The Heart of America Contact Lens Society was founded over forty years ago with 40 original members. Their goal was to provide post-graduate education in the theory and application of contact lenses. The first HOACLS Congress was held the weekend of May 13 - 15, 1962 at the Presidents Hotel in Kansas City. They had three main speakers who were all renowned in the field of contact lens application. The speakers all covered subjects that were at the time, very new and very vital to all those specializing in the very advanced field.

While much has changed in our field during the last forty years, the HOACLS still pledges to continuing the mission of education in primary care optometry and the contact lens specialty. With each new Congress, the HOACLS strives to provide a wide variety of workshops, symposiums and courses. Each Congress is structured to offer new learning opportunities for optometrists and paraoptometrics. Our ongoing goal is to providing value to everyone who attends, whether it's their first or fifteenth Congress.

We invite you to take a few moments and review our website so you can learn more about our organization. Our website has been structured to focus on our annual conference. Within our site you'll find lots of great information about our upcoming conference, including courses, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and an online registration process. If you have any questions regarding our organization, our site or our conference, please feel free to contact us at contact@hoacls.org.

Each year the HOACLS presents awards for the OD of the Year and the Vision Service Award. Please click here to review the list of the previous award winners.