This article was originally published in a sponsored newsletter.

Cary Herzberg is a true pioneer in the field of myopia management. Below is the third part of an interview about his 50-year journey.

Tell me a little about the beginnings of the Orthokeratology Academy of America (OAA).

Dr. Herzberg: I already had a history of running the National Eye Research Foundation but had been frustrated by my limited autonomy. I resigned in 1999, and I was not doing anything really for a couple of years when the Global Orthokeratology Symposium happened. The meeting was amazing, and some key people came up to me and said that, based on my experience, they were drafting me to be the first president of the American orthokeratology organization.

What happened next?

Dr. Herzberg: We put this thing [the OAA] together on a shoestring budget. We drafted bylaws, and I had a lawyer look it over out of my own pocket. This was a long way from today’s international organization. We had some high-profile speakers, including Brien Holden, PhD, DSc; and Helen Swarbrick, PhD, but they were not interested in starting an international organization.

How did it become international?

Dr. Herzberg: Around 2008, Marino Formenti, OD, from Italy and Canada came to me and said “what about this international group?” We had many of the pioneers of orthokeratology involved, including Rob Gerowitz, OD; Stu Grant, OD; and Roger Tabb, OD, but the U.S. orthokeratology market and community were not growing. I could see that if we didn’t involve Europe and China, the organization might be in trouble. We needed to join the Chinese [practitioners] to make this successful, and that’s just exactly what we did.

When did OAA become the American Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (AAOMC)?

Dr. Herzberg: I could see early on that we needed to get myopia into the title. We started doing myopia education independent of orthokeratology at our meetings, and I eventually persuaded the board to formally approve the name change to the American Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control. Dr. Formetti was big on myopia too, so the international organization did the same and became the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (IAOMC).

The IAOMC organization now has five affiliates: the AAOMC, European Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (EUROK), International Academy of Orthokeratology Asia (IAOA), Oceania Society of Orthokeratology (OSO), and the Academia Latinoamericana de Ortoqueratología y Control de Miopía (ALOCM).