That Was Easy ......Wasn't It?

In the last year several years the OAA has managed to enter into many strategic agreements with the corneal reshaping industry. This had led to many coordinated projects that all members will be able to benefit from.These efforts have allowed us to reach out to different groups who will play a more significant part in our present and future. it has been a strategic goal of the OAA board of directors and myself to engage the corneal reshaping industry as fully as possible to grow the field.

With the help of The Gas Permeable Lens Institute(GPLI) and Ed Bennett we are inviting contact lens residents of all the major Optometry schools to attend our meeting in Scottsdale . We have found in the past that while these residents are attending meetings like The GSLS they have not been able to or not aware of the opportunity to attend the greatest show on Earth for corneal reshaping. This year that will not be the case and relationship with Ed and GPLI has helped us accomplish this goal.

Bausch & Lomb has been one of our key supporters since the beginning of the academy. With the help of John Hibbs,Andrew White and David Bland we have been able to forge a new working relationship. This has been especially helpful in two key areas for us. Vision By Design will have a record number of exhibitors at this years meeting due in part to the efforts of Bausch & Lomb. With the help of both B&L and Paragon Vision Sciences we are offering core curriculum courses and live wet labs on corneal reshaping and specialty lens fitting for the first time this year.

Paragon Vision Sciences has been very instrumental in providing resources to us that allow us to advertise our meetings to the CRT community. Like B&L they have provided opportunities that we have found helpful to growing our membership. This year we will again have a booth, presentation and workshops in San Diego at the San Diego Specialty Contact Lens Symposium courtesy of Jerry Legerton, The San Diego Optometric Society and Paragon. At our meeting in Scottsdale Paragon will be providing a Slit Lamp for our wet labs and coordinating a golf tournament on the Wednesday before the meeting as well as several special outings during the event.

Never one to rest on their laurels the academy with he help of its members continues to grow new opportunities. Several years ago Eyequip/Wave was a newcomer as far as exhibiting at our events. Today they are supplying incentives to the "Wavers" to attend our meetings and workshops. This the direct result of our great relationship with Scott Lewis and the result of many hours of work from our Wave community. BE Enterprises/Precision Technology and Randy Kojima have made outstanding contributions to our meeting content. Euclid Systems and Joann Simonsen have supported us both locally in the US and overseas. Oculus and Michael Wolber a new vendor at last years event has increased their support at Scottsdale. Steve Ernst (Contex)has contributed workshops and lectures for many years now as has Tom Reim(Dreimlens). Patrick Caroline(Paragon) has been invaluable in presenting the latest corneal reshaping trends in a manner that has been both entertaining and educational.

At this years meeting we will have several new exhibitors including Optovue who will provide a OCT for our Scleral Wet Lab. Peter Wilcox was extremely important in getting this done for us. Blanchard,Valley Contax and Acculens will be participating their Scleral Lens designs in our Wet Lab as well as our exhibit hall all through the efforts of John Hibbs of B&L. The decision to include specialty fitting in VBD 2012 has been an objective of our board and Eddie Chow and was made part of our strategic objectives laid down at VBD 2009 in Phoenix.

At the recent Global Specialty Lens Symposium in Las Vegas I approached the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association(CLMA) in hopes of engaging them in a cooperative effort to work together to grow the GP industry and the IAO/OAA. Our group I believe can be the key to efforts to grow the GP industry to a level that can support healthy growth in the CLMA member labs. In much he same way that the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) is able to support their programs and annual education meeting the IAO/OAA can serve that same role in providing fertile ground to grow demand for GP products and attending educational meetings like GSLS, SDSCLS and VBD. With the help of CLMA to promote IAO/OAA through its labs and working with us we can and will develop the best GP education on the planet with record turnout to support it.

The board of directors passed a resolution to explore the creation of an international academy in Chicago at VBD 2010 by setting up a committee led by Marino Formenti and myself. At VBD 2011 the committee recommended going forward with the international academy and it came into being by an act of our membership during that meeting. We are proceeding at break neck speed as the IAO becomes fully involved in Europe and Asia. A delegation from the IAO will be traveling to Hangzhou in late March to participate in the AOSLC and the launching of the International Academy of Orthokeratology Asia Section(IAOAs). We are blessed by great leadership of Asia Section from Drs, Lufan and Xie with expert help from our own Helen Duan.There will be a membership meeting of IAOAs and their first full corneal reshaping training sessions for attendees that weekend of the meeting. Later this year in Madrid the IAO will be participating in our European Section(EurOk) first education meeting. Marino Formenti,Antonio Calossi,Mauro Frisani,Basil Bloom, Jose Meijome and many others have put in many hours of planning sessions and are to be applauded for this great accomplishment.

In the next month you will be receiving a proxy from the academy. This proxy will ask for your approval of our new IAO board of directors and also a change in our by-laws creating a fourth section of our academy called Oceania. Later this year I will be traveling with Bruce Williams,Marino Formenti and Matt Herzberg to attend the Orthokeratology Society of Oceanias (OSO) annual education event. There we will meet with the membership to answer questions they may have about becoming a section of IAO. After that there will be a vote to officially join the IAO.

What's in the cards for the future. The OAA initiative to develop an integrated myopia control protocol will soon be center stage not only at VBD 2012 but in publications around the world. This initiative will be a practice changer as the committee members making up a cross section of the leading authorities in the eye care field makes its recommendations. It seems hard to believe that just ten short years ago the OAA began. While it certainly has been a challenging decade I believe that we are now poised to reap the benefits of our accomplishments. As they say only time will tell!

Cary M Herzberg O.D. FOAA