The American Academy of Optometry looks to take on international education in 2025

Jeffrey Walline, OD, PhD, FAAO, sits down with Optometry Times to reflect on the American Academy of Optometry's (AAO) 2024 and where the organization is headed in 2025. He said the AAO had a successful year, with a well-received meeting in Indianapolis despite lower attendance. The upcoming annual meeting will be held in Boston, highlighting the city's attractions and the academy's commitment to providing high-quality education. The academy aims to expand its reach beyond annual meetings, offering education in various formats, including in-person and virtual, to both members and the international optometry community. According to Walline, they are working on standards for international participation and are committed to advancing the profession globally through education, without engaging in advocacy for foreign optometrists.

Video transcript

Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jeffrey Walline, OD, PhD, FAAO:

I think last year was a fantastic year for the American Academy of Optometry. Obviously, we will miss the leadership of Sue Cotter, who was our outgoing president, and we had a great meeting in Indianapolis. There were fewer people at the meeting, but I think everybody who was there absolutely loved the venue, loved the quality of the education that was provided. And so it was a very exciting time to be part of the Academy.

This year's annual meeting will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, and we're really excited for the opportunity to be in Boston. It's a wonderful location. We were there not too long ago, and I think people who were able to attend right in the middle of a pandemic really enjoyed how close the hotel was to the convention center and how spacious the convention center was. And it's in a wonderful area that allows us to not only have fun during the meeting and learn during the meeting, but have fun outside of the meeting as well. So we hope to welcome a whole bunch of people to Boston this year.

I think where the the American Academy of Optometry is headed next is trying to provide excellent education like we do at our annual meeting, but provide it outside of the annual meeting. And we aren't exactly sure what form that will take. Will it be in person meetings? Will it be virtual meetings? But we really want to be able to provide the forefront of optometric education to our members and to people beyond our membership, to try and advance the profession through evidence based information. There has been a lot of interest from the international community in participating in the American Academy of Optometry, and traditionally, we weren't well organized toward international optometry. You know, we had people from Canada, we had people from Australia who practice optometry a lot like us, but the practice of optometry differs widely across the whole world. And so we've had to step back and take a look at who are the people that we can allow to participate in the Academy endeavors and become fellows of the American Academy of Optometry. And so we've looked at questions like, do they have to practice to their highest scope of practice in their area, or the highest scope of practice period? And it's those kinds of things that we're honestly still struggling through and working through, but that's the kind of things that we hope to be able to do for our international audience. And then we know that international people might not be able to travel to all of the meetings, so that's another reason that we're looking at providing education in various formats, so that we can provide it to not only people outside of the meeting, but people outside of this country, because we think it's important to try and spread the most advanced optometric information that we can.

The main goal of the American Academy of Optometry is to educate people to provide the best care that we can for their patients. And so that's really where the Academy helps advance the profession worldwide. We don't do really any advocacy for those particular optometrists in other countries, and we don't help advance their profession any other way than by providing education. So there's people who are far better at that than the American Academy of Optometry, but we will always support their endeavors through education and try and help that way.