Optometry finds voice in influential society

If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu; so goes a rally cry of optometry’s most ardent advocates.

Advocacy, though, can come to the table in different forms. For instance, it applies to Michael Mittelman, O.D., MPH, MBA, who serves as chair of the Board of Directors of The Society of Federal Health Professionals. Members represent health care disciplines.

As chair, Dr. Mittelman’s role on the board means he plays it down the middle on issues, seeking to inform and not taking sides, but helping to facilitate a forum, whether it’s between the different federal services providing care to their personnel or between those providers and industry partners brought together by the society.

The influential society is composed of U.S. federal health professionals serving in the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security.

“An optometrist serving on the committee gives us a voice,” says Dr. Mittelman, who served more than three decades in the U.S. Navy before retiring as a rear admiral (Upper Half). He is currently president of Salus at Drexel University.

“I am an optometrist, and I am not shy about reminding them about optometry’s role in health care,” he adds.

Dr. Mittelman spoke with the AOA about the society (formerly known as the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) and its role in facilitating healthy discussions on health care delivery at the federal level.

As part of its mission, the society provides continuing education and other resources for members, but it’s well-known for its annual meetings to be held March 3-6, 2025, in National Harbor, Maryland.

The theme in 2025 is “Flourishing in Health: Improving Experiences for our Patients and our Workforce.” The annual meeting focuses primarily on continuing education, networking and being a forum for industry to interact with federal service health professionals.

The organization was formed to facilitate collaboration between providers and federal services, whether it be on the active-duty side or the reserve side, to ensure the highest level of care and preventive measures possible are provided. Partnerships with industry leaders are also available. The meeting serves as a forum—a safe space—for people to have conversations on how to coordinate care throughout government. We are nonprofit, nonpolitical. This forum makes us unique.

What is the benefit of the meeting for attendees?

One of the most beneficial aspects of our annual meetings is the opportunity to network and learn from senior leaders in federal health care. Attendees can learn about the cutting-edge technology, treatments or preventive medicine initiatives coming around the corner and what the needs are for personnel. We have plenty of sessions where people hear about policy. The U.S. Surgeon General, generally, speaks at one of the forums. The last time he talked about loneliness and issues with children.

You have an ‘elevator speech’ when talking up optometry. What is it?

Optometry provides 80% of the comprehensive eye care in the U.S. today and that means everything from getting a pair of glasses to treating eye disease to ensuring you do not have glaucoma, diabetes and other eye conditions. Optometrists are also trained to provide minor surgery with lasers as well as other medical interventions. We are accessible throughout the country whereas ophthalmology is generally most accessible in large cities. There are many more optometrists than there are ophthalmologists, which is why we are more accessible and truly the primary eye care provider for the country. We should be able to do much more than just diagnose diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. We should be able to treat these disorders either through co-management or independently.