance to optometry of his or her current research contributions. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award - recognizes an outstanding young scientist or clinician scientist (usually in the first 6 years of their career) who has shown exceptional promise to conduct independent research directly related to etiology, prevention, detection, diagnosis, or management of clinical ocular disorders. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Essilor Award for Outstanding International Contributions to Optometry - recognizes an individual(s) or organization whose direct efforts and contributions have resulted in unquestionably significant and extraordinary advances in optometry and eye care internationally.
William Feinbloom Award - presented to an individual who has made a distinguished and significant contribution to clinical excellence and the direct clinical advancement of visual and optometric service and thus, the visual enhancement of the public. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Carel C. Koch Memorial Medal Award - awarded to a person who has made outstanding contributions to the enhancement and development of relationships between optometry and other professions. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Eminent Service Award - honors those who have rendered extraordinary and/or distinguished long-term service to the Academy.
Honorary Fellowship - honors individuals who are not Academy Fellows for distinguished contributions to the Academy and/or the science and art of optometry.
Life Fellowship - recognition to Fellows who have rendered distinguished service to the science and art of optometry.
Also included, but nominated by deans and presidents of the Schools and Colleges of Optometry is the Michael G. Harris Family Award for Excellence in Optometric Education (AOF) and the Julius F. Neumueller Award in Optics (AOF).
May we have your nominations, please?
[To Top]
This cannot happen, however, without first identifying those individuals who deserve our thanks and recognition for their high level of devotion and attainment. So take this opportunity to review the criteria for our awards and nominate qualified and deserving individuals. Their contributions have gone unappreciated long enough! The deadline for the submission of nominations for our Academy and American Optometric Foundation awards is April 1, 2013.
In addition to our traditional awards listed below, the Academy has a new award—the Vincent Ellerbrock Clinical Educator Award.
Vincent Ellerbrock Clinician Educator Award – recognizes a distinguished clinician who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to the Academy’s Lectures and Workshops Program. Individuals considered for this award will be widely recognized by both Academy peers and the profession for their clinical expertise and willingness to share their knowledge for the benefit of improved patient care. Awardees are required to be active in direct patient care. Additional contributions to the ophthalmic literature relative to sharing clinical knowledge may also be considered.
***
Charles F. Prentice Medal Award - recognizes a distinguished scientist or clinician scientist in recognition of a career-long record of advancement of knowledge in vision science. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Glenn A. Fry Award (AOF) - given to a distinguished scientist or clinician scientist (typically mid-career stage) in recognition of the quality, significance, impact, and relevance to optometry of his or her current research contributions. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award - recognizes an outstanding young scientist or clinician scientist (usually in the first 6 years of their career) who has shown exceptional promise to conduct independent research directly related to etiology, prevention, detection, diagnosis, or management of clinical ocular disorders. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Essilor Award for Outstanding International Contributions to Optometry - recognizes an individual(s) or organization whose direct efforts and contributions have resulted in unquestionably significant and extraordinary advances in optometry and eye care internationally.
William Feinbloom Award - presented to an individual who has made a distinguished and significant contribution to clinical excellence and the direct clinical advancement of visual and optometric service and thus, the visual enhancement of the public. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Carel C. Koch Memorial Medal Award - awarded to a person who has made outstanding contributions to the enhancement and development of relationships between optometry and other professions. The recipient need not be a Fellow of the Academy nor an optometrist.
Eminent Service Award - honors those who have rendered extraordinary and/or distinguished long-term service to the Academy.
Honorary Fellowship - honors individuals who are not Academy Fellows for distinguished contributions to the Academy and/or the science and art of optometry.
Life Fellowship - recognition to Fellows who have rendered distinguished service to the science and art of optometry.
Also included, but nominated by deans and presidents of the Schools and Colleges of Optometry is the Michael G. Harris Family Award for Excellence in Optometric Education (AOF) and the Julius F. Neumueller Award in Optics (AOF).
May we have your nominations, please?
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
THANK YOU FOR SHARING...WE ARE LISTENING!
I have a confession to make. I am not really a survey person. Political poll
results have never and probably never will include my opinion. My lack of
cooperation with completing surveys includes department stores, sandwich shops,
hotels, airlines, and new products. Occasionally I am tempted to put aside my
resolve that my opinion is not really all that important to the world and I give
in to the process of sharing my impression of the product or service. Then about
half way through the survey there is a question regarding the issue that
motivated me to start the survey in the first place; however, to my eternal
frustration there is no answer consistent with my opinion. A few may be close,
but not close enough! So rather than give an answer that does not truly reflect
my opinion, I do not complete the survey and remind myself why I should not have
started the survey in the first place. There are only a few exceptions to my no
survey policy and that includes professional organizations that I truly value,
which includes our Academy.
Your Academy staff, annual meeting volunteer leaders, and board of directors spent a great deal of time reviewing the results of the post-meeting survey from the recent Academy Meeting in Phoenix. More than 38% of meeting attendees completed the survey. Based on your responses, the Academy staff and volunteers are considering what corrective action or program enhancements might be enacted to improve our annual meeting. In addition, each and every response to the open ended questions and comment sections were reviewed.
We heard you loud and clear that while you are willing to provide us with course evaluations to improve and maintain the quality of our course offerings at future meetings, you do NOT want the course evaluations to be required. While evaluations are critical for ongoing improvement, they will no longer be made mandatory. The exhibit hall lunch program will be improved to serve the growing number of attendees at the meeting. Consideration to slightly alter the exhibit hall hours to allow more interaction between our attendees and our exhibitors is underway. You reminded us that as our Plenary Session has grown, there is a clear need for more screens positioned so that everyone can comfortably see the slides during the presentation.
There were many other helpful comments that we will take to heart as we continuously strive to improve the quality of our annual meeting and the service we provide to our Fellowship and the profession. My favorite response to the reason for attending the meeting was “desire to support the Academy.”
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your valued input. Furthermore, I would like to encourage those who adopted my usual non-survey participatory strategy to please let us know what you are thinking—positive reinforcement or valued suggestions for improvement are welcome here.
[To Top]
Your Academy staff, annual meeting volunteer leaders, and board of directors spent a great deal of time reviewing the results of the post-meeting survey from the recent Academy Meeting in Phoenix. More than 38% of meeting attendees completed the survey. Based on your responses, the Academy staff and volunteers are considering what corrective action or program enhancements might be enacted to improve our annual meeting. In addition, each and every response to the open ended questions and comment sections were reviewed.
We heard you loud and clear that while you are willing to provide us with course evaluations to improve and maintain the quality of our course offerings at future meetings, you do NOT want the course evaluations to be required. While evaluations are critical for ongoing improvement, they will no longer be made mandatory. The exhibit hall lunch program will be improved to serve the growing number of attendees at the meeting. Consideration to slightly alter the exhibit hall hours to allow more interaction between our attendees and our exhibitors is underway. You reminded us that as our Plenary Session has grown, there is a clear need for more screens positioned so that everyone can comfortably see the slides during the presentation.
There were many other helpful comments that we will take to heart as we continuously strive to improve the quality of our annual meeting and the service we provide to our Fellowship and the profession. My favorite response to the reason for attending the meeting was “desire to support the Academy.”
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your valued input. Furthermore, I would like to encourage those who adopted my usual non-survey participatory strategy to please let us know what you are thinking—positive reinforcement or valued suggestions for improvement are welcome here.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
ACADEMY TRADITION V. CHANGE
There is nothing unique about our Academy in this regard: human beings are resistant to change. Change forces us to abandon our “tried and true” ways and move into a new zone of uncertainty where the outcome appears to be unclear. Uncertainty makes us uncomfortable. There is the tendency for us to abandon the new initiative without giving it a fair trial and to retreat to our old familiar habits, even if they are less effective than the proposed change.
Nevertheless, it is clear that change is inevitable. This has been well documented since ancient time as Heraclitus in 513 B.C. observed, “There is nothing permanent except change.” We all recognize that our Academy must change in order to grow and remain relevant to our profession. So how do we reconcile this conflict between the certainty of change and our comfort with the status quo?
This reminds us of the old baseball adage: you can’t steal second base with your foot on first. Yet, we can’t be complacent with both feet safely placed on first base. We need to be comfortable taking a lead off first, be vigilant for any attempt to pick us off, and choose wisely and decisively on which pitch to attempt to steal second.
While being respectful of the culture and treasured traditions of our Academy and our profession, we must embrace change that moves our organization and profession forward. One clear example is the decision to move our annual meeting from the time-honored and traditional Academy dates in early or mid-December to the present October/November time frame. There has certainly been some downside to this change, such as the conflict with other local and regional meetings.
But as busy as things might have been for those of us who attended our meeting in Phoenix in October this year, just think how nice it has been to have the last two weekends at home as you and your family prepare for your holiday celebrations. No working on posters and courses over Thanksgiving. No pre-holiday fatigue from just having arrived home this last weekend. Furthermore, since this change was implemented six years ago, our Academy has had five of our most successful meetings. Undoubtedly, this decision has also afforded Happier Holidays for our Academy Fellows, staff, and our families.
Happy Holidays to all, and a very happy, healthy New Year!
Nevertheless, it is clear that change is inevitable. This has been well documented since ancient time as Heraclitus in 513 B.C. observed, “There is nothing permanent except change.” We all recognize that our Academy must change in order to grow and remain relevant to our profession. So how do we reconcile this conflict between the certainty of change and our comfort with the status quo?
This reminds us of the old baseball adage: you can’t steal second base with your foot on first. Yet, we can’t be complacent with both feet safely placed on first base. We need to be comfortable taking a lead off first, be vigilant for any attempt to pick us off, and choose wisely and decisively on which pitch to attempt to steal second.
While being respectful of the culture and treasured traditions of our Academy and our profession, we must embrace change that moves our organization and profession forward. One clear example is the decision to move our annual meeting from the time-honored and traditional Academy dates in early or mid-December to the present October/November time frame. There has certainly been some downside to this change, such as the conflict with other local and regional meetings.
But as busy as things might have been for those of us who attended our meeting in Phoenix in October this year, just think how nice it has been to have the last two weekends at home as you and your family prepare for your holiday celebrations. No working on posters and courses over Thanksgiving. No pre-holiday fatigue from just having arrived home this last weekend. Furthermore, since this change was implemented six years ago, our Academy has had five of our most successful meetings. Undoubtedly, this decision has also afforded Happier Holidays for our Academy Fellows, staff, and our families.
Happy Holidays to all, and a very happy, healthy New Year!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
TEMPE THOUGHTS
On the Sunday morning following the Phoenix Academy Meeting, as many of you dashed to Sky Harbor Airport or discovered your stay in Phoenix was extended due to superstorm Sandy, I was strolling across the Mill Street Bridge in Tempe with Jack, Seth, Eric, Ben, Channing, Alexis, and their families, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. Over 16,000 of us participated in the Arizona Walk for Autism Speaks raising $1.4 million to fight this disorder whose clinical presentation, social challenges, and research prospects were so eloquently summarized to us during our Plenary Session by Drs. Ricki Robinson and David Amaral.
Planes flying overhead caused my thoughts to drift to my Academy Fellows returning home after joining us for another successful meeting. This was our third largest meeting with over 3,000 optometrists and 5,000 total registrants. High quality courses, superb symposia outlining critical clinical thinking to improve patient care, thought provoking clinical case presentations and clinical studies in the poster sessions, papers providing new discoveries in clinical and vision science, and a robust exhibit hall are the essence of our meeting. All of you who contributed to the success of this meeting should be congratulated. Yet, the formal induction of 204 new Fellows of the Academy was the pinnacle of the event. At the banquet we welcomed them into our Fellowship along with their commitment to life long learning and expanding their knowledge to provide improved patient care.
When we turned for the return trip across Tempe Lake, my attention returned to those walking with me. The love and concern of friends, family, and neighbors was evident as all were united in this common case. As I walked with Kyla discussing the new school and program that her son started attending this year, it became clear that she and her husband were firmly dedicated to a long-term commitment to make the best life possible for their son. And while all parents strive to make a good life for their children, the added challenge of having a son with Autism Spectrum Disorder requires a constant and full commitment to that vision.
Then my thoughts and reflections drifted back to my Academy week. What is the level of our commitment to our Academy and our profession? Is it one of convenience that can be disrupted by the first sign of discomfort? Or is it a more robust commitment that can be sustained and enhanced by professional and personal challenges?
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
OCTOBER 2012: LOST (AND FOUND) IN TRANSLATION
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so you may have seen a lot of pink signs, t-shirts, and calls for participation and contributions in various venues around your community. I became more aware of the disease than ever last month.
I have invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast. I had my annual, routine mammogram on September 4th followed rapidly by digital mammography, ultrasound, and needle biopsy, was diagnosed September 18th, and had a partial mastectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy on September 28. I will start either chemotherapy or radiation as soon as I get home from the Academy meeting. Either way, radiation and many years of aromatase inhibitor treatment are on the docket for sure.
I am experiencing the full force of translational research, or what we at the Academy have “visioned” as “Today’s Research, Tomorrow’s Practice” for many years, albeit it in oncology instead of optometry. When my surgical oncologist says, “The 20-year results for lumpectomy and radiation are the same as for mastectomy,” all I can see is someone presenting a survival analysis from a randomized clinical trial or case-control study at a national conference and the hundreds of women who were in that study. When I hear, “Your tumor will be sent for genotyping to help us make the chemotherapy decision,” I envision bench scientists toiling late into the night and on weekends to gather results, write papers, receive grants, and translate their results into the very real life preserver and treatment opportunity I am being offered. My medical oncologist is a true clinician-scientist with a basic science laboratory and an active clinical practice; he probably received the equivalent of an Ezell Fellowship from his professional organization way back when.
When breast cancer survivors on Facebook know their tumors’ estrogen, progesterone, and HER2neu receptor status, it means that doctors have spent countless hours educating their patients about the structure and function of cell receptors and the latest therapies to combat those cells’ growth.
It’s the same in optometry. Maybe the stakes are lower for us compared to oncology, or maybe not, at the end of the day. Patients deeply fear blindness.
Next week in Phoenix, you will stroll through the Exhibit Hall, trying out the latest equipment and comparing new devices across manufacturers. You will take notes furiously during a paper or poster or lecture on a topic that directly affects a patient you saw last week and resolve to call her to update her care when you get home from the Academy meeting. You will listen, rapt, while a colleague in the hallway relates his recent clinical experience before providing your own insights on his patient. You will translate today’s research into tomorrow’s practice, in some way, as soon as you get home.
Now that I’m a bit over the initial shock of diagnosis and surgery, I am doing okay and will welcome your words of support in Phoenix, even as I offer my own to Fellows who have been through this themselves. I just got cleared to resume regular activities postoperatively. I took a beginning watercolor class this weekend. I successfully rode a 25-mile breast cancer awareness bicycle ride Saturday, and I am following my doctors’ recommendations (including, “Don’t fall off your bike”) and living my life with my customary cynicism, joy, negative-energy-you-can-feed-off, sleeplessness, and love.
It has been an unparalleled honor to serve these past two years as the President of your Academy. I wish incoming President, and dear friend, Bernie Dolan, all the best.
[To Top]
I have invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast. I had my annual, routine mammogram on September 4th followed rapidly by digital mammography, ultrasound, and needle biopsy, was diagnosed September 18th, and had a partial mastectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy on September 28. I will start either chemotherapy or radiation as soon as I get home from the Academy meeting. Either way, radiation and many years of aromatase inhibitor treatment are on the docket for sure.
I am experiencing the full force of translational research, or what we at the Academy have “visioned” as “Today’s Research, Tomorrow’s Practice” for many years, albeit it in oncology instead of optometry. When my surgical oncologist says, “The 20-year results for lumpectomy and radiation are the same as for mastectomy,” all I can see is someone presenting a survival analysis from a randomized clinical trial or case-control study at a national conference and the hundreds of women who were in that study. When I hear, “Your tumor will be sent for genotyping to help us make the chemotherapy decision,” I envision bench scientists toiling late into the night and on weekends to gather results, write papers, receive grants, and translate their results into the very real life preserver and treatment opportunity I am being offered. My medical oncologist is a true clinician-scientist with a basic science laboratory and an active clinical practice; he probably received the equivalent of an Ezell Fellowship from his professional organization way back when.
When breast cancer survivors on Facebook know their tumors’ estrogen, progesterone, and HER2neu receptor status, it means that doctors have spent countless hours educating their patients about the structure and function of cell receptors and the latest therapies to combat those cells’ growth.
It’s the same in optometry. Maybe the stakes are lower for us compared to oncology, or maybe not, at the end of the day. Patients deeply fear blindness.
Next week in Phoenix, you will stroll through the Exhibit Hall, trying out the latest equipment and comparing new devices across manufacturers. You will take notes furiously during a paper or poster or lecture on a topic that directly affects a patient you saw last week and resolve to call her to update her care when you get home from the Academy meeting. You will listen, rapt, while a colleague in the hallway relates his recent clinical experience before providing your own insights on his patient. You will translate today’s research into tomorrow’s practice, in some way, as soon as you get home.
Now that I’m a bit over the initial shock of diagnosis and surgery, I am doing okay and will welcome your words of support in Phoenix, even as I offer my own to Fellows who have been through this themselves. I just got cleared to resume regular activities postoperatively. I took a beginning watercolor class this weekend. I successfully rode a 25-mile breast cancer awareness bicycle ride Saturday, and I am following my doctors’ recommendations (including, “Don’t fall off your bike”) and living my life with my customary cynicism, joy, negative-energy-you-can-feed-off, sleeplessness, and love.
It has been an unparalleled honor to serve these past two years as the President of your Academy. I wish incoming President, and dear friend, Bernie Dolan, all the best.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
A NEED TO KNOW BASIS
Students have been on my mind lately. I've made school visits to the Illinois College of Optometry, am visiting the School of Optometry at Inter-American University tomorrow, and head to the Indiana University School of Optometry in mid-September. I've had the good fortune to go to Pacific University, SUNY, and the University of Houston during my term as Academy president, and, of course, I work with Ohio State's optometry students every day. These interactions always energize me. Regardless of institution, the students are excited about optometry, overflowing with information and ideas, and seem to have newly discovered our Academy.
Our optometric institutions are our profession’s lifeblood, our future, even our destiny. We all became optometrists at one of them, and they are different in many respects but bond us with their similarities, too.
Recently, I was at a brown bag lunch organized by Fellow and Faculty-Student Liaison Committee Chair, Jeff Walline, for six Ohio State students who competed for and have completed a research rotation, through a grant from the National Eye Institute. Several other US optometric institutions host the same program. The lunch was attended by Fellows (and optometrists/faculty members) Andy Hartwick, Dean VanNasdale, and Don Mutti, too. The conversation turned to how each of the faculty members had decided on graduate school and a career in academia.
Andy related a colorful story that involved tent camping, a poster about the OD/MS program at the University of Waterloo, and undergraduate research observations on the mating habits of beetles. Dean recalled a random email about a retinal imaging training opportunity, and I decided that a PhD might be the best path for me, in part because I thought I might have some leadership chops. Don simply said, “I just needed to know stuff.”
I’ve been thinking about that ever since. Isn’t that why our Academy exists, when all is said and done? Optometrists become Fellows because they … need to know stuff. Students come to the Academy meeting because they… need to know stuff. The American Optometric Foundation (AOF) subsidizes residents, students, and faculty endeavors based on the applicants’ descriptions of their… need to know stuff. Scientists pursue research, conduct experiments, write grants, and publish papers because they…need to know stuff. Editor, Fellow, and Past President Tony Adams dedicates himself to Optometry and Vision Science every month because his readers… need to know stuff.
Our American Academy of Optometry, its Annual Meeting, its journal, and its academic charity all continue to thrive because the optometric profession needs to know stuff to satisfy our innate curiosity about the eye and visual system so that we can take better care of our patients. Come join us. If you’re a candidate, finish up the Fellowship requirements. If you’re a student member, become a Student Fellow. If you’re a scientist non-member (or you know one), take advantage of the free non-member scientist registration opportunity in Phoenix this year by contacting Fellow Shaban Demirel, Chair of the Vision Science Section. If you’re a Fellow, pick a Special Interest Group and become active or find a Section and start that Diplomate process. If you’ve never donated to the AOF to support a young person’s need to know, do so now. Read and/or contribute OVS.
Lastly, this year in Phoenix, there’s a unique opportunity to celebrate the life of one of us who needed to know stuff, every day. Come to this year’s Borish Festschrift, featuring Borish award winners and Borish Ezell fellows, on Saturday, October 27, in Room 122 A-C of the Phoenix Convention Center. Irv would love to know you’re there.
P.S. I thought you might like to know. I biked a 160-mile charity ride, the Pan Massachusetts Challenge, earlier this month. It’s the trip I’ve made every year since 2005, but I suffered a concussion riding it in 2011. I finished the event this year, in record time for me, without visiting the emergency department at Cape Cod Community Hospital.
[To Top]
Our optometric institutions are our profession’s lifeblood, our future, even our destiny. We all became optometrists at one of them, and they are different in many respects but bond us with their similarities, too.
Recently, I was at a brown bag lunch organized by Fellow and Faculty-Student Liaison Committee Chair, Jeff Walline, for six Ohio State students who competed for and have completed a research rotation, through a grant from the National Eye Institute. Several other US optometric institutions host the same program. The lunch was attended by Fellows (and optometrists/faculty members) Andy Hartwick, Dean VanNasdale, and Don Mutti, too. The conversation turned to how each of the faculty members had decided on graduate school and a career in academia.
Andy related a colorful story that involved tent camping, a poster about the OD/MS program at the University of Waterloo, and undergraduate research observations on the mating habits of beetles. Dean recalled a random email about a retinal imaging training opportunity, and I decided that a PhD might be the best path for me, in part because I thought I might have some leadership chops. Don simply said, “I just needed to know stuff.”
I’ve been thinking about that ever since. Isn’t that why our Academy exists, when all is said and done? Optometrists become Fellows because they … need to know stuff. Students come to the Academy meeting because they… need to know stuff. The American Optometric Foundation (AOF) subsidizes residents, students, and faculty endeavors based on the applicants’ descriptions of their… need to know stuff. Scientists pursue research, conduct experiments, write grants, and publish papers because they…need to know stuff. Editor, Fellow, and Past President Tony Adams dedicates himself to Optometry and Vision Science every month because his readers… need to know stuff.
Our American Academy of Optometry, its Annual Meeting, its journal, and its academic charity all continue to thrive because the optometric profession needs to know stuff to satisfy our innate curiosity about the eye and visual system so that we can take better care of our patients. Come join us. If you’re a candidate, finish up the Fellowship requirements. If you’re a student member, become a Student Fellow. If you’re a scientist non-member (or you know one), take advantage of the free non-member scientist registration opportunity in Phoenix this year by contacting Fellow Shaban Demirel, Chair of the Vision Science Section. If you’re a Fellow, pick a Special Interest Group and become active or find a Section and start that Diplomate process. If you’ve never donated to the AOF to support a young person’s need to know, do so now. Read and/or contribute OVS.
Lastly, this year in Phoenix, there’s a unique opportunity to celebrate the life of one of us who needed to know stuff, every day. Come to this year’s Borish Festschrift, featuring Borish award winners and Borish Ezell fellows, on Saturday, October 27, in Room 122 A-C of the Phoenix Convention Center. Irv would love to know you’re there.
P.S. I thought you might like to know. I biked a 160-mile charity ride, the Pan Massachusetts Challenge, earlier this month. It’s the trip I’ve made every year since 2005, but I suffered a concussion riding it in 2011. I finished the event this year, in record time for me, without visiting the emergency department at Cape Cod Community Hospital.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
WISHING WELL
The House of Delegates at the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) meeting in Chicago in July saw the induction of Ronald L. Hopping, OD, MPH, FAAO, as President of the AOA, accompanied by First Lady Desiree T. Hopping, OD, FAAO. As everyone well knows, he followed in the footsteps of his father, Richard Hopping, OD, FAAO, a past-president of the AOA, to create the first parent-child AOA presidential pairing. Our own Academy can also lay special claim to Dr. Ron. In addition to being a Fellow, he is a Diplomate in the Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses & Refractive Technologies, an achievement of which he is rightfully proud. We are at least that proud of him. Congratulations, Ron!
Following a rousing inaugural parade into the House for Ron that included Texas music and flags and a lot of rompin’, stompin’ cowboy boots, Ron delivered an inspirational speech. In it, he promoted the importance of a vital, healthy, actively-advocating-on-behalf-of-our-profession American Optometric Association. He told the assembled audience that they “drink from wells they did not dig,” while exhorting them to help maintain our profession’s healthy advocate.
Wow, I thought, what a lovely turn of phrase. Did Ron write that? If I’d asked him, I know he would have said, “No, you idiot.” A quick look at the Google Machine yielded this reference, from Deuteronomy 6:11. I love the poetry of the American King James Bible (always have, from childhood), which goes like this, “And houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dug, which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not; when you shall have eaten and be full.
In our lives, we all drink from wells we did not dig, both personally and professionally. (Naturally, there are holes we’ve dug ourselves into, but that’s a story for another day.) Our own Academy house is beautiful and well stocked with good things. Your AAO housekeepers, in the form of valued staff and dedicated volunteers, including the hardest working Board of Directors in show business, are busy planning the Annual Meeting in Phoenix where you will all eat olives and drink wine and intellectually fulfill yourselves. Come join us, AOA President Ron Hopping and his Board of Trustees, and 5,000+ of your closest friends at Academy 2012 Phoenix.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
BURNING MAN
If the timing of these monthly columns seems irregular (early in the month one time, “just under the wire” other times), it’s because I truly wait for inspiration before I write. This month it was getting late in the game, so I hoped my recent travels—to Los Angeles, Reno, and Chicago—might provide the spark of an idea. As I left Columbus early last Thursday, I overheard a conversation between a 7-year-old girl and her slightly older brother. They were debating whether the fluid a plane was discharging was fuel or water. The self-assured girl asserted, “I know it’s gasoline because I can smell it. I have a very good smelling technique.” Cute story but no possible Academy analogy, and, although surprising my daughter later that day in Los Angeles for her 27th birthday was fun, it didn’t really supply any Academy “ah ha!” moment either.
I then advanced (as opposed to going on a “retreat” or “retreating”) to Verdi, Nevada with Optometry and Vision Science (OVS) Managing Editor, Kurt Zadnik, and Fellow/Past Academy President/Past AOF President/Current Editor of OVS Tony Adams. In between strategizing about our journal, we visited a construction site where Tony’s son, Lindsay Adams, is part of a team that is building a life-sized shipwreck for what he called Burning Man.
Burning Man began in 1986 and is now an annual, week-long event that occurs just before Labor Day in the Nevada desert. It clearly occupies the region, as we were in an antique shop on Saturday where the proprietress pointed out a tie-dyed dress, whispering that “it would be perfect to wear to Burning Man.” Poor Lindsay, as he had to put up with my interrogation at dinner that night, along the lines of “What exactly is Burning Man?” It’s described officially as “part of an experimental community [that] challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one's day-to-day life. The result of this experiment is Black Rock City, home to the Burning Man event.” Further, “Burning Man is a kind of Petri dish. Theme camps cling in fertile clusters to its latticework of streets, artworks tumble out of it, like pollen on the air. These nodes of interaction mutate, grow, and reproduce their kind, only to effervesce and spread across five continents.” Some of Burning Man’s guiding principles are radical inclusion; gifting; radical self-expression; communal effort; participation; and immediacy (as in “No idea can substitute for this experience.”) Lindsay embellished that website definition with descriptions of a five-mile radius, well-mapped city in the desert where 50,000 people pay an average of $400 per ticket and live for a week, relying on non-motorized vehicles for transportation. No money is exchanged at Burning Man, but bartering is endorsed and encouraged. He said outsiders have stereotyped the event as hippie-ish but asserted that the only thing in excess in Black Rock City is hugging.
So, how does this relate to our Academy? We form an annual, transient community too, for the better part of a week. This year it’s even in the desert! We don’t call it “Academy City”, but we could. We gift in the form of buying each other dinners and drinks, and we bestow the gifts of our knowledge and experience. We park our cars at our home airports and take taxicabs instead of riding bicycles. We hug—a lot—both physically and intellectually. We embrace: inclusion, sitting side-by-side with optometry students; self-expression in our scientific presentations, lectures, and symposia; communal effort in our extensive volunteer structure; and a deeply-held belief that our reach is international and that nothing substitutes for the immediacy of the professional and personal experience of our Academy’s Annual Meeting. You won’t get it by reading about it. You have to be there. As I imagine the Burning Man participants at the end of an exhausting, hot, dehydrating, energizing, enriching week, we too leave our Academy’s Annual Meeting each year recharged and, across the years, fundamentally changed as optometrists, vision scientists, and human beings.
To register for Academy Phoenix 2012, head to the registration webpage.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
TRY SOMETHING NEW
I apologize for how late in the month you're receiving this installment, but I spent the second half of the month on the longest real vacation of my life in Italy and France. I know what you're thinking, "I'm glad she got to do that, but how will she relate that experience this month to our Academy?"
The experience has reminded me, fondly, of the international meetings of the 1990s and 2000s, but that's not the connection I'm proposing. Instead, it's Try Something New. Kurt (Zadnik, managing Editor of Optometry and Vision Science since 1996) and I traveled with old friends (well, ones we've known a long time, not nonagenarians) who planned the trip. All four of us have had to be willing to Try Something New. I'm not much of a sightseer, but Michangelo's David in the Florence Accademia changed how I think about museums, forever. Our friends don't much like feeling like tourists, so taking a goofy pizza making class was a (fun) stretch for them.
As you make your plans for Academy Phoenix 2012, think about stretching yourself. If you always attend glaucoma lectures, for example, think about hitting the glaucoma posters in the Scientific Program too. If you never miss a certain speaker's annual lecture on keratoconus but realize you could tell all his anecdotes because you've heard it so often, try a new, young speaker on a similar topic. If you avoid binocular vision-related sessions of every variety because you just never liked the topic in optometry school, dip your toes in the waters of the Binocular Vision, Pediatric, and Perceptual Optometry's symposium. Branch out. Try Something New.
There's one problem with my proposal. Adult learners want to master a new skill quickly. We want to know everything the teacher knows in an hour or two. We have a hard time giving anything novel a chance. I read something recently that posited that a real expert spends most of her time trying to master a new skill rather than practicing one already mastered (or is that "mistressed"?)
As we moved from Italy to France last week, I got it into my head that I was going to start a watercolor travelogue of little pictures or images from our trek. The obsessive search for materials began. I bought pencils, an eraser, and marker in Florence. I gestured in vain at a "peints" sign outside a shop at the foot of Mont Ventoux in France. We tried to find a shop near Avignon in Provence that a local described. Finally, in a grocery store, I bought a child's paint set, much to the relief of my traveling companions who were tired of hearing me whine. I sat out on the patio of our lodging in Tavel and sketched and painted a little wine glass filled with the local rose, a local wine label logo, and a tiny bunch of grapes that were imprinted on a cork left on the table. (Go to the Academy's Facebook page now to view my effort.
See? They're amateurish. I have to keep trying and practice. They're not the Sistine Chapel, but I did Try Something New.
Friday, April 27, 2012
IT'S A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL
President-Elect, Bernie Dolan, and I had the distinct pleasure to represent our American Academy of Optometry at the 2012 meeting of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics (EAOO) in Dublin, Ireland last weekend. The EAOO’s mission is “Shaping Optometry and Optics across Europe.”
While I did a quick turnaround trip, as in the crazy, post-trip declaration, “I went to Ireland for the weekend,” Bernie took the opportunity to investigate his geneaology. He is Irish on both sides of his family, and he toured the country to visit long-lost, never-before-met, cousins countless-times removed, pronouncing them friendlier than San Francisco Bay Area relatives he sees all the time. I spent available leisure time touring the Jameson and Guinness factories and feeling like the people on the buses and streets looked a lot like me.
The meeting itself was fascinating. It numbered 210 registrants and had familiar sessions like invited speakers, submitted papers and posters, case reports, and workshops. Our Academy co-sponsored the opening reception, overlooking the verdant, 80-000+ capacity rugby and hurling stadium, Croke Park. I spoke to an enthusiastic, friendly crowd of optometrists from all over Europe plus a few hearty Americans about our Academy’s current upward spiral on all fronts. People fondly recalled our international meetings in Interlochen, Munich, and Copenhagen.
We met people with all kinds of connections to US optometry. I met optometrists bearing Master’s degrees from Salus University and European faculty members with training time spent at Indiana University, and talked about interactions with Pacific University, the University of Houston, and Nova Southeastern University.
Bernie and I attended a brilliant 3-D optic nerve viewing workshop co-taught by Fellow Julie Tyler. I watched a keynote speaker show an OVS-published graph from the National Eye Institute-funded Berkeley Infant Biometry Study that I’d also seen presented at Ohio State the week before. We applauded as the 2012 graduates from the Dublin Institute of Technology optometry program received their certificates from a new Irish governmental appointee in charge of Primary Care. (The graduating class comprised almost all women, and they looked a lot like the students I visited with in April at the Illinois College of Optometry; there were just more redheads among them.) I was enthusiastically greeted by Fellow and President of the EAOO Roger Crelier and Fellow and European Council of Optometry and Optics President, Armin Duddek, who has already made his plane reservations for our Phoenix 2012 meeting.
There are some differences, though. Fellowship in the EAOO is different from our own FAAO distinction. It is an honorific designation, and only 11 people worldwide have received the honor. Its Secretariat (administrative office) is housed in the British College of Optometrists. There are far fewer biology-oriented scientific presentations than at our Annual Meeting.
As all different languages swirled the air at the coffee breaks and meals, I found myself marveling at our professional similarities rather than our cultural differences. Suddenly, I was transported to past Disney meetings in America and found myself humming this little tune (sing it quietly in your head or aloud in your office or car to the tune of It’s a Small World but run the risk of then humming it all day):
It’s a world of myopes and a world of tears.
It’s a world of squints and a world of … beers.
It’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware
It’s Optometry after all.
It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all …”
Saturday, March 24, 2012
CARRYING ON
On March 11, 2012, I had the honor of representing the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Foundation at a memorial service held for Irvin M. Borish, OD, FAAO, in Boca Raton, Florida. Irv's long-time mentee, Indiana University's Vice President for Research and Fellow Sarita Soni, asked that I speak at the service. My comments from that day follow.
I am honored to speak on behalf of the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Foundation. I recently read Fellow Bill Baldwin's biography, Borish, and discovered that Irv had a near-fatal heart attack near the end of the 1972 Academy meeting in New York. He was admitted to intensive care at a New York hospital and finally went home after 10 weeks in the hospital. In typical upbeat fashion, Irv declared it "the longest Academy meeting ever!" Irv's obituary described him as a confidant of every Academy president since 1936, and I am no exception.
Irv Borish saw the future. He was actively cognizant of it. That's hard to do. We all get caught up in our day-to-day endeavors and suddenly find those days have turned to weeks, months, and years; often, we've lost sight of the future and wonder what we have to show for all those days' efforts.
Irv's significant contributions to the Academy and AOF are evidence of his focus on the future. He created the Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award for young scientists to encourage their progress toward their bright futures. The Borish Award–and Irv–bet on its recipients, and a quick perusal of the list of awardees shows that his investment has been returned. The AOF awards an endowed Borish Ezell fellowship annually to a promising young graduate student. The young Borish Ezells so far and the countless ones who will follow will bear his stamp of approval and must align with his view of the future.
Not surprisingly, I've heard from many young people who, hearing of Irv's passing, wanted to share their reflections on how Dr. Borish touched them. Fellow Kathy Osborn talked about having happened into the AOF Celebration Luncheon when Irv's 90th birthday was celebrated. She ended up in the empty seat next to Irv and described to me how aware she was of the significance of the event. Fellow Danne Ventura from Essilor shared a past Optometry Student Bowl "rules" video that shows Irv in a football uniform with "92" (his age) as his number, being tackled by eager optometry students from NOVA Southeastern University. Danne observed, "He would do anything for the students." Fellow Stacey Townshend wrote, "I was a young graduate in 1993 receiving recognition and a monetary award from Dr. Borish for my senior year thesis work. I remember his personal touch in a note of congratulations and thinking what a great man to support the future of optometry after having dedicated and contributing so much to its past. Such a generous person—of himself, his knowledge, his time and his kind monetary gesture to—I'm sure—hundreds of new optometrists over the years. He will be missed but certainly not forgotten."
Two days ago, we watched Irv's 2009 inaugural Myers lecture video at Ohio State. The room was full of faculty and graduate students, and the room was adorned with two of Irv's paintings. He spoke on screen for more than an hour, without notes, on the history of optometry. As we watched, we paused the video whenever someone wanted to share a story or comment on what he'd said. The speech ended—typically—with an anecdote to illustrate a point. He told a story of seeing two University of Houston optometry students after a talk he'd given to them. As they walked away, one of them turned back toward Irv and said, "Dr. Borish, we will carry on." As I looked around our conference room at Ohio State, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Irv continued on the video, "Of course, I didn't know the students' names, so I never checked back with them to see if they did indeed carry on."
Dr. Irvin Borish won't be around now to see if the optometric profession and its leaders carry on, but we must. The young scientists and graduate students his name rewards in the future will carry on. Future Academy presidents should pretend they're consulting with Irv as they lead. The AOF will build on his legacy. Rest easy and assured, Irv, we will carry on.
If you would like to contribute to programs that were dear to Dr. Borish, please donate to the American Optometric Foundation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)