Archived Member Spotlight
Oregon Optometric Physicians Association (OOPA) is featuring stories about members who are going above and beyond to further the optometric profession.
Their collective expertise and contributions better the practice of optometry while placing Oregon as a national leader in practice and innovation.
Our Member Spotlight Profiles
- Mila Ioussifova, OD
- Kelly Asbra
- Douglas Melzer, OD
- Aaron Salzano, OD
- Gabby Marshall, OD, FCOVD
- Amber Dunn, OD
- Karl Citek, OD, PhD, FAAO
Mila Ioussifova, OD
Finding Her Passion In Ocular Health
An Oregon OD continues her life-long journey of education
Practicing in Portland, Oregon—one of the hot-spots of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak—has been an opportunity for Mila Ioussifova, OD, to once again rise to the occasion. After graduating from New England College of Optometry in 2007, she did her residency in a community health center practice in Boston, Massachusetts. Following her residency, she worked at a private practice and as an adjunct faculty member at Pacific University College of Optometry and cold-opened her practice South Waterfront Eye Care in 2013.
In her practice, she has found two main passions: dry eye and nutrition. When it comes to dry eye, her practice specializes in in-office treatments such as LipiFlow, Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and radiofrequency. Dr. Ioussifova’s practice, South Waterfront Eyecare, receives many referrals for dry eye patients. “We went into optometry school wishing to make an impact on patients’ lives,” Dr. Ioussifova says. “Treating patients with severe dry eye symptoms has given me that opportunity; it has been so rewarding to hear when patients—literally—thank me with tears in their eyes that their eyes finally feel normal.”
Kelly Asbra
Helping People Find A Way Forward, Lions Clubs-based program provides help on many levels
Kelly Asbra has a guiding principle: people deserve a second chance, and inmates need marketable skills to succeed once they’re released from prison. And she can back it up. She worked at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, teaching opticianry and paraoptometric skills. The prison has a finishing lab, and inmates there produce about 1,100 pairs of eyewear per year for the population of all 14 prisons in the state.
About six years ago, Asbra began talking with the Oregon Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation (OLSHF) about an idea: gain funding to build a lab to extend what she was doing in the prison to help people in the community. Asbra had the track record for such a plan. Not only could she teach the skills and manage the optical, but she could also show that the program provides pathways forward for incarcerated women.
Douglas Melzer, OD
Douglas Melzer, OD, Melzer and Breckenridge, P.C., serves on the AOA Content Committee and is an AOA Federal Advocacy Representative (FAR). He has served for eight years on AOA committees.
The Content Review Board provides member voice and expertise to ensure AOA content helps members provide exceptional patient care, advocate for the profession and be successful in practice management. The Federal Relations Committee promotes and protects the practice of optometry and patients served via federal legislation and regulation with attention to health care reform implementation, regulation, legislation, and litigation.
Dr. Melzer is a “Past, Past, Past President” and Great Western Council of Optometry (GWCO) representative.
Aaron Salzano, OD
Dr. Aaron Salzano, River View Family Eyecare, Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, serves on AOA’s Sports & Performance Vision Committee. He has served for four years on the committee, two of those years as a student liaison. The committee’s mission is to support, strengthen and advocate for optometry’s role in sports and performance vision.
When asked why he volunteers for the committee he said, “I love sports vision, and wanted to educate others to help ignite their own passion for this interesting aspect of optometry, while also advocating for optometrists’ role in helping athletes reach their full potential.”
Gabby Marshall, OD, FCOVD
Gabby Marshall, OD, FCOVD, Elemental Eyecare, is a member of AOA’s Political Action Committee (PAC) serving as a federal relations representative. Dr. Marshall, immediate past president of OOPA and a current member of OOPA’s Advocacy Committee, has contributed to AOA’s committee efforts for two years.
When asked why she joined AOA’s Federal Relations Committee, Dr. Marshall replied, “I was asked and because of my history with working in PAC coordination and fundraising it was a natural fit, and... Jim Hale made me do it.”
Due to the highly regulated nature of the optometric industry, sound federal relations are critical to success. Measuring advocacy success can be a multi-dimensional process but Dr. Marshall was quick to note her committee’s accomplishments.
Amber Dunn, OD
Amber Dunn, OD, owner of Gatti Vision, is in her third year of service on AOA’s Content Review Board. Members are reappointed each year. The board provides member voice and expertise to ensure AOA content helps members provide exceptional patient care, advocates for the profession and offers successful practice management. It also acts as an editorial board.
Three years in, what interested her in joining the committee in the first place?
“I was first asked to be a volunteer on a membership sub-committee called "student and new graduates," she said. “This was a perfect fit for me so that I could help target new graduates and keep students understanding the importance of AOA. After serving 3 years on that committee, I was re-appointed to the Government Relations Committee which I spent a year working on while learning legislative language.”
Karl Citek, OD, PhD, FAAO
Karl Citek, OD, PhD, FAAO, Pacific University College of Optometry, is a 28-year member of OOPA and held a four-year membership with American Optometric Student Association (AOSA) prior to joining OOPA. He serves on AOA’s Commission on Ophthalmic Standards Committee (CmOS). Not only has he been on the committee for 16 years, he has also served as ITS chair for nine of those years.
In addition, Dr. Citek is current treasurer for the Portland Metro Optometric Society.
CmOS is an appointed group of volunteers who represent the AOA in the national and international bodies that develop ophthalmic standards. Commissioners currently serve on ANSI, ISO, and CIE/USA committees, helping to develop, modify and approve the documents that help guide the ophthalmic industry and optometric profession.
