Dear Georgia AER Members,

I am quite honored to be serving as President of Georgia AER. My term began on July 1^st 2018 when John Rempel transitioned into the role of Immediate Past-President. Under John’s leadership, Georgia AER broadened its professional outreach and expanded its goals. I particularly thank John for being instrumental in bringing about our invaluable partnership with AMAC Accessibility at Georgia Tech, along with GVRA (Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency).

Our Georgia AER Team (the Georgia AER Board, all the Georgia AER members, and our partners) represents a powerful force which will continue to reach out to professionals in the field of serving blind and low vision individuals, and to offer them exceptional training.

Due to the hard work of the GA AER Board Webinar Committee (John Rempel, Harvey Clark and Carmen Willings), Georgia AER is proud to offer a webinar on November 15^th entitled “Restoring Vision: Retinal Implants, Gene Therapy, and the Role of Rehabilitation,” presented by Dr. Duane Geruschat from the Wilmer Eye Institute, School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Please see information below regarding additional details and registration information.

We are now working hard on our 2019 GA AER Spring Conference which will focus on “TRANSITION”. Due to the overwhelming positive response to last year’s opening session with service providers across the state, we will again ask providers of “Transition” to open the conference. Once again, we are excited to offer both ACVREP CEUs and CRCs. The venue and exact dates will be announced shortly. We will have a call for papers in the very near future. Please be thinking of how you can help make this GA AER 2019 Conference the most professional and exciting one yet! Please contact us to share your ideas.

GA AER will have a Booth at GVEST (Georgia Vision Educators Statewide Training) on October 10-12, 2018. Please come by, talk to us, and help out at the table if you are a GA AER member. If you are not a member, this would be a great opportunity to meet some of the GA AER members and discuss the advantages of GA AER membership. We would love to have you join us!

I am looking forward to a very exciting year. With the scheduling of the Webinar on Restoring Vision on November 15^th, we have definitely begun the year with an incredible start! I expect the momentum and excitement will only intensify as the 2019 Conference draws closer.

Again, I am honored to be the GA AER President for this term, and feel fortunate to be a part of this outstanding group of individuals.

Wendy Mons, GA AER President