THANK YOU FOR TELLING US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK!

In the past few months, the Academy has conducted two surveys with high response rates – a post-annual meeting survey and a membership benchmarking survey. You took the time to tell us, in detail, what you thought about our education, the venue, and how we can improve. You told us what you want from your Academy. Both surveys provided important and valuable feedback, and I want to let you know that your Board of Directors and staff take very seriously what you have to say.

I have asked Lois Schoenbrun, our Executive Director, to share the results of both surveys with our members. I am sure you will find the information she has provided to be very enlightening.

In this issue of President’s Calling, I want to let you know the outcome of the Annual Meeting survey. Watch for the July issue for information about the general membership survey.
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ANNUAL MEETING SURVEY
This year 1,254 attendees responded, more than triple the response rate from the year before, and more than ¹⁄₃ of those surveyed! 57% were under the age of 44, and 25% of the respondents are not (yet!) members. Both of those statistics tell us that the respondents represent our future!

There are three primary reasons that individuals attend our meetings. No surprises here. You go for the networking, to earn CE credits, and for the high quality speakers.

Respondents were “Satisfied” or “Very Satisfied” with the registration process (96%), the overall quality of the speakers in the Lectures and Workshops program (90%), and the overall quality of the education (93%).

But while satisfaction with the education was very high, there is always room for improvement. Your suggestions have been forwarded to the volunteers who plan the education, and will be taken into account as these individuals plan future programming.

We learned that half of attendees did not go to the Scientific Program – either paper sessions (46%) or posters (53%). We do not know why. We have been trying for several years to integrate the Scientific Program with traditional CE in the hope that attendees would realize that there is significant cutting-edge material that can be learned and applied to their patient care. If you have suggestions as to how we can better achieve this, please let us know.

77% said they were “Satisfied” or “Very Satisfied” with the venue (the convention center) and 64% said the same about the location (resort). But the significant minority who were not satisfied with the location were consistent in their comments. You said you felt trapped and isolated, like you “couldn’t get off the island.”

We heard you loud and clear.
So although the majority of respondents were favorable, those who were not made their point. We have cancelled our contracted Orlando meeting at the same location in 2014, and are moving it to a new location. (City to be announced soon – contracts are still in negotiation!)
We learned that most had favorable things to say about the low-tech barcode system for tracking CE credits. It worked. The system will remain the same for 2010.

24% visited the exhibit hall EVERY DAY. Just 9% did not visit the hall at all during the meeting.

You expressed frustration with aspects of our corporate events. As a result, we have changed how they will be managed. The biggest change, a result of your comments, is that registration for the events is now part of the on-line meeting registration. Sign up when you register, and you will receive your breakfast or lunch ticket(s) with your badge.

And finally, you said BRING BACK THE AUSTRALIA PARTY, so we did! The Australia Party is back in its proper place and time – Friday, November 19, at Moscone Center West.

We are very pleased that 84% of respondents plan to attend Academy 2010 San Francisco! We look forward to seeing everyone November 17-20!
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2010

This month, we celebrate the accomplishments of the most recent graduating class of optometrists. If you happen to be one of these new doctors and you are reading this message, the Academy wants to be among the many to congratulate you.

The Academy has long recognized that learning doesn't end with graduation. It is life-long. From the Academy's beginnings in 1922, Academy Fellows have gathered every year at the annual meeting to listen to the latest scientific discoveries and to learn to apply that new knowledge to the care of their patients. They also learn more during the year by reading articles in the leading optometry journal, Optometry and Vision Science.

The Academy is committed to providing the life-long learning you need throughout your career through continuing education at its annual meeting. The Academy is pleased to inform all graduates that the Membership Committee intends to convert graduating students at all U.S. and Canadian schools and colleges of optometry into Candidates for Fellowship and waive the first year of dues. Each spring starting in 2008, graduating students at each school and college attend a short presentation given by their Academy Faculty Student Liaison. During this presentation, you receive a packet with information about the Academy and Fellowship along with an invitation to become a Candidate for Fellowship. In 2009, this program really took off with 112 optometry graduates becoming Candidates. This is twice as many graduates as we had in 2007 (65 Candidates) or in 2008 (64 Candidates).

Due to the steadily increasing number of women graduating with a doctorate of optometry in the US each year, we have been tracking the number of female Fellows. The profession of optometry in the US had a steady increase of 5% of women optometrists each year for the last decade. For the past three years, the increase in the percentage of female Fellows either matched or exceeded the growth of the profession; 19% in 2007, 5% in 2008 and 7% in 2009 respectively. We encourage graduating students to become Candidates for Fellowship immediately upon graduation so that they can hone their clinical skills throughout the process of becoming a Fellow.

The Membership Committee is also advertising this program on the Academy's Facebook page. We are looking for Fellows who would be willing to send us short descriptions of why Fellowship has benefitted them in private practice. These quotes will be included on the Academy's Facebook page with information about the Conversion of Students to Candidates Program. In addition, we are always looking for enthusiastic Fellows in private practice to assist Faculty Student Liaisons with presentations at various schools and colleges by briefly speaking about how the Academy and Fellowship has benefitted them in their private practice. If you want to send a quote for the Academy Facebook page or if you would be willing to speak about the benefits of Fellowship at your local school or college of optometry, please contact the Chair of the Membership Committee, Melissa Bailey, OD, PhD, FAAO.

N.B.: Due to recent issues with spam-type uses of the Fellow directory, the Academy blocked member emails from appearing in the online directory. If you would like to include your email in the Academy online database, please login at http://www.aaopt.org/login/login.asp. Under "My Account," select "Update Profile" and "Directory Settings" on the left hand corner. Select "Publish my email address in directories."
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THE ACADEMY’S DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

I have been asked frequently, “How can I become more involved with the Academy?” It is a testament to our membership that so many Fellows want to become involved. Although more than two hundred Fellows are appointed to various committees within the Academy’s volunteer structure, there are many more individuals interested in volunteering than there are positions available. This is the proverbial “double-edged sword”! While we don’t have assignments for everyone that wants to volunteer, I would like to thank all those who have expressed interest and all those that currently serve. Committee assignments run concurrently with the two-year term of the Board of Directors. The current term will end this year in San Francisco and there will be a call for volunteers for the next term in the near future; please keep an eye out for further information and let us know at that time if you want to volunteer.

In the mean time, there is one committee that always needs our collective help, and that is the Academy’s Membership Committee. Members are the life blood and reason for existence for any organization. Please help the Academy by encouraging a colleague, committed to lifelong learning, to become a Fellow. Also, if you feel you have a creative idea that would help the Membership Committee recruit more members, please email Melissa Bailey, Membership Committee Chair. I’m sure she would be grateful to hear from you. Another way for you to become more involved in the Academy is through our Sections. If this interests you, attend the Section business meetings at the annual meeting and let the Section leadership know that you are interested. Our Sections publish newsletters and more information is available about each of them on the Academy’s web site.

Your enthusiasm and support of Academy programs is vital, and I encourage you to try to become involved. Your Academy experience will be enriched if you do, and your contribution will make the Academy’s programs better for all of us. Let’s make the Academy stronger than ever!
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OPTOMETRY AND VISION SCIENCE ONLINE

The Academy’s commitment to life-long learning doesn’t begin and end with the Academy annual meeting. It goes on all year long with each published volume of our journal, Optometry and Vision Science. The journal is not only for academics and researchers; I encourage all of my clinician colleagues to spend some time with each and every issue. Not one month goes by that I don’t pick up some clinical pearls that help me with patient care. It may be further insight into contact lens solution compatibility with particular brands I use or latest research related to theories of myopia development or efficacies of treatment using a new drug, but there is always new knowledge that helps make me a better practitioner.

I want to tell you about some of the new features of the Academy’s journal Optometry and Vision Science online. Our editor, Tony Adams, and his editorial board do a great job for us, and have even made it easier to access these latest discoveries by making every article available online. We are living in a world that is increasingly tied to information overload. The Academy is working to get you the information you need in formats that make it easy for you! We send out the monthly OVS Announces email to give you pithy information about current journal articles. The journal’s publishers are now going that extra step further, by giving you access to articles published ahead of print.

1. Go to the Academy OVS webpage
2. Select “Log-in” on the top of the page, where it says “Attention Members.”
3. Enter your login information.
4. Select the “Optometry and Vision Science (Members Only)” link.

Optometry and Vision Science now provides online access to journal subscribers and Academy members. It still showcases the latest, cutting edge research that you have come to expect, now with easier access. Additionally, OVS began an entirely new electronic publishing platform that personalizes and expands features for readers, including E-publications ahead of print issue and supplementary movie materials online.

For those of you who have an Internet-enabled mobile device, you can also navigate your mobile web browser to the OVS journal website and browse articles in the palm of your hand! The mobile version has many of the same features as the hardcopy version: search, current table of contents, full text view, image handling, abstracts, featured articles and much more! All you need to do is navigate your mobile web browser to the journal website and you’re there! The content is optimized just for your mobile device.

Now, you have no excuse not to read the journal. It’s as close as your PC, Blackberry, or iPhone.
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NOMINATE YOUR COLLEAGUES FOR ACADEMY AWARDS!

It may sound boastful to talk about the many notable contributions that so many Fellows of the Academy have made over the years to the optometric profession and to vision science. No matter what year you earned your degree, much of the knowledge you were taught came from the brilliant minds of individuals who recognized the importance of the Academy. I think this may be one of the reasons we joined the Academy: to “hang” with these optometric stalwarts. If you want to become a better tennis player or golfer, then you associate with those that are the best in the business to learn from them. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to “hang” with and learn from these devoted professionals who are in the Academy Fellowship.

Let us reward these special colleagues with recognition and appreciation. Affirm the benefit we derive from those who have contributed so much to the scientific base of our profession, and to our own knowledge base. This is the role of the Awards program at the annual meeting.

Our dedicated Awards Committee is charged with identifying the exceptional individuals deserving of your Academy’s recognition. Chris Johnson, PhD, FAAO, Chair of the Committee, will attest to the difficult task of selecting each recipient, as there are so many who are worthy within our ranks. However, the committee needs your help! Nominate your colleague for one of the Academy’s awards.

To learn more about the different awards, please visit the Awards web page. Please take the time to review the purpose of the various awards, and nominate the colleague you feel deserves recognition. Please help us continue the strong tradition of our prestigious Awards program. Nominations are now open for Academy 2010 San Francisco’s Awards program.

Next week, we will be launching an online submission system for the nominations process. Be on the lookout for an email explaining how to use it!

You may also send your nominations to the Academy office to the attention of Helen Viksnins, Director of Education and Member Relations (helenv@aaoptom.org). The deadline for nominations is Thursday, April 2, 2010.

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VISION RESEARCH GETS $230 MILLION BOOST IN 2009

First, let me encourage you to pay your 2010 dues if you have not done so yet! By paying your dues today, you’ll help us save some trees and put your dues dollars to work on worthy projects instead of printing and mailing paper statements.

Next, let me tell you about some exciting news about funding being directed towards vision research! The National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR) is a non-profit advocacy organization comprised of a coalition of 55 professional, consumer and industry organizations involved in eye and vision research. NAEVR's goal is to achieve the best eye and vision care for all Americans through advocacy and public education for eye and vision research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Eye Institute (NEI) and other federal research entities.

NAEVR was formed in 1997 as an affiliated organization of the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) to carry out advocacy activities of the coalition. The organization has had a presence at our annual meeting for many years. Many of you have stopped by their “Contact Congress” booth and have had the opportunity to speak with NAEVR’s Executive Director, James (Jim) Jorkasky. Jim has played an integral part in helping optometry obtain funding for many worthwhile research initiatives at nearly every school or college of optometry in the country.

Jim has reported recently released NIH data. Between the regular/ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) NEI funding and Department of Defense (DOD) extramural research awards, vision research funding has increased by an unprecedented $230 million! Just from NEI-ARRA funding alone, optometric researchers received $5.4 million of the $142 million awarded to date, or about 4 percent, which is consistent with that received in regular appropriations. Jim anticipates those numbers will continue to increase. The attached chart shows the $5+ million in funding for optometry research.

In 2009, NAEVR coordinated both House and Senate resolutions that acknowledged the 40th anniversary of the NEI and designated 2010-2020 as the decade of vision. Jim says, “With the start of 2010 and this bolus of increased funding, we are on the threshold of an exciting decade of research to prevent blindness and restore vision.”

While NAEVR considers itself a “friend of NEI,” I hope you recognize James Jorkasky and NAEVR as a “friend of the Academy and the profession” and as our advocate for vision research funding. If you would like more information about NAEVR, please visit their website. Please stop by the NAEVR booth to contact your congressman later this year when we all meet again in San Francisco; your voice could greatly benefit the field of optometry!

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SECTIONS AND SIGS

The Academy has a rich history and many proud traditions. In 1940, sixty doctors were the pioneers taking the exam for Fellowship designation. The 1940s also witnessed the birth of our Sections. This marked the beginning of interest in and concern about proof of competence in specialty areas, and led to the development of “Diplomate” programs.

We have often stated that the Academy Sections offer a “home” for Fellows to expand their expertise in specialty areas, to facilitate information sharing for the benefit of the Academy and profession, to promote camaraderie, to encourage leadership, and to recognize those with significant accomplishments in their specialty. With the recent upswing of interest groups in the ophthalmic industry in areas that include glaucoma, dry eye, nutrition, and retina, among others, the time is right for a structure that allows these interest groups to form Special Interest Groups (SIG) within the American Academy of Optometry.

Over the past several years, the Board of Directors and a hard-working Presidential Advisory Task Force did a careful review of the Academy Sections. Included in the evaluation was a Section self-assessment with the following components examined: Section Bylaws, Diplomate programs, symposium development and coordination, leadership, and benefit to AAO membership. The Board has decided that there should be requirements for Sections to remain viable, and for SIGs to be created; this will be discussed further in detail at the business meeting.

Your Board welcomes you to attend the business meeting on Friday, November 13th at 6:00 PM in Grand Ballroom 8A where we will make this recommendation to the Academy membership and present a necessary Bylaws amendment. Our goal is to incorporate Special Interest Groups (SIGs) into our organizational structure. You will receive a detailed presentation of this proposal, and have an opportunity to ask questions and participate in further discussion prior to the vote on the issue.

Won’t you please join us?

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