Optometrist approved for term on outcomes research panel

Michael R. Dueñas, OD, chief public health officer for the American Optometric Association, has been selected for the Advisory Panel on Improving Healthcare Systems, according to a press release issued by the AOA.

"This is a well-deserved recognition for one of our own, Dr. Dueñas, for the AOA and for our entire profession," Mitchell T. Munson, OD, AOA president, said in the release. "Dr. Dueñas will be at the table as an equal partner with a wide range of other health care stakeholders as this new panel, established in accordance with a requirement in federal law, takes on its national role in improving health care delivery and outcomes."

As detailed in the release, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) advisory panel will help in prioritizing and planning clinical research in an effort to improve health care across the country.

"I believed in the importance of PCORI as I watched its conception in the U.S. Congress," Dueñas said in the release. "I knew then, as I know now, that a patient-centered comparative research agenda, with a vision and eye health overlay, would be critical to informing our developing health systems. I am pleased to provide this overlay."

Dueñas has research experience in areas including the relationship between visual impairment and chronic disease, access to care, disease prevention and environmental health as well as public health and epidemiology, according to the release.

He was approved in late February for a 3-year term and is considered to be the first optometrist appointed to the panel, according to the release.