A Word from Our Chair

As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, allow me to thank all Diplomates who responded to our survey concerning satisfaction with ABO’s program. The results of this survey were analyzed and discussed by a committee with the guidance of our Director of Education, Dr. Catherine Hines. Recommendations for improvements and modifications to our Maintenance of Certification (MOC) were forwarded to the Board of Directors for final approval. The resulting benefit to Diplomates is a simplified MOC program that provides quality educational opportunities that are relevant to clinical practice and more easily maintained. Thank you again to all Diplomates who helped make this effort a success.

To highlight some updated benefits for Diplomates, we now have 12 COPE-accredited webinars always available on our website to view at your convenience.  Our CAP assessments will be COPE-approved starting next year and finally, we will soon be growing our learning activity library with shorter case studies and article reviews for MOC credit.

Also, as you will see in this issue of On Board, we are excited to launch our new Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) pilot program beginning in 2023. An extensive amount of time and work was spent on the development of this new ABO program which allows Diplomates to maintain their MOC in a specialty area and be recognized for it. Please take a moment to read the article and learn how CAQs can be an added credential to further define your experience in a practice area for both patients and colleagues.

Finally, I would like to personally thank our state ambassadors, our Board of Directors, our Executive Director, April Wilhelm, our Director of Education, Dr. Catherine Hines, and ABO assistant Laura Teasdale for their dedication to the ABO.  None of our accomplishments would have happened without them.  Thank You again!!

Happy Holidays,

David Sterna, OD, FAAO
Chair, American Board of Optometry