Prevent Blindness held the 11th annual Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health National Summit as a virtual event on July 13 and 14, 2022
This year’s Summit engaged more than 840 registered attendees, and included a variety of presentations related to the theme “Eye-conic Approaches to Eye Health.”
Keynote presenters included:
- Frank Bruni; Author of New York Times bestseller The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found, The New York Times, Duke University
- Anjali J. Forber-Pratt, PhD; Director, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research
- Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH; Director, Salud America! National Program, UT Health San Antonio; Director, Institute for Health Promotion Research, UT Health San Antonio; Chair, Department of Population Health Sciences, UT Health San Antonio
Additional sessions included “The Global Impact of Eye Health,” “Engaging Technology to Support Vision Health and Quality of Life” and “The Forum on Children’s Vison.” Participants of the Summit were able to engage in a variety of ways such as through access to expert presentations; a dedicated exhibitor hall with live chat capabilities; on-demand educational content; and in-platform opportunities for networking. Participants were also invited to post throughout the Summit using #eyesummit.
During the first day of the Summit, the 2022 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health was presented to VOSH/International. The third annual Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award was presented to co-recipients Marissa K. Shoji, MD, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and Hursuong Vongsachang, MD, MPH, Massachusetts Eye and Ear.
Platinum Sponsors of the 2022 Focus on Eye Health National Summit included the Alliance for Aging Research, Genentech, Horizon Therapeutics and PhRMA. Gold sponsors were Alcon, the American Glaucoma Society Foundation, Apellis, Biogen, the Center for Vision and Population Health at Prevent Blindness, The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness, Regeneron and Seva Foundation.
Silver sponsors included the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR), the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Optometric Association, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), BrightFocus Foundation, CooperVision, Foundation Fighting Blindness, Lions Clubs International Foundation, Mallinckrodt, the National Keratoconus Foundation, NSITE (part of National Industries for the Blind), the Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation, REGENXBIO, Research to Prevent Blindness, Santen, Spark Therapeutics, Vision 2020 USA and VisionServe Alliance.
“The Focus on Eye Health National Summit provides us with the opportunity to bring together leaders and key stakeholders in vision and public health to learn, collaborate and develop new strategies to address a variety of vision health issues,” said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “We’d like to thank all of our presenters, attendees and sponsors for their participation and support this year to make our 11th Annual Summit another great success!”
