A Message from ASCO President, Dr. John Flanagan

2020 was the year that promised so much but delivered more of the unexpected and unwanted than we could ever have imagined. We are truly living through historic times. To quote the historian Professor Heather Cox Richardson who’s daily “Letters from an American” have guided my year: “One of my children asked me once if people living through the Great Depression understood just how bad their era would look to historians. I answered that, on the whole, I thought not... For those who cannot see it: we are in one of the most profound crises of American history.” However, we are also at that time of year when we can focus on gratitude and look forward to renewal. As President of ASCO I have much to be grateful for.

Until becoming President, I had never quite appreciated the full extent of ASCO’s reach and community. We are a Board of the Presidents and Deans of our Schools and Colleges, and as such, we represent everyone within our institutions. But more than that we are currently more than 1,500 volunteers who serve on ASCO committees, groups, task forces and special interest groups (see Committee Appointments article in this Newsletter). Together they help define the very future of our profession. I am grateful for all those who nominated, volunteered and accepted their new positions. Thank you and gratitude to those who previously served. I am grateful to Dawn Mancuso and her staff for the extraordinary efforts involved in organizing the newly restructured volunteer network, and I am particularly grateful to President-elect Kelly Nichols who was jointly responsible for assigning the new appointments given the reorganization. We move forward in strength and with a sense of purpose.

I am grateful for the support and camaraderie of the ASCO community over these last 9 months. The Board has held a “Conversation” every Thursday afternoon from March onwards. This has given us all the strength, support and confidence to meet the many challenges our schools and colleges have faced, in the knowledge that we were not alone. I am grateful for the Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee, who have also met weekly, under the leadership of Drs. Karla Zadnik and Ruth Shoge, to help navigate the scourges of racism and the challenges of increasing diversity in our profession. Their inspirational work, along with the Applicant Pool Task Force, will help ensure that our profession grasps the opportunities born out of crisis and promotes sustainable actions and solutions.

Finally, I am grateful for the students, faculty and staff at each of our institutions who have navigated these challenging times with intelligence, perseverance and caring. Your Deans and Presidents thank you, and your patients thank you. It is clear that our next generation of Doctors of Optometry will be both resilient and extraordinary.

I wish you all, this year more than ever, a peaceful holiday season.

And now let’s look forward to 2020+1. It simply has to be better.