AOA Trustee Profiles

Dori M. Carlson, O.D.

Dori Carlson, O.D. was elected to the American Optometric Association Board of Trustees in June 2004 and re-elected in 2006.

As a member of the AOA Board, she serves as member of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and Finance Committee. Dr. Carlson serves as liaison to AOA's Advocacy Group and Communications Group, the Commission on Paraoptometric Certification, and the National Optometric Association (NOA). She is liaison to the affiliate associations of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. She is also on the InfantSEE® Management Team and liaison to the InfantSEE® Committee.

Prior to her election to the Board, Dr. Carlson was the first female president of the North Dakota Optometric Association. She served as Chair of North Dakota's Managed Care Committee, Hospital Privileges Committee and Mentoring Committee. She also served as chair of the AOA Information and Member Services Group, chair of the Membership Development Committee and was a member of the Communications Technology Project Team.

Dr. Carlson's major areas of interest include the InfantSEE® program and Affiliate Relations.

She continues to serve on the North Dakota Blue Cross Blue Shield Advisory Committee and is a long-standing member of the North Dakota Legislative Committee. She is a trained consultant for the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education.

Dr. Carlson is a graduate of Pacific University College of Optometry. She then completed a residency at the American Lake and Seattle VA Hospitals. In 1994 she was honored as the North Dakota Young Optometrist of the Year and as the Optometrist of the Year in 2003. She is in private practice in Park River and Grafton, North Dakota.

David A. Cockrell, O.D.

David A. Cockrell, O.D. was elected to the American Optometric Association Board of Trustees at the 108th Annual AOA Congress & 35th Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry's Meeting™ in June 2005.

As a member of the AOA Board, he serves as liaison to the AOA Information and Member Services Group, Paraoptometric Section, Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry (ARBO), Optometric Extension Program (OEP), and affiliate associations in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.

Prior to his election to the Board, Dr. Cockrell served as chair of the AOA State Government Relations Center, as well as AOA Primary Care and Patient Management, Statutory SCOPE, and Nominating and Resolutions committees. He has also served on the AOA Federal Government Relations Center.

Dr. Cockrell's area of emphasis as an AOA Trustee is state and federal legislative issues.

Dr. Cockrell is a graduate of the Southern College of Optometry. He is a Past President of the Southwest Council of Optometry. In Oklahoma he served as Chairman of the Congress committee as well as Chairman of the State and Federal Legislative Committees. He is a Past President in Oklahoma and a former OD of the year. He has also served on the Oklahoma State Board of Examiners in Optometry since 1997.

Dr. Cockrell practices in Stillwater, OK with his wire, Cherry B. Cockrell, O.D., and partner Jeff D. Miller, O.D.

Ronald L. Hopping, O.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.O.

Ronald L. Hopping, O.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.O., was elected to the American Optometric Association Board of Trustees at the 108th Annual AOA Congress & 35th Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry's Meeting™ in June 2005.

As a member of the AOA Board, he serves as a member of the AOA Finance Committee and Constitution and Bylaws Committee. He also serves as liaison to the AOA Advocacy Group, American Optometric Association Political Action Committee (AOA-PAC), and the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO). He is board liaison to the affiliate associations of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and Missouri.

Prior to his election to the Board, Dr. Hopping served as group chair of the AOA Information and Member Services Group and AOA Communications Advisory Committee. He also served on the Healthy Eyes Healthy People™ Oversight Committee. He is a charter member of the AOA Contact Lens and Cornea Section and Sports Vision Section. He is an InfantSEE® provider and a contributor to the AOA PAC at the Presidential level. He has served as a full-time faculty member with the rank of Assistant Professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry. Dr. Hopping served as Texas Optometric Association President in 1996.

Dr. Hopping is a graduate of Southern California College of Optometry. He received his Masters in Public Health from the University of Texas in 1982. He has received President's Awards for Outstanding Service from ten different state presidents and was recognized as the Texas Optometrist of the Year 2002. Dr. Hopping received the Outstanding Faculty Award at the University of Houston College of Optometry. Dr. Hopping is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and is recognized as a Diplomate in Cornea and Contact Lenses. Additionally he is recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner by the National Academies of Practice in Optometry.

Dr. Hopping is in private practice with his spouse, Desiree Hopping, O.D., and two associates in the Clear Lake area of Houston, Texas.

Steven A. Loomis, O.D.

Steven A. Loomis, O.D., was elected to the American Optometric Association Board of Trustees at the 110th Annual AOA Congress & 37th Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry's Meeting™ in June 2007.

As a member of the AOA Board, he serves as liaison to the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education, Sports Vision Section, and Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH). He is board liaison to the affiliate associations of Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Oregon.

Prior to his election to the Board, Dr. Loomis served as group chair of the AOA State Government Relations Center (SGRC) and Oversight Board, and co-chair of the Fall Advocacy Planning Committee. He also served on the Advocacy Group Executive Committee. He has served as chair of the AOA Health Care Legislative Committee (HCLC) and the Resolutions and the Legal Defense Fund Oversight committees, and served as a member of AOA's Credentialing Committee. He is a trainer for AOA's Optometric Leadership Institute.

Dr. Loomis is a graduate of Pacific University College of Optometry. He worked on numerous committees within the Colorado Optometric Association (COA) and served as secretary-treasurer and president of the COA. He served as legislative chair, testifying on optometry's behalf and negotiating with ophthalmology during scope expansion. He chaired the Children's Vision Task Force, which developed the goals for children's vision programs in Colorado.

In 1994, Dr. Loomis was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Council of Optometry, and later became president of the Southwest Council.

Dr. Loomis is in private practice in Littleton, Colorado.

Mitchell T. Munson, O.D.

Mitchell T. Munson, O.D. was elected to the American Optometric Association Board of Trustees at the 109th Annual AOA Congress & Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry’s Meeting™ in June 2006.

As a member of the AOA Board, he serves as a member of the AOA Building Committee and InfantSee® Project Team. He is board liaison to the AOA Clinical Care Group, Contact Lens and Cornea Section, National Board of Examiners in Optometry and affiliate associations in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Prior to his election to the Board, Dr. Munson spent 10 years in the AOA volunteer structure serving on the AOA New Technologies Committee, Statutory Scope Committee and the AOA Political Action Committee where he served as chair from 2003-2004.

In 1992, he was elected to the Colorado Optometric Association (COA) Board of Trustees and elected president in 1995. The COA named him Young Optometrist of the Year in 1993 and Optometrist of the Year in 1996. He was presented with COA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001.

Dr. Munson is a Past President of the Southwest Council of Optometry and a Fellow in the American Academy of Optometry.

A 1986 graduate of the Southern California College of Optometry, Dr. Munson has a group practice in Highlands Ranch, CO, with his wife and classmate, Dr. Susan Brunnett.

Andrea Thau, O.D.

Andrea Thau, O.D., was elected to the American Optometric Association Board of Trustees at the 110th Annual AOA Congress & 37th Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry's Meeting™ in June 2007.

As a member of the AOA Board, she serves as liaison to the AOA Clinical Care Group and Neurological Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA). She is board liaison to the affiliate associations of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Dr. Thau is a current and founding member of the AOA InfantSEE® Committee. She is past chair of the Credentials Committee and served on the first Faculty Relations Committee, the AOA Pediatrics and Binocular Vision Committee and Bylaws Project Team.

Dr. Thau is a graduate of SUNY State College of Optometry where she is associate clinical professor. Her awards include New York State Optometrist of the Year and SUNY Optometry Alumna of the Year. She is rated one of Vision Monday's 50 Most Influential Women in Optical. She was the first woman president of the New York State Optometric Association and The New York Academy of Optometry of which she is membership chair. She concurrently served as president of the Optometric Society of the City of NY, the NY Academy of Optometry and as an officer of the NYSOA.

She has made numerous national media appearances as spokesperson for the AOA, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, USA Today, Consumer Reports, and CBS Early Show.

She is vice president of the New York Children's Vision Coalition, a group dedicated to mandating eye examinations to the children of New York upon school entry.

Dr. Thau is owner of a four-woman practice in Park Avenue in Manhattan. She has been married to her husband, John, for 22 years and has two sons, Evan, 17, and Richard, 14.