Dr. Gary Gerber is optometry’s most in demand practice building consultant.
His own optometry practice was among the top 1% of practices in the world and located in one of the most competitive ophthalmic marketplaces in the United States.
His informative and entertaining presentations have been seen by doctors across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada and he has consulted for practitioners in Australia, Japan, South Africa, the Caribbean and China.
Dr. Gerber is also a contributing editor for Review of Optometry and has a regular column in Optometric Management, Contact Lens Spectrum, Review of Cornea and Contact Lenses and Optometry, the Journal of the American Optometric Association. He also hosted his own radio talk show in New York City, “Dr. Gerber’s Eye Show” and is now the host of The Power Hour,Optometry’s ONLY live talk radio show.
He is a corporate consultant and has spoken for CIBA Vision, Vistakon, Essilor, DICON, Laser Diagnostic Technologies, Carl Zeiss Meditec, TLC, OfficeMate Software Solutions, First Insight as well as many other companies in the ophthalmic industry. He has lectured at virtually every large optometric meeting including SECO, Vision Expo East/West, The AOA Congress, East West Eye Conference, The American Academy of Optometry and EyeQuest.

Websites: 
Treehouse Eyes
Power Practice

Who: Dr. Gary Gerber
When: Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Time: Lunch and Presentation @ 12:00pm
Where:
      MBKU Main Campus Lecture halls A101-A102
      Check in outside building A

Hey Everybody!

We would like to invite you to October's meeting, which will be on October 26th! Dr. Michael Friedberg will be presenting to us.

Dr. Michael Friedberg previously practiced as an independent optometrist for 33 years in Houston, TX before cofounding and managing the Optometric Professional Network (OPN) group. He joined the PECAA Team in 2014 when OPN’s Board of Directors approved a cooperative venture with PECAA. Michael runs PECAA’s Student Membership Program as well as PECAA’s Mentorship Program. Michael has been happily married for 39 years and enjoys spending time with his son and two grandchildren. You can often find him on the golf course telling jokes!

Who: Dr. Michael Friedberg
When: Thursday, October 25, 2018
Time: Check-in/Dinner @ 7:00pm
           Presentation @ 7:30pm
Where:
      MBKU Main Campus Lecture halls A101-A102
      Check in outside building A

Thank you and we hope to see you all there! 

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! We are kicking off the first Private Practice Club meeting of the year with Dr. David G. Kirschen, who will be speaking about adding sports vision into your practice!

Dr. David G. Kirschen received his OD and PhD degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently the Chief of Binocular Vision and Orthoptic Services at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, at the David Geffin School of Medicine, UCLA. He has been in private practice in California for over 41 years while continuing his teaching and research efforts. He also serves as Professor Emeritus at the Southern California College of Optometry. For over 20 years, Dr. Kirschen has been substantially involved in sports vision, working as team optometrist for professional teams, such as the LA Dodgers, LA Kings, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and the USA Olympics team. Dr. Kirschen has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad. In his private practice he specializes in pediatric optometry, the treatment of binocular vision anomalies, computer related vision problems, strabismus and amblyopia, contact lenses and sports vision.

​Who: Dr. David G. Kirschen
When: Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Time: Check-in/Dinner @ 7:00pm
           Presentation @ 7:30pm
Where:
      MBKU Main Campus Lecture halls A101-A102
      Check in outside building A

​Thank you and we hope to see you all there! 

WELCOME TO SPRING QUARTER 2017!

We invite PPC members to our first meeting of the quarter with Stephen Shawler from Essilor. Currently, Mr. Shawler is the Vice President for the Eye Care Professional Training and Insights at Essilor, and he has worked in the vision industry for over 30 years which have included positions such as President of Essilor Vision Foundation, Vice President of Global Commercial Training at Essilor, and Vice President of of Marketing and Commercial Strategy at Asia Pacific. Mr. Shawler will be presenting about performance management, partnerships, and how to assess your practice is meeting your goals. In addition, Essilor’s brand rep, Mr. Ryan McClung, will also be at the meeting. Please bring questions, and we hope to see you at our first meeting.
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Who: Mr. Stephen Shawler and Mr. Ryan McClung from Essilor
What: Performance Management, Key Metrics for Benchmarking, & Partnerships
When: Thursday March 9, 2017 @ 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Where: Essilor Student Lounge

WELCOME BACK FROM THANKSGIVING BREAK!

To jumpstart us back into winter quarter, we have invited Dr. Michael Friedberg from Professional Eye Care Association of America (PECAA) to discuss a key aspect of being a good clinician: patient communication. Dr. Friedberg will be sharing with us how he effectively communicates with and educates his patients. Bring an appetite and some questions for our speaker. Hope to see you all there!

Who: Dr. Michael Friedberg
What: Effectively Communicating with Your Patients
When: Thursday December 8, 2016
Time: 6:30 pm dinner, 7:00 pm meeting starts
Where: Essilor Student Lounge

Professional Eye Care Association of America is a national Doctor Alliance Group that works with private practices to maximize their business potential. It could be a great resource for you future practice owners!

Please RSVP here for this event. The deadline is Monday, December 5th at 11:59PM.
If you are eligible and haven’t already picked up your Starbucks gift card, please find any PPC Board member at this upcoming meeting!

***Please provide 24 hour notice to the PPC board if you RSVP but are no longer able to attend ***
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Questions? Feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Hello everyone!

We would like to invite all SCCO PPC members to our last meeting of the quarter, which will be held on Wednesday, October 19th.

We will be having Mr. Robert Schultz, President/CEO of VisionOne return to speak about “When, How, & What Resources Are Available for You.” If you are interested in learning some financial resources and tips for purchasing your own practice, please RSVP on the formattached. At this meeting, we will also be handing out Starbucks gift cards to anyone who has attended our first two events of the quarter. Please be aware that this is a members-only event. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

Who: Mr. Robert Schultz
Topic: “Starting Your Own Practice: When, How, and What Resources Are Available for You”
When: Wednesday, October 19th at 6:30 pm
Where: Student Lounge
Dress: Business/Clinic Attire
Dinner: Thai food

Click here to RSVP. The deadline to RSVP is WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12th at 11:59 PM

A bit about our sponsor: Vision One Credit Union provides banking services to the independent eye care community. Founded in 1951 by optometrists for optometrists, they continue to specialize in private eye care practices, helping doctors to realize their dream of owning a practice and building wealth.
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We look forwarding to seeing you there!

PPC is excited to invite our members to our Networking Event and Mixer with Western University College of Optometry! With many conferences coming up including Vision Expo, Western Regional Conference, and Academy’s Meeting, let’s all brush up on our networking skills so we can make the most of these events. The networking workshop will be interactive with Dr. Vernon de la Cruz from VSP and Dr. Krasnow, who is an alumnus of SCCO, adjunct faculty at many optometry schools, international clinical consultant, and founder of VOSH.

After the workshop, come out for the mixer at Caffe Primo, where students from each school can mingle and play games such as cornhole, pool, etc. Each attending member will also be receiving a bracelet for discounted drinks and food if you’re still hungry afterwards!

For those of you who haven’t heard, if you attend our first 2 meetings, you will be receiving a free Starbuck’s card!
Also, if you have not paid, this is a MEMBERS ONLY event, so please remember to pay your dues!

Please click here to RSVP for this great opportunity! Deadline: 9/7/16 (Wednesday) at 6pm.

Who: Dr. Vernon De la Cruz and Dr. Krasnow
What: Networking Workshop
When: September 9, 2016 (Friday)
Time: 6:30-7:30pm Dinner
7:30-9pm Workshop
9pm-evening Mixer
Where: Workshop A101-102
Mixer Caffe Primo (195 W Center Street Promenade, Anaheim, CA 92805)
Sponsor: VSP
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Hope everyone can make it!

​SCCO’s Private Practice Club kicked off our first speaker event of the year with Dr. Kristin O’Brien: previous president of her school’s private practice association, founder of the Student Optometry Leadership Network, and owner of her own private practice in Denver, Colorado, amongst many other titles.

Dr. O’Brien began with an introduction of the people in her life that had served as her mentors as she transitioned through the last couple years of her student life into her professional career. These mentors included doctors she had met through local optometry organizations such as the Colorado Optometric Association and members of Optometric Insights, not to mention the many industry professionals she met from attending optometry conferences.  This introduction revealed the network of support Dr. O’Brien had gathered around her as she worked toward her vision of opening her own private practice and introduced PPC members to some resources within the profession that they had not been aware of.

She continued to share the rest of her journey, by talking about the difficulties she had encountered during school with learning clinical skills and passing didactic courses. Members really appreciated her candid responses and felt she was very “relatable” and “open” with the obstacles she had overcome. In the questions and answer portion that followed, Dr. O’Brien touched on some of her struggles within the first few years of starting cold, including how to attract patients, hire staff that exemplified her business’ mission statement, and fire staff that do not. With unique methods of marketing and unwavering determination, she brought her business from having no patients on day 1 to a currently full daily schedule and employs a full staff that is more like family than a group of coworkers.

Through her setbacks, we were able to indulge more fully in her triumphs. By the end of the event, we were all invigorated by the message she left us, which was to really brainstorm and determine what our goals are. Once you’re confident in your goals, do whatever it takes to achieve them. Stay determined and don’t forget to help each other out in the process.

Welcome back, everyone!

We’d like to formally invite all of you to attend Private Practice Club’s first speaker event of the year! This first event is FREE and open to ALL students because we want to give you a taste of what Private Practice Club has to offer before you officially sign up. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about private practice from a successful OD. Bring an appetite and lots of questions!

What: Dr. Kristin O’Brien, OD – “Beginning Your Own Practice: Where to Start?”
When: Thursday, August 25th, 7:00pm
Where: A101-102
Dress: Business/Clinic Attire
Dinner: Taco bar, 8:00pm on the lawn

While in school, Dr. O’Brien founded her university’s very own Private Practice Club, and was influential in beginning the Student Optometric Leadership Network (SOLutioN), of which she currently serves on the Executive Committee. She also spends time on the lecture circuit, speaking about private practice and the business aspects of the profession with Optometric Insights to inspire success in future generations of optometrists. Dr. O’Brien currently practices in Colorado.

To learn more about our speaker, please visit: http://visionsource-gvr.com/about-us/doctors-staff/
​
Click here to RSVP for this event. The deadline is Monday, August 22 at MIDNIGHT.

Come out to our next PPC event on Wednesday, March 30th at 7pm. Robert Schultz, the President of Vision One, will be speaking about what they do for ODs and how we will most likely be interacting with them in the future. This presentation will be very useful, seeing as many of us will mostly likely have our own or be a partner in a practice one day and will need to understand how to finance our practice, our equipment, etc.

***This is a members-only event***
When: Wednesday, March 30
Where: Essilor Student Lounge for dinner
Topic:Vision One – Financing a Private Practice
Check-In: 6:45pm
Dress: Business/Clinic Attire
Dinner: Thai food

***We are keeping track of attendance – yes, even the no-shows! If you sign-up and are no longer able to attend, please inform the PPC board ASAP (48-hour notice would be nice!)***
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DEADLINE TO RSVP FOR THIS EVENT: SUNDAY, MARCH 26 @ 9pm