Dr. Paul Barney, In-Kind Association Representative

Paul M. Barney, O.D., of Alaska, currently serves as the secretary-treasurer of the American Optometric Association (AOA). He was originally elected to the AOA Board of Trustees in 2022.

Dr. Barney lives and practices in Anchorage, Alaska, where he has served for more than 25 years as Center Director of Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute. A graduate of the Southern California College of Optometry, he has built a career combining patient care, education and advocacy for the profession.

An advocate for advancing optometric education, training and scope of practice, Dr. Barney has devoted much of his career to expanding patients’ access to the full range of care doctors of optometry are educated and trained to provide. He has testified in support of optometric laser and surgical procedures before legislatures in several U.S. states and before the U.S. House of Representatives.

His commitment to organized optometry includes more than 25 years of volunteer service with the Alaska Optometric Association (AKOA), where he has held nearly every major leadership position, including president and chair of both the Education and Legislative committees. His advocacy helped advance landmark legislation in Alaska giving the state Board of Examiners in Optometry authority to regulate scope of practice in Alaska commensurate with what is taught at accredited schools and colleges of optometry.

Dr. Barney also served eight years on the Alaska Board of Examiners in Optometry, including five years as chair. He represented Alaska as a director to the Great Western Council of Optometry for several years and served as its president from 2014-2015.

A longtime educator, Dr. Barney serves as an adjunct professor at Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and as an adjunct professor to the Faculty of Optometry at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Thailand.

His contributions to optometry have earned recognition at the state and national levels. Dr. Barney was named the Alaska Optometric Association’s Optometrist of the Year in 2016 and the AOA’s Optometrist of the Year in 2017. In 2025, he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University.