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WHAT’S HAPPENING
Dr. Hoskins Is the 2023 Academy Laureate
The Laureate Recognition Award is the Academy’s highest honor, celebrating an individual who has made an extraordinary and lasting contribution to the profession of ophthalmology leading to the prevention of blindness and restoration of sight worldwide. H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD, FACS, former Executive Vice President (EVP) of the Academy, is this year’s honoree.
Academy leadership. Dr. Hoskins served for 17 years as EVP of the Academy (1993-2009), and his tenure was distinguished by many important new initiatives. He is credited with bringing the Academy into the digital era, including creating the ONE Network and promoting the development of e-publications. Among his other accomplishments were establishing the Mid-Year Forum and founding EyeNet.
ONE Network. Dr. Hoskins considers the ONE Network his most important contribution to ophthalmology. “It stands out as a way to broaden the global reach of the Academy’s educational resources, allowing them to be delivered worldwide in real time.”
Promoting unity in the profession. One of Dr. Hoskins’ other key contributions was his determination to ensure that ophthalmology had a unified voice both in the legislative arena and within medicine. “Ophthalmology is a small fragment of medicine, and if we split off into all the subspecialty groups, we wouldn’t have very much influence. Ophthalmologists need to act in unison for the big things.” This idea was the genesis of the Academy Legislative Group and the Mid-Year Forum.
Glaucoma practice and research. Apart from his leadership role at the Academy, Dr. Hoskins was a partner in a respected glaucoma practice in San Francisco with his fellowship mentor, Robert Shaffer, MD, and Jack Hetherington Jr., MD. Dr. Hoskins remained part of this practice for more than 40 years, until his retirement in 2016.
In 1978, Drs. Shaffer, Hoskins, and Hetherington cofounded the Glaucoma Research Foundation. Dr. Hoskins recalled, “We weren’t seeing enough hope for our patients back then. We knew we needed some breakthroughs, and urgently.” The founders intended to promote innovative research that could accelerate the rate of discovery. Today, the foundation continues to advance its mission of overcoming the burden of glaucoma through cutting-edge research.
Key career influences. Dr. Hoskins was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, where his father was an ophthalmologist. The younger Dr. Hoskins’ first experience in ophthalmology was as a student at Medical College of Virginia, examining hamster embryo eyeballs.
Through this lab work, he got to know Dupont Guerry III, MD, chair of the ophthalmology department. “I ended up staying there for my residency at the Medical College of Virginia.” Dr. Guerry encouraged him to pursue a glaucoma fellowship with Dr. Shaffer at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Shaffer became an important mentor to Dr. Hoskins and was key to his involvement with the Academy.
Another important mentor was Bruce Spivey, who preceded Dr. Hoskins as Academy EVP. “I learned so much from him in terms of managing organizations and in dealing with complex problems. He still remains a very close and personal friend,” said Dr. Hoskins.
FOR THE RECORD
Announcing the 2023 Academy Awards
Each year, the Board of Trustees and the Awards Committee take great pleasure in announcing the latest award recipients, all of whom will be honored during the Opening Session at AAO 2023. In addition to H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD, FACS, as this year’s Laureate (see above), this year’s honorees include the following:
Guests of Honor: Michael W. Brennan, MD; Cynthia A. Bradford, MD; and Philip R. Rizzuto, MD, FACS. This award recognizes individuals chosen by the president for their contributions to ophthalmology and the Academy, and for the significant role they have played in the president’s life and career.
Distinguished Service Award: Flora Lum, MD. This award recognizes individuals or organizations for ongoing notable service to ophthalmology and the Academy.
Special Recognition Award: The Indian Health Service. This award recognizes individuals or organizations for outstanding service in a specific effort or cause that improves the quality of eye care.
Outstanding Advocate Award: Kurt F. Heitman, MD. This award recognizes Academy members who participate in advocacy-related efforts at either the state or federal level.
Outstanding Humanitarian Award: Chandak Ghosh, MD, MPH, and Baxter F. McLendon, MD. This award recognizes Academy members for their charitable activities, care of people experiencing homelessness, and community service performed above and beyond the typical duties of an ophthalmologist.
Straatsma Award: Fasika A. Woreta, MD, MPH. The Straatsma Award for Excellence in Resident Education was established through the Academy, the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), and private funds. The award is given to a program director dedicated to the principles and significance of residency education. Dr. Woreta will be honored during AAO 2023 and receive her award at the AUPO meeting in 2024.
Board Nominees
In accordance with Academy bylaws, notice is hereby given of the following nominations for elected board positions on the 2024 board. These nominations were made by the Academy Board of Trustees in June. If elected, the following individuals will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2024.
President-Elect
Michael X. Repka, MD, MBA
Senior Secretary for Advocacy
George A. Williams, MD
Trustees-at-Large
Laura K. Green, MD
Erin M. Shriver, MD, FACS
Council Chair
Prem S. Subramanian, MD, PhD
Council Vice Chair
Lee A. Snyder, MD
Board appointments. During the June Board of Trustees meeting, the following individuals were appointed to the 2024 Board of Trustees and will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2024.
International Trustee-at-Large
Dupe S. Ademola-Popoola, MBBS
Public Trustee
Reza Zadno, PhD
Election and nomination procedures for the Academy Board. Elections to fill the six open elected positions on the 2024 Board of Trustees will take place by ballot after the November Annual Business Meeting.
To suggest a nominee for the 2025 board, watch for the call for nominations, which will be published in the January 2024 EyeNet.
Annual Business Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the Annual Business Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology will be held during the AAO 2023 Opening Session, which is on Saturday, Nov. 4, in the Esplanade Ballroom at the Moscone Convention Center, in San Francisco, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. PT.
TAKE NOTICE
Academy Publications and Website Earn High Scores
Results are in from the Kantar 2023 Eyecare Syndicated Readership Study, the industry standard for independent, third-party readership data.
Print publications. Ophthalmology journal and EyeNet ranked first and second, respectively, for both total readers (percent of ophthalmologists who report reading the publication) and average issue readers (percent of ophthalmologists who read a given issue of the publication—weighted by frequency with which they read).
EyeWiki.org. In a survey of websites, Kantar found that EyeWiki had a mean of 6.3 visits per month per visitor, more than any other site included in the study.
AAO.org. Kantar also reported that 78% of U.S. ophthalmologists surveyed visited AAO.org within the past six months, a larger share than any other ophthalmic site or publication. And ophthalmologists who visited AAO.org spent an average of 20 hours on the site in the last six months, more than any other site in the survey.
Register for the Global Ophthalmology Summit
The Sept. 8-10 Global Ophthalmology Summit is fast approaching. Join your global ophthalmology colleagues for learning, networking, and the inaugural hackathon. The hackathon will allow attendees to crowdsource innovations and come up with winning solutions to address inequities in eye health. (Learn more at www.globalophthalmologysummit.org/hackathon). Virtual options are available.
Learn more and register today at www.globalophthalmologysummit.org.
Got New Clinicians? Notify the IRIS Registry by Sept. 1
Has a new clinician joined your practice—or has an existing clinician become newly eligible for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)?
If you are using your electronic health record system to report MIPS quality data via the IRIS Registry, make sure you haven’t left out any clinicians or locations during the 2023 MIPS performance year: notify your IRIS Registry vendor as soon as you can and no later than Sept. 1. Make sure that you include the clinician’s National Provider Identifier and, if the person is an ophthalmologist, their Academy member ID.
How do you notify your IRIS Registry vendor? Contact your Practice Experience Manager or email irisdatalink@veranahealth.com.
Bring the Future of Ophthalmology Into Focus on Nov. 2
At Eyecelerator, connect with more than 500 industry-leading clinicians, entrepreneurs, investors, and global strategic executives in San Francisco a day before AAO 2023 for an inside look at the emerging business opportunities and advancements disrupting ophthalmology. Eyecelerator is a partnership between the Academy and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery to showcase and accelerate innovation in eye care.
Learn more at www.eyecelerator.com.
Volunteer: Review Submissions to the Academy’s Four Journals
Want to help review Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology Retina, Ophthalmology Glaucoma, or Ophthalmology Science? At the invitation of the editorial board, reviewers registered in the journals’ database provide thorough and constructive critiques to guide authors on how they can improve their manuscripts. The journals look to volunteer reviewers to offer thoughtful reviews with the goal of helping improve papers, which in turn provide better information to readers, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes.
Learn how to register as a reviewer at aao.org/volunteering, then choose “Review.” (This is just one of many Academy volunteer opportunities.)
ACADEMY RESOURCES
Attend Core Knowledge Retina and Glaucoma Webinars
Identify gaps in care; target areas for clinical practice assessment and improvement; and earn self-assessment CME credits with two clinical webinars.
Retina. On Sept. 26, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET, join Moderators Sruthi Arepalli, MD, and Jeffrey D. Henderer, MD, for a webinar titled “Core Knowledge Retina” (2 CME). This Academy program was developed in coordination with the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) and is free to Academy and ASRS members.
Glaucoma. On Oct. 26, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET, join Moderators Jeffrey D. Henderer, MD, and Amenze Osa Oriaifo, MD, for a webinar titled “Core Knowledge Glaucoma” (2 CME). This Academy program was developed in coordination with the American Glaucoma Society (AGS) and is free to Academy and AGS members.
Learn more at aao.org/clinical-webinars.
Begin Your ABO/IRIS Registry Improvement Project
Is your electronic health record system integrated with the IRIS Registry? If so, you can use data from your IRIS Registry dashboard to design an improvement project that can earn you credit for both the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO)’s Continuing Certification (Maintenance of Certification) and the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). For the 2023 MIPS performance year, this project would count as a medium-weighted improvement activity. To get both MIPS and MOC program credit for the project, you must conduct the improvement activity over a minimum of 90 days.
Learn more at aao.org/iris-registry/maintenance-of-certification and https://abop.org/IRIS.
D.C. REPORT
Scope of Practice: Academy Defends Ophthalmology in 2023
In 2023, optometry professionals have made aggressive attempts to gain surgical authority through legislation, rather than necessary medical education, clinical experience, and surgical training. In 12 states, the Academy and partnering state ophthalmological societies have been battling optometry’s push for surgery privileges. And at the national level, the Academy has focused on the implications of the Veterans Health Administration’s national standards of practice for optometry, which could also include surgery, thereby affecting every state.
Successes. Thanks to the Surgical Scope Fund—which aims to protect the standards of patient safety and surgical eye care—the Academy and state societies successfully derailed dangerous optometric surgery initiatives in Alabama, California, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
Ongoing efforts. The California proposal still could come back this legislative session or in 2024. As this article went to press, bills remain in play in Arizona, New Jersey, and Ohio.
Setbacks. While ophthalmologists secured significant patient safety victories in 2023, there were some losses. Washington enacted a law authorizing optometrists to perform certain eyelid surgeries at the urging of the state’s department of health. Iowa lawmakers ignored the pleas for patient safety and enacted a bill allowing optometrists to inject anesthesia into the eyelid. The Academy supported both states’ ophthalmological societies in vigorously opposing those measures.
Join the fight. In many states, the fight over this type of surgery legislation occurs year after year, and optometry will eventually bring its efforts to other states, too.
You can help derail these threats by donating to the Surgical Scope Fund, which helps preserve patient safety standards and quality surgical eye care by funding the necessary resources for a winning advocacy campaign. You can give to the Surgical Scope Fund today by visiting aao.org/ssf.