William L. Rich III, MD.
​
SAN FRANCISCO—On Jan. 1, 2016, William L. Rich III, MD, FACS began his term as the 119th president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Rich brings more than 20 years of experience in healthy policy, health care financing and clinical quality metrics to his new role. He has served the AAO in various ways including the medical director of health policy and he is also the chair of the AAO’s IRIS Registry committee. He will continue to serve in these roles during his presidential term.

During his term, he plans to focus on strengthening the profession of ophthalmology’s engagement with government and policymakers by demonstrating how their actions affect patient care.

“To ensure that our patients can get the best possible care, ophthalmologists must play a more active role in the Academy’s government advocacy initiatives,” said Rich. “Lawmakers need to hear directly from ophthalmologists about how their policies have deep, long-lasting impacts on our patients. During my term as president, I hope to help mobilize more of our members and raise their voices so that government can more clearly understand the key issues that impact patient care and physicians' ability to deliver it in a sustainable manner.”

Additionally, Rich practices general ophthalmology as the senior partner at Northern Virginia Ophthalmology Associates. He is also a former chair of the American Medical Association’s resource-based relative values scale update committee and has consulted with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Health Policy Forum and the Institute of Medicine.