Derek Sprunger, MD was recognized at the American Academy of Eye Physicians & Surgeons July 2010 Secretariat for State Affairs meeting for his service on the Secretariat. Dr. Sprunger’s five-year term on the Secretariat will be complete at the end of this year. The Secretariat for State Affairs is made up of two committees: the Committee for State Governmental Affairs and the Committee for State Organizational Development. These two committees and the Secretary, Daniel J. Briceland, MD (AZ), work as one unit to address issues of concern to state ophthalmology societies and committee members serve as liaisons between state ophthalmology societies and the American Academy. Each member of the Secretariat is assigned to 3-4 states and is charged with building and maintaining a relationship with the state society leadership and staff in those 3-4 states, addressing both organizational development issues (membership, governance, leadership development, patient/public education, etc.) and governmental affairs issues (state legislative advocacy, state regulatory advocacy, etc.) that arise and serving as the societies' direct contact with the American Academy. Dr. Sprunger has served as the Secretariat’s liaison to the state societies in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. In honoring Dr. Sprunger before his peers on the Secretariat, Dr. Briceland noted, “Derek has been a phenomenal resource for the Academy and has been a true asset to both our national organization and to the state societies he served. On behalf of the entire Secretariat, we thank and recognize him”.
