Dear Colleagues,
I am very excited and ready to embark on this year's journey as my term as president of the NJAO begins! I want to thank the board and membership for giving me this wonderful opportunity to serve as your president. I also want to thank you for making our annual educational meeting such a success with near record attendance.
With the beginning of a new 215th administration in Trenton in January, we can expect to see a significant amount of changes in our political landscape. I am confident that our team of association management, lobbyists, legal counsel and coding experts will help us monitor the many state and national bills that will be introduced this year.
Please feel confident in the fact that you have a tremendous group working on your behalf in this state, and we all will continue to work diligently to maintain our specialty as the premier eye care givers in New Jersey. In fact, during Dr. Langer's presidency, an Advocacy Task Force was created which has been very effective in creating multiple ways to improve our interaction with state legislature and to become more proactive about protecting both our patients' and our professional interests. We are also very optimistic of a new NJAO Ambassador Program we are working on with the goal to establish valuable relationships with our legislators and to help educate them on the issues facing ophthalmology as well as critical health care issues.
I urge you to continue to support our efforts and very important missions of the New Jersey Academy of Ophthalmology through your membership given this uncertain era of health care reform.
I look forward to hearing from you and to learn more ways in which we can work together in the future.
Brenda Pagán-Durán, MD
NJAO President, 2012
