What does FAAO and FCOVD stand for?

You may have noticed that Dr. Lam has FAAO and FCOVD after her name, but what do those letters stand for and what do they mean?

FAAO stands for “Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry”. The American Academy of Optometry is the national optometry organization dedicated to teaching, research, and education. To become a fellow of this organization means that you have proven yourself knowledgeable of the most recent advancements in your area of expertise, and you are also demonstrating your commitment to lifelong learning in the field of eye care. To achieve the title of fellow, Dr. Lam had to submit written and published work and then pass an oral interview before a panel of doctors to prove her competency.

FCOVD stands for “Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.” The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD for short) is the national organization dedicated to vision development and vision therapy. To become a fellow of this organization means that you are a doctor well versed in vision therapy and understanding binocular vision (how the eyes work together) and the more global integration of vision into the whole body. All dedicated and experienced vision therapy doctors should be FCOVD certified because it shows they have a high level of expertise. To become a FCOVD a doctor must have a minimum of 5 years experience, attend continuing education in the area of vision therapy, submit written work, be mentored by an experienced vision therapy doctor, and finally pass an oral interview.

“I wanted to achieve both of these fellowships so that I could challenge myself to become a better doctor for my patients. The years of studying it took to achieve both of these fellowships exponentially deepened my knowledge of vision and helped me to be more equipped. I never want to stop having a learner’s mentality because there’s always new advancements being made in the field of eye care and I want to be able to bring that back to our patients here at Insight!” – Dr. Lam

We are proud of Dr. Lam and are excited for all the knowledge she will bring to our office!

To read more about Dr. Lam’s journey to becoming FCOVD, read her article posted on COVD’s blog here:  https://covdblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/my-why-dr-valerie-lam-fcovd/