AOA Excellence Awards

AOA’s Excellence Awards are the organization’s most prestigious awards that recognize outstanding member doctors and partners for their exceptional contributions, unwavering dedication and distinguished achievements for the profession and the visual welfare of the public. These are individuals who stand up, bring the profession together and make sure the profession is united in advancing optometry.

The AOA thanks its longstanding Visionary Supporter Johnson & Johnson Vision for their recognition of these exemplary individuals. Awarded yearly, recipients are honored every year throughout Optometry’s Meeting®.

2024 award nominations are due on Monday, February 12, 2024.

Optometric Educator of the Year Award

Recognizes a deserving member educator for outstanding service on behalf of the profession, optometric education and the visual welfare of the public.

OD of the Year Award

Recognizes a member doctor of optometry for performance of outstanding services on behalf of the profession and to the visual welfare of the public.

Young OD of the Year Award

Recognizes a member doctor of optometry in their first decade of practice who show leadership skills when serving their profession, their patients and their community.

Distinguished Service Award

Recognizes a member doctor of optometry who has distinguished themselves within the profession for unusually significant contributions and outstanding achievements contributing to the advancement of the profession of optometry. It recognizes long-term dedication rather than any single contribution.

Apollo Award

Recognizes persons or organizations for distinguished service to the visual welfare of the public and is the highest award presented to the general public by the AOA.

Click here for a list of all AOA past award recipients.

New noteworthy optometry codes

Changes in coding and reimbursements worth knowing. Meanwhile, with the clock winding down on 2024, the AOA continues to press for Congress to act on reforms that would give doctors of optometry an annual, permanent inflationary Medicare payment tied to the Medicare Economic Index.

AOA News

Setting the tone for Optometry’s Meeting® in Music City

🔊 Hear why colleagues say the annual AOA and AOSA member meeting is the place to be this June 19-22, 2024, and learn how you can get priority access to registration before everyone else this January.