Member in Focus: Phillip Duran, O.D.

How a personal touch can strengthen association membership

A year ago, Phillip Duran, O.D., who practices in Las Vegas, wasn’t involved in the Nevada Optometric Association (NOA). Today, as chair of the association’s Membership Committee, Dr. Duran is bringing a fresh perspective and new ideas to the role.

“It’s easy to take things for granted or get tunnel vision and only think about the day-to-day,” he says. “In a profession that continues to evolve, it’s important to stay engaged and challenge ourselves to get better.”

Below, Dr. Duran explains how—and why—he got involved, what type of outreach gets the most response, and a surprising benefit of association involvement.

How did you get involved with the NOA and, specifically, the Membership Committee?

There are a couple of associate doctors and partners in our practice who are active in the NOA, and there was a friendly professional nudge to get involved. There was a need on the Membership Committee about a year ago, so I rose to the challenge. What got me most excited about membership was the opportunity to meet doctors in our state.

Describe your first year as committee chair.

This first year has been about learning by observation. I dedicated myself to asking plenty of questions and not being afraid to not know what I’m doing. It’s been great to get more aware of what we’re doing and what our responsibilities are.

There is a lot of outreach involved in connecting with doctors and motivating new optometrists to become members. As soon as I joined the committee, I had a meeting with the AOA and NOA leadership. The AOA gives us a lot of tools to work from, so we can feel prepared to reach out to people.

How have you been connecting with NOA members?

Email has been the easiest logistically. I can do that at night after the kids are asleep. But text messaging usually gets the most interaction. People can just shoot you a quick reply or even a thumbs up. Placing a phone call takes a lot of time. Also, many people screen their calls nowadays, so I end up speaking to many voicemails.

In a world where we are inundated with messaging, it’s the personal, unscripted communications that get a response. It’s refreshing to speak to people about the importance of what we do. We want to drive interest and make people excited about something important.

What about in-person connections?

We have been working in conjunction with NOA’s Next Gen Committee, which focuses on young docs who are recent graduates. In the past six months, we have put together two events. One was a mixer where about 30 optometrists got together and networked. The other was a roundtable discussion sponsored by Vizz. Our next goal is to organize office visits to meet more doctors in our state.

What would you tell other AOA members about getting involved in their state associations?

It has been a great way to gain an appreciation for optometrists from different generations and to see where we’ve been and where we need to go. When someone is in this career for 30 or 40 years and still has a passion for what they do, it’s great to feed off that passion. In recent grads, you see a passion, but in a different way. They are excited to take care of patients. They are learning how to stay connected as doctors.

The NOA is crucial in the modernization of laws and in working to make sure we, as a profession, are treated fairly. But the most enriching thing I have witnessed is that bridge across different generations of doctors.

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