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New AOA president pledges to advance profession
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BOSTON – “I’m going to bring my passion, my love for the profession, my focus, my ethics and my morals – my goal is to make optometry as good as it can be,” incoming AOA President Andrea P. Thau, OD, of New York, told the House of Delegates here at Optometry’s Meeting.
Thau said her father and mentor, who was also an optometrist, had relationships with politicians and worked to further the profession.
“I became aware of an obligation to ... pay it forward,” she said. “It become clear I needed to use my talents to advance the profession.”
Thau has a special interest in children’s vision and places a high value on communicating to the public exactly what optometry can do. She has appeared on a number of local television channels discussing children’s vision and computer vision syndrome.
“We can sum up the AOA’s mission in four areas: advocacy, continuing education, advancing our practices and being successful in practice, as well as getting our message out to the public,” she said.
Christopher J. Quinn, OD, of New Jersey, was elected AOA president-elect; Samuel D. Pierce, OD, of Alabama, was elected vice president; Barbara L. Horn, OD, of Michigan and South Carolina, was elected secretary-treasurer.
Robert C. Layman, OD, of Ohio, was re-elected as an AOA trustee, and two new trustees were elected: Jacqueline Bowen, OD, of Colorado, and Steven T. Reed, OD, of Mississippi.
Trustees continuing their terms are: Ronald L. Benner, OD, of Montana; James P. DeVleming, OD, of Washington; and William T. Reynolds, OD, of Kentucky.
With Thau assuming the presidency, former AOA President Steven A. Loomis, OD, of Colorado, moves into the position of immediate past president. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO