The Focus on Eye Health National Summit is a key venue to elevate the national dialogue among diverse stakeholder groups around vision and significant population health issues such as surveillance, equity, prevention messaging, service integration, program development, and dissemination of best practices. The Summit allows participants to develop new collaborations, integrate new vision health messages and procedures into their outreach, and improve lines of communication with internal and external partners.
Speaker and Moderator Biographies
Learn more about past Summits and presentations
Note: pdf presentation decks will be added to this page the day of the presentation. Presentation videos will be added later.
July 14 Sessions
Session 1: Keynote Presentation:
Michael F. Chiang, MD
Director, National Eye Institute
Session 2: Oculomics: Ocular Biomarkers of Disease
Siegfried Karl Wagner, MD, FRCOphth
University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital
Steven M. Silverstein, PhD
University of Rochester Medical Center
Session 3: 2021 Rising Visionary Awardee – Achieving Equity in Eye Health in a Diverse Population with Evolving Health Needs
Shervonne Poleon
University of Alabama at Birmingham Vision Science Graduate Program Student
Session 4: Vision Impairment and Blindness in the U.S.: New National, State, and County-level Prevalence Data
Elizabeth Lundeen, PhD, MPH
Vision Health Initiative, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
David B. Rein, PhD, MPA
NORC at the University of Chicago
Session 5: The Intersection of Vision Impairment and Mental Health
Robin Casten, PhD
Thomas Jefferson University
Sesssion 6: 2021 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health – Global Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) Program Development: Opportunities for Innovation, Education, Advocacy, and Collaboration
R.V. Paul Chan, MD, MSc, MBA
The Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, University of Illinois at Chicago
July 15 Sessions
Pre-Event: The Ohio Aging Eye Summit
Vision and Eye Health Outlook from Ohio’s Aging Eye Public Private Partnership: Ohio Aging Eye Research
Session Moderator: Andrew Hartwick, OD, PhD
Sayoko E. Moroi, MD, PhD
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Jeffrey Walline, OD, PhD
The Ohio State University College of Optometry.
Robert Sisk, MD
University of Cincinnati Department of Ophthalmology
Jonathan Lass, MD
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
Statewide Aging Eye Partnership – A Template
Marcus J. Molea, AICP
Ohio Department of Aging (Retired), Co-Chair Ohio’s Aging Eye Public Private Partnership, Advocacy and Awareness Sub-Committee
Session 1: Keynote Presentation: Adversity is My Superpower
Amy Dixon
Paralympic Athlete & President, Glaucoma Eyes International
Session 2: Moderated Discussions
2A – Myopia: A Global Health Challenge
Session Moderator: Sandra S. Block, OD, MEd, MPH
Professor Emeritus, Prevent Blindness Board Member, National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness Advisory Committee Co-Chair
Bobeck S. Modjtahedi, MD
Southern California Permanente Medical Group
Fuensanta A. Vera-Diaz, OD, PhD, FAAO
New England College of Optometry
2B – Inequities in Vision Population Health Research
Session Moderator: Mitchell V. Brinks, MD, MPH
Chair, Prevent Blindness Public Health and Policy Committee, Chair, Vision 2020 USA, Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University
Leon W. Herndon Jr., MD
Duke Eye Center
David Friedman, MD, PhD
Massachusetts Eye and Ear
2C – Barriers to Care in the Covid-era
Session Moderator: L. Penny Rosenblum, PhD
American Foundation for the Blind
Angela Elam, MD
University of Michigan
Nancy D. Miller, LMSW
VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
2D – Social Determinants of Vision and Health as it Relates to Learning
Session Moderator: Alejandra de Alba Campomanes, MD, MPH
University of California, San Francisco
Iheoma U. Iruka, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Donna Mazcyk, MS, RN, NCSN, CAE, FNASN
National Association of School Nurses
Megan E. Collins, MD, MPH
Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2E – Emerging Telehealth and Artificial Intelligence Policy
Session Moderator: Rajeev S. Ramchandran, MD, MBA
Chair, Prevent Blindness Scientific Committee, Flaum Eye Institute, University of Rochester
Sally L. Baxter, MD, MSc
University of California, San Diego
Michael Abramoff, MD, PhD
Digital Diagnostics and University of Iowa
Session 3: Moderated Discussions
3A – Improving Vision Health Equity through Workforce Diversity
Session Moderator: Stephanie J. Marioneaux, MD, PC
Prevent Blindness Board Member
M. Roy Wilson, MD, MS
Wayne State University
Ruth Shoge, OD, MPH
University of California Berkeley School of Optometry
3B – Aging Eye and Vision
Session Moderator: Yvonne Ou, MD
University of California, San Francisco
Bruce R. Ksander, PhD
Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School
Anand Swaroop, PhD
National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
3C – Innovations in Vision and Eye Health: Highlights from State-level Practices, Systems, and Policies
Session Moderator: Martha Dewey Bergren, DNS, RN, NCSN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, FASHA, FAAN
University of Illinois Chicago, Executive Editor, Journal of School Nursing
Cynthia Hillyer, MPA
Minneapolis Public Schools
Karen Woodhouse, MS
Eyes on Learning
Jacquelyn O’Banion, MD, MSc
Emory University
3D – The Importance of the Patient Advocate in Vision Health
Session Moderator: John E. Crews, DPA
Retired from Vision Health Initiative, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Laura Dreer, PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Mandie Cody Schadwinkel
Prevent Blindness A.S.P.E.C.T. Graduate
3E – Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System: Using National, State, and County-level Prevalence Data
Session Moderator: Elizabeth Lundeen, PhD, MPH
Vision Health Initiative, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
John Wittenborn
NORC at the University of Chicago
Dean VanNasdale, OD, PhD, FAAO
The Ohio State University College of Optometry
Session 4: Keynote Presentation: The Role of Public Health in Advancing Eye Health
Ross C. Brownson, PhD
Lipstein Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis
