Dr. Susy Yu is the Vision Services Administrator for Vision Essentials by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. Dr. Yu’s main role is to develop and implement strategy for this division comprising more than 400 doctors of optometry, over 800 ancillary staff, 49 offices, which cares for over 900k patients annually. One of the more interesting aspects of Dr. Yu’s role is to identify and pilot new technologies and help determine the ideal practice model for optometry in our complex and rapidly evolving healthcare environment.
Dr. Yu is a Fellow and Diplomate in the Public Health and Environmental Vision section of the American Academy of Optometry. Her professional experience, together with her role at Kaiser Permanente, shifted Dr. Yu’s focus from individual patient care to population care management — developing policies and making strategic decisions to improve health outcomes for a community of people.
Dr. Yu served on the California State Board of Optometry from 2003 to 2011 and was elected to the board of directors for the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry (ARBO) in 2009, where she served as president from 2015 to 2016. During her ARBO tenure, she championed the enhancement of continuing education by connecting it to measurable improvements in knowledge, performance, and patient outcomes. As former chair of ARBO’s Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE), Dr. Yu was instrumental in the program’s recognition as substantially equivalent to Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and in COPE’s acceptance into the Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education, together with medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physician assistants.
Dr. Yu is past president of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry and serves on the board of directors for Optometry Giving Sight. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley (1992), a Doctor of Optometry degree from UC Berkeley School of Optometry (1996), and a Master of Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management (2002). Dr. Yu is active in the American Telemedicine Association Ocular Telehealth Special Interest Group, was recognized as one of Vision Monday’s Most Influential Women in Optical in 2023, and as one of Vision Monday’s Optometric Business Innovators in 2012.
Dr. Yu is married to Brian Kim, MD, JD, and is the proud mother of two kids, ilsa and ilan.
