Dr. Derek Melton is a 1998 graduate of the Southern College of Optometry. He received his Bachelors in Biology with a concentration in Molecular Biology from East Carolina University where he also completed graduate work in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health, from 1992-1993. He achieved Fellowship in the American Academy of Optometry in 2003.
As an active member of both the Armed Forces Optometric Society and the American Optometric Association, Dr. Melton has worked intensively with federal and tribal clinics through community, military and federal outreach programs, with the goal of incorporating field fundus imaging into disaster response training, as a way to raise retina screening for systemic pathology detection to a greater level.
He is also co-owner of a small ‘no-cost’ practice on the Missouri Delta that serves underserved rural Missourians living along the Mississippi River several days a month. Dr. Melton enjoys the humanitarian service aspect of his national guard service which has seen him active in several regional service and domestic disaster training projects including multi-state regional disaster recovery planning and the initial COVID 19 immunization program in Indiana’s Covid Response Plan in 2020 to 2021. His main focus, in keeping with the National Guards driving purpose, is to help protect the domestic population and aid the recovery of communities after domestic disasters.
Dr. Melton enjoys outdoor hobbies and spending time with his wife and two beautiful girls.
