Congratulations to Our 2022 Award Winners

Dr. David Stanfield, OD

He has been a longtime member of AOA and OPW, is an AAO fellow and an ABO diplomat. He’s served on the on the OPW Executive Committee from 2019-present, including being OPW President from 2021-2022.  He’s has been active within the OPW volunteer structure for many years, being most involved with education and conventions. 

Dr. Stanfield started his practice in the northwest at Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute in 1988, eventually serving as OD Director from 2012-2021.  During his tenure he has been instrumental in developing and growing one of the nation’s gold standard programs for optometric co-management.  

Dr. Stanfield was involved in the successful scope expansion movements in Washington State in late 80’s and the late 90’s. He came to Washington State after working at Bascom Palmer in Miami, Florida, and then in an ophthalmic surgical practice in North Carolina. Because of North Carolina’s advanced therapeutic scope at the time, Dave came to Washington with experience almost no one else in the State had and therefore was instrumental in the training, education and mentoring of countless ODs in the northwest. He personally testified to the legislature regarding the need for our therapeutic scope expansion. Appropriately, he presided as President of OPW during the introduction of the Access to Eyecare Act in 2022, the first major scope expansion bill in Washington State in almost 20 years. 

Dr. Stanfield served as an NBEO question writer and examiner for at least four years. He has co-authored many optometric texts, including AOA Optometric Clinical Practice Guideline: Care of the Adult Patient with Cataract, and sections of Clinical Ocular Pharmacology. He has lectured extensively at the regional, national and international levels. He was an adjunct faculty member at multiple optometry schools and involved in training externs at those schools for over three decades. He has served as an expert witness on behalf of fellow optometrists. 

Dr. Jon F. Pederson, OD, FAAO

Dr. Pederson has been a critical and instrumental key to the Colorado Optometric Association (COA) legislative success for the past 8 years.  As co-chair of COA’s Legislative Committee since 2014, he helps with the planning, calls, meetings and everything legislative including working with district captains and lobbyists.  His insight and leadership was absolutely instrumental in COA's advanced scope success in May 2022. He helped strategize the approach and plan.  He also serves as a co-district captain for a district and as a Keyperson to two legislators. He rescheduled patient appointments so he could sit through every committee hearing, and every chamber vote. Some votes at the end of session went until midnight and Dr. Pederson was there. He was on every zoom meeting often lasting 2 hours or phone calls twice per week since January.  He reviewed other bills every session to assess the impact on optometry.

This legislative dedication was not a recent interest.  Dr. Pederson was instrumental in the preparation, lobbying, and passage of COA's 2018 non-covered service bill that passed and numerous meetings resulting in a large Colorado Medicaid reimbursement increase in 2016.  He was on the legislative team and testified on the “Unfair Business Practices” bill and was an effective Keyperson involved in passing the hydrocodone fix bill.  

He is a role model to over 30 interns in his private practice over the past 8 years, as well as working with 50+ more while working in the VA system and as the Clinical Director at the Colorado Optometric Center.  He has served as adjunct faculty for UAB, PUCO, and SCO, and speaks annually about optometry at two local high school career days.