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Many of the leading companies in the eyecare sector have stepped up to champion Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) across their companies and the optical business overall, and MyEyeDr. stands out among this forward-thinking group. The company represents diversity across its leadership team, and strongly advocates community outreach as a priority among employees by encouraging staff members to volunteer in their communities to provide support to those in need.





MyEyeDr. also stepped up early on to be an initial supporter of Black EyeCare Perspective, an organization founded by optometrists Drs. Adam Ramsey and Darryl Glover.

Dr. Glover, a practicing OD within the MyEyeDr. organization, and Dr. Ramsey are working to “redefine the color of the eyecare industry “1 percent at a time by creating a pipeline for Black students into optometry.”

In addition, Black EyeCare Perspective was designed and created to cultivate and foster lifelong relationships between Black eyecare professionals and the eyecare industry, and to support the 13 percent promise, “an initiative to increase equity and representation of Black students in the eyecare industry to better mirror the 13 percent of Black people in the current U.S. population.”

“The culture at MyEyeDr. is definitely diversity,” Dr. Glover said in a recent interview with Vision Monday, noting that the company not only has a diverse leadership team but also “the diverse modes of practice that help our patients live their best lives.”

He added, “As a result of those two things, it has helped to elevate patient care for all the doctors within our organization. MyEyeDr. is really hands-on when it comes to supporting Black EyeCare Perspective, and we look forward to continue that partnership as time goes by.”

Dr. Glover joined MyEyeDr. in late 2014 when the practice he was part of—Raleigh, N.C.-based Eye Care Associates—was acquired by MyEyeDr. in one of the latter’s largest early optometry partnerships. Dr. Glover continues to see patients two to three days each week, and when he’s not in the exam lane, he’s involved with projects for the professional services team.

“I serve as our professional services special projects liaison, which means essentially that I handle all the cool projects, working with the marketing team, with the campus-based recruiting team and with Dr. Artis Beatty [chief medical officer] and Dr. Scott Allison [vice president, professional services] on whatever they need done.”

Drs. Ramsey and Glover co-founded Black EyeCare Perspective about three years ago, when he said the inspiration came about while attending an industry meeting and “walking around a conference with each other and not seeing ourselves, essentially. We knew at that point in time there was a problem, and we needed to fix it.” Glover said he believes he was “blessed to be able to see another Black doctor [Dr. Beatty, who was practicing with North Carolina’s Eye Care Associates at the time]” when just getting started in the eyecare business. “But to go to a conference and not see that, it was just like, ‘Wow, there needs to be some work here.’ That’s what sparked our conversation in the movement that we created.”

Glover said MyEyeDr. has “absolutely” been a strong supporter of the efforts of Black EyeCare Perspective. “MyEyeDr. helps out in tons of ways,” he said. One of the leading ways is via its support of Impact HBCU, an event (virtual in the past, but possibly in-person later this year) where Black EyeCare Perspective reaches out to all HBCU schools “to create awareness about how great optometry is and to bring out practicing optometrists so [these students] can see themselves. We talk about our stories, and then we partner with optometry schools to come out and talk about their stories and what it takes to get into optometry school.”

MyEyeDr. also opens the doors of its practices to prospective optometry students who want to come into the office and “shadow and experience” a practicing OD. “I’ve had numerous students come in and they have shadowed me,” he said. “MyEyeDr. just opens its doors for these students who have never had these opportunities to experience in an eyecare office,” he added, noting this is done across the entire MyEyeDr. organization.

In addition, Dr. Glover noted that MyEyeDr. gives him time to go into the community and perform screenings in underserved areas on behalf of both Black EyeCare Perspective and MyEyeDr.

“They have allocated time for me to do that, which is a big deal. Some organizations would say, ‘You need to get in that exam lane and see patients.’ But not the organization that I’m part of. MyEyeDr. really wants to make an impact in the community, and that’s why we’re known as trusted doctors of optometry in our communities as well.”