New ASCRS president calls for advocacy action

Incoming ASCRS president Priscilla Perry Arnold, MD, promised a strong advocacy effort to keep surgery in the hands of surgeons.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The coming year will see a strong advocacy effort to keep surgery in the hands of surgeons, according to the incoming president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Priscilla Perry Arnold, MD, who assumed the presidency of ASCRS during the group’s annual meeting here, vowed that the group would bring the message of ophthalmology’s value to legislators in Washington. She noted that ASCRS has joined with the American Academy of Ophthalmology in the quest to support “surgery by surgeons.”

“Nothing equals the impact of personal contact with a member of Congress,” Dr. Arnold said.

“In the coming year, I would like to bring a special focus on research data which confirms the measurable value of modern cataract surgery, and to contrast this with the systematic devaluation which has occurred over the past decade,” she announced, to thunderous applause. “This project will be called ‘Open your eyes’. Our patients, the general public and our legislators need to see this data.”

In her address at the opening general session, Dr. Perry also reflected on the variety of interests of the association’s 9,000 members. She focused on six areas of activity in particular: innovation, education, advocacy, management and community.