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American Board of Certification in Medical Optometry

VA Optometry – Flashback to the Summer of 1980

Summer of 1980

First meeting for orientation and training (ca.1980) at the Northport, NY VA Educational Center, of the initial class of VA optometrists recruited as a result of Public Law 94-581 enacted in 1976. That law removed VA optometrists from out-of-date (Civil Service) pay grades (Title 5 of US Code) and directed the VA to offer its optometrists the higher pay grades and promotion opportunities then offered only to VA physicians and dentists under Title 38 USC, and to establish teaching affiliations with schools of optometry.

Although enacted in 1976, the VA had been unable to offer these higher salaries due to stiff opposition from the Civil Service Commission that insisted VA continue to offer only non-competitive Title 5 salaries. A Congressional hearing in early 1978 directed the VA transfer of optometry staff from Title 5 to Title 38 personnel rules, making possible the recruitment of long-needed optometry staff.

The first Director of the new Optometry Service, Ken Myers, is standing in the front row, far left and next to him is Dr. Robert Newcomb the only Chief of a VA teaching Optometry Clinic (Birmingham VA) at that time. A similar action had been taken (ca.1948) when the Department of Defense first appointed optometrists as commissioned officers.

Today, across the nation, the VA is the largest employer of optometrists and largest provider of residency-level and undergraduate-level clinical training in the world, having over 970 optometrists as members of their medical staffs and training about 1,400 student trainees and 220 postgraduate residents per year.

Hindsight: Journal of Optometry History – Vol. 52 No. 1 (January 2021) – Special Issue: Focus on Military Optometry (Subscription Required)

Comments are welcome and can be sent to editor@abcmo.org for publication under the author's name.

August 24, 2021
Filed Under: Reflections

ABCMO News, Updates & Editorials


ABCMO News

  • A Reminder to VA Residents
  • Advanced Competence in Medical Optometry (ACMO) Exam – Friday, June 10, 2022
  • Newsletter – ABCMO News and Updates – September 2021
  • Newsletter – ABCMO News and Updates – January 2021
  • Background Information – Article 19 – Maintenance of Certification (MOC)

Reflections – Articles of Interest and Editorials

  • 10 Administrators for Every Doctor
  • What is Medical Optometry?
  • A Letter to VA Optometry Residency Coordinators: Benefits of ACMO
  • Retail and Clinical Pharmacy
  • It’s Time to Rethink Board Recertification

Comments are welcome and can be sent to editor@abcmo.org for publication under the author's name.

Certification Requirements

The following are in addition to an O.D. degree from an accredited North American school or college of optometry and a current state license to practice.

Residency: Completion of a full-time, ACOE (or equivalent) accredited, postgraduate clinical residency training program having major emphasis on medical optometry.

ACMO Exam: Passage of the Advanced Competence in Medical Optometry exam (or equivalent) offered by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry.

Practice: Documented significant practice of medical optometry for a minimum of two years immediately prior to application for certification.

The Practice requirement is waived in the two years immediately following residency training.

Complete Application and Requirements

Veterans/Military

  • Optometry Careers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
  • Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) and Financial Assistance Program (FAP)
  • Uniformed Services University
  • American Board of Optometry Specialties

    ABCMO is a Member of the American Board of Optometry Specialties (ABOS)

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