PEOPLE Dr. Susy Yu Appointed as New Vision Services Administrator for Southern California Permanente Medical Group By Staff Friday, June 7, 2024 12:24 AM Susy Yu, OD, MBA, FAAPO, Dipl AAO. PASADENA, Calif.—Susy Yu, OD, MBA, FAAPO, Dipl AAO, has been appointed as the new vision services administrator for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group effective June 3, 2024, succeeding Mitch Rutledge, the group announced. Most recently, Dr. Yu served as the regional director of business strategy and operations support for Vision Essentials at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. According to the group, she is a national advocate for the field of optometry, having served on several boards including the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry, and the California State Board of Optometry.Last year, as reported in VMAIL, Dr. Yu was named to the board of directors at Optometry Giving Sight (OGS).Dr. Yu holds a doctor of optometry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master of business administration (MBA) from the University of California, Los Angeles.In 2023, Dr. Yu was named as one of VM’s Most Influential Women in Optical as regional director of business strategy and operations support for Vision Essentials at Kaiser Permanente. After being named as a MIW honoree, she told VM, “Optical and optometry are related but different fields. As someone with a foot in both worlds, I believe that optical has the potential to be about so much more than selling frames and lenses. And optometry has the potential to be about so much more than refractions and writing prescriptions. Both fields together create a systemic opportunity to improve the health of an entire population. That’s the main focus of my career.”