Michael D. Abramoff, MD, PhD
Founder and Executive Chairman, Digital Diagnostics

Michael D. Abramoff, MD, PhD, is a fellowship-trained retina specialist, computer scientist and entrepreneur. Dr. Michael Abramoff, MD, PhD, (Gold Fellow ARVO and Fellow IEEE) is the Robert C. Watzke, MD Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa, with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering. Dr. Abramoff is also Founder and Executive Chairman of Digital Diagnostics, the Autonomous AI diagnostics company that was the first in any field of medicine to get FDA clearance for an autonomous AI. Dr. Abramoff developed an ethical foundation for autonomous AI that was used during the design, validation, of AI and regulatory and payment pathways for autonomous AI. Finally, he is founder of the Healthcare AI coalition, representing many healthcare AI companies, and a founding member of FDA’s Collaborative Community on Ophthalmic Imaging. As the author of over 400 peer-reviewed publications in this field, he has been cited over 47,000 times (h-index 80), and is the inventor on 20 issued patents and many patent applications. His passion is to use AI to improve the productivity and accessibility of healthcare.

Brian Anderson, MD
Chief Executive Officer, Coalition for Health AI (CHAI)

Dr. Brian Anderson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for HealthAI (CHAI), a non-profit coalition he co-founded in 2021. CHAI is focused on developing a set of consensus-driven guidelines and best practices for Responsible AI in Health, as well as supporting the ability to independently test and validate AI for safety and effectiveness. Prior to leading CHAI, Dr. Anderson was the Chief Digital Health Physician at MITRE, where he led research and development efforts across major strategic initiatives in digital health alongside industry partners and the U. S. Government. He was responsible for leading much of MITRE’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic, working closely with the White House COVID Task Force, as well as Operation Warp Speed. He also led MITRE’s largest R&D effort in Oncology, focusing on the initial development of mCODE and the use of AI in more efficient and inclusive clinical trial design. Dr. Anderson is an internationally recognized author and expert in digital health, and is regularly engaged as a speaker on digital health innovation, health standards development, clinical decision support systems, and interoperability. Prior to MITRE, Anderson led the Informatics and Network Medicine Division at athenahealth. He has also served on several national, and international, health information technology committees in partnership with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Sally L. Baxter, MD, MSc
Chief of Ophthalmology Informatics and Data Science, University of California San Diego

Sally L. Baxter, MD, MSc is a clinician-scientist working at the intersection of ophthalmology and biomedical informatics. She has expertise in artificial intelligence, biomedical and clinical informatics, big-data analytics, and data standards, with a particular interest in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in clinical practice, research, and training. She is the first ophthalmologist to receive the NIH Office of the Director’s Early Independence Award and has been recognized in Ophthalmology Management’s “40 Under 40” list, The Ophthalmologist Power List of “Rising Stars,” and the 2024 ARVO Ludwig von Sallmann Clinician-Scientist Award. Dr. Baxter is the Chief of Ophthalmology Informatics and Data Science at the University of California San Diego, chair of a data standards workgroup at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), member of the AAO Committee on Artificial Intelligence, and co-lead of the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics Workgroup in Eye Care and Vision Research. She is the PI of multiple grant-funded research studies and training programs and has over 100 scientific publications.

Sandra S. Block, OD, MEd, MPH
President, World Council of Optometry
Professor Emeritus, Illinois College of Optometry

Dr. Sandra S. Block is a Professor Emeritus at Illinois College of Optometry. She received her O.D. degree (1981) followed by a Pediatric Residency (1982) at the Illinois College of Optometry, where she was a faculty member until her retirement in 2020. She completed her Master of Education at National Louis University and her Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois, School of Public Health. She is a Diplomate in Public Health and Environmental Vision at the American Academy of Optometry, a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Practice and a Fellow of ARVO. She is an Emeritus Board member for Prevent Blindness, was co-chair of the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health and currently is the treasurer of VISION 2020 USA Board of Directors.

She served as a consultant to the Special Olympics Lions Clubs International Opening Eyes program from 1995-2022 and was instrumental in developing the vision program used globally.  Her interests lie in primary care for children and persons with disabilities, as well as diagnosis and treatment of visually related learning problems as well as public health issues facing the equity and quality of eye care delivery.

Dr. Block has authored numerous publications and conducted presentations worldwide. In September 2023, she was installed as WCO President for the 2023-2025 term, having previously been elected as the WCO President-Elect in November 2021 and serving in this role for just under two years. Prior to this, Dr. Block served on WCO’s Board of Directors as the Public Health Committee Chair.

Sara D. Brown, MPA
Director of Government Affairs, Prevent Blindness

Sara D. Brown has served as the Director of Government Affairs for Prevent Blindness since April 2017. Prior to her current role, Ms. Brown managed communications projects at a public affairs firm for the Defense Health Agency to promote their work on combat-related psychological health and traumatic brain injury.  She has also represented the legislative and regulatory interests of medical group practice managers to Congress and the Administration as an Associate Director, Government Affairs with the Medical Group Management Association and, working with NRC Health, advised hospital executives on best practices to improve patient experience. She began her career in government and public policy working with two Members of the U.S. Senate for six years in both their state and Washington, DC offices. A Nebraska native, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Kearney and a master’s degree in public administration, focusing on the role of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector in defense and foreign aid policy, from Walden University. In her spare time, Ms. Brown is an avid paddleboarder and a self-trained distance runner, having completed over 15 marathons.

Mabel Crescioni, DrPH, JD
Senior Engagement Officer, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Mabel Crescioni is a Senior Engagement Officer at the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) where she provides technical assistance on engagement to PCORI funded study teams and leads the translation of engagement knowledge practices into tools and resources to facilitate engagement. Prior to joining PCORI, Mabel had roles at Hemophilia Federation of America, Critical Path Institute (C-Path) and the University of Arizona College of Medicine all focused on patient engagement and capacity building for engagement of individuals and organizations. She also holds appointments as a Professor Practice at the Colleges of Law and Public Health at the University of Arizona.

Philip Goglas II, MPAP
Managing Partner, Health and Medicine Council LLC

Philip Goglas II has worked with patient organizations, professional societies as well as the historically black medical, dental, pharmacy, and veterinary schools for close to a decade. Phil focuses on expanding research and educating policymakers on the challenges of the patient community. He has extensive expertise in the appropriations process and advancing critical legislative priorities through Congress. Phil previously worked for two New York House of Representatives members giving him direct exposure to the legislative process. Philip graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.A. in Government and Politics and from American University with a Master of Public Administration and Policy.

Julie Grutzmacher, MSW, MPH
Director of Patient Advocacy & Population Health Initiatives, Prevent Blindness

Julie Grutzmacher, MSW, MPH grew up in Wisconsin and completed her undergraduate degree in Social Work in Minnesota. After college she joined the Peace Corps. Julie spent two years in Swaziland, Africa, where she lived and worked in a rural village providing HIV/AIDS education, mitigation, and community development services. It was during that experience that her interest in public health and health disparities was forged. After returning to the U.S., Julie completed her Masters in Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and later was employed as a social worker in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Rush Hospital. This experience cemented professional goals relating to the elimination of health disparities and improvement of outcomes for marginalized populations.

After the NICU, Julie pursued a second Masters Degree, this time in Public Health, while simultaneously working in population health management, providing care coordination and health education for high risk pregnant women in Chicago’s South Side. It was in this role that her passion for accessible and quality primary care was elucidated. She went on to co-create and manage a primary care leadership training program for multidisciplinary medical residents at the University of Chicago. Julie joined the Prevent Blindness team in May of 2020 as the Director of Patient Advocacy and Population Health Initiatives where she oversees the Center for Vision and Population Health (CVPH) and the ASPECT patient-engagement program. She is passionate about reducing all barriers to eye care.

Larry Johnson
Prevent Blindness ASPECT Patient Engagement Program Graduate

Larry Johnson is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Speech, in Evanston, Illinois, and has a Master’s Degree in Economics & Latin American Studies from La Universidad de las Americas in Mexico City. His professional background includes:

• 21 years as Human Resources manager with AT&T/Southwestern Bell Telephone.
• 23 years as a radio and television broadcaster in the U.S. and Mexico.
• 42 years as an international motivational speaker, trainer and workshop presenter, having presented to a wide range of audiences in Mexico, Japan and the U.S.

He is the author of seven books. Larry has been an advocate and champion for persons with disabilities all of his life, serving in leadership roles with countless organizations and committees at the local, state and national level. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss, a national affiliate of the American Council of the Blind and a member of Bexar County’s Area Agency on Aging Senior Advisory Committee.

Elizabeth Kurian
Chief Executive Officer, Mission for Vision (MFV)

Elizabeth has 29+ years of illustrious leadership experience in the corporate and development sectors, primarily in the eye health and disability rights domain. Leading highly skilled multi-function teams in Asia and Africa, she has pioneered and fostered significant growth and transformation through social policy change and innovations. Prior to MFV, Elizabeth worked at MS University of Baroda, Nielsen India and Sightsavers. Elizabeth is a recipient of several awards, has written for several publications and holds various board and advisory roles.

Cecilia S. Lee, MD, MS,
Professor of Ophthalmology and the Klorfine Family Endowed Chair
Department of Ophthalmology
University of Washington

Dr. Lee is a Professor of Ophthalmology and the Klorfine Family Endowed Chair in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington. She is a clinical epidemiologist and medical retina/uveitis specialist and serves as the Director of Clinical Research in the Department of Ophthalmology. Her research interests include “Big Data” research involving electronic medical records and non-invasive imaging datasets in retina.  She co-leads Computational Ophthalmology lab at the University of Washington which focuses on state-of-the art machine learning and data science methods in healthcare research. She is passionate about investigating the relationship between the aging eyes and the aging brains to better understand the neurodegenerative pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Alzheimer’s disease.

Stacey B. Lee, JD
Professor of Law and Ethics at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School (with a joint appointment at the Bloomberg School of Public Health)

Stacey Lee is a Professor of Law and Ethics at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School (with a joint appointment at the Bloomberg School of Public Health). She teaches courses in business law, health law, and negotiations. Her research and writing focus on pharmaceutical manufacturers’ international and domestic influence on access to medicines, transformative healthcare negotiations, and the impact of COVID-19 on the employer-employee relationship.

Stacey is the Academic Program Director for Carey Business School’s flagship full-time MBA program. In 2019, she founded the Teaching Excellence Initiative to coach faculty and enhance the pedagogy provided to students. She is also an Executive Education faculty member at the Academy for Women and Leadership at Carey Business School.

Stacey is a Fulbright Specialist for her expertise in negotiations and healthcare law. She has received numerous research grants and fellowships for her teaching innovations. Her most recent research focuses on how the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying laws and policies have affected the employer-employee relationship. Stacey has received several awards for Faculty Excellence, including the Excellence in Teaching Award, year after year, at both Bloomberg School of Public Health and Carey Business School.

Stacey was a featured TEDx speaker on “Patient Voices.” Her work has also been featured in several prominent law reviews and peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics, Yale Journal of Health Policy and Ethics, Annals of Health Law, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Journal of Legal Medicine, and Health and Human Rights International Journal. Stacey routinely provides legal analyses to news outlets regarding the Supreme Court, Congress, and current events of national importance. Her interviews, quotes, and writings have appeared in the Washington Post, CBS, CNN, CBC, Bloomberg Radio, USA Today, NPR, TODAY.com, and Voice of America, among other media outlets.

Stacey is currently a Maryland court-appointed Transformative Mediator. Before entering academia, Stacey practiced law for over ten years. She began as a securities litigator and later became in-house counsel for two of the country’s largest healthcare corporations. Stacey also served as the senior regulatory specialist for the United States’ largest national healthcare trade association. Stacey is a much sought-after keynote speaker and negotiations guru. She regularly delivers experiential workshops to diverse audiences, including hospitals, academic medical centers, and business corporations, to equip them with actionable negotiation strategies.

Stacey is the founder and chief executive officer of Praxis Pacisci, a negotiations training institute. She is also the author of “Negotiation Matters,” a monthly LinkedIn Newsletter that serves as her vehicle to share actionable negotiation tips with her audience. Stacey is currently authoring a book on healthcare negotiations, which provides a negotiation framework designed specifically for the healthcare landscape.

Priscah Mujuru, DrPH, MPH, RN
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Dr. Priscah Mujuru is a Health Scientist Administrator at NIMHD, where she manages a diverse portfolio that includes community and clinical research involving populations across the lifespan. Her interests include health disparities in women and child health; cognitive function; adherence to treatments; environmental exposures; and rural health. Prior to joining the NIMHD, Dr. Mujuru was a Scientific Review Officer-SRO at the NIH Centre for Scientific Review- CSR and subsequently at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Before joining the NIH, Dr. Mujuru spent several years (1993-2010) at West Virginia University where she conducted clinical and community-based research addressing health disparities in asthma, obesity, and occupational and environmental exposures in rural populations. Dr. Mujuru’s clinical practice was in the Occupational Health Clinic that included hearing testing, vision screenings, pulmonary function testing and training, and other occupational exposure monitoring and evaluations. She also led projects in a biomedical pipeline program that introduced high school students from underserved and disadvantaged communities to health sciences careers. Additionally, Dr. Mujuru has guided projects that evaluated public health programs for health professionals and medical students in Africa and advocated for literacy and collected “Books for Africa,” a passion she continues to support. Dr. Mujuru received a DrPH in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh; MPH in Environmental Health from Boston University; a BSc in Occupational/Industrial Hygiene from South Bank University, England; RN from Amersham and Wycombe, and Midwifery from Margate and Canterbury Hospitals, England; and a BSN from West Virginia University. Dr. Mujuru has published several scientific papers in her areas of interest.

Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO
Site Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Mount Sinai Hospital
Shelley and Steven Einhorn Professor of Ophthalmology
Director, Eye and Vision Research Institute of New York Eye & Ear at Mount Sinai

Dr. Louis Pasquale is a physician-scientist who dedicates his career to advancing medical research, particularly in glaucoma, and to the mentorship of the next generation of healthcare professionals. He is the Shelley and Steven Einhorn Professor of Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of The Eye and Vision Research Institute of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai. His scholarly contributions rank him among the top 5 open-angle glaucoma researchers in the world.

With continuous support from the National Institutes of Health since 2006, Dr. Pasquale’s research focuses on the discovery of primary prevention strategies in open-angle glaucoma.  He is currently using Artificial Intelligence to help disentangle the pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma and to demonstrate that autonomous methods could supplant costly formal reading centers to evaluate ophthalmic disease endpoints in randomized trials.  Most recently his work on Large Language Models and their utility in guiding the assimilation of textual ophthalmic data into feasible management strategies has garnered considerable media attention.  His work is now focused on developing a multiomic framework for open-angle glaucoma. This multiomic construct will inform disease pathophysiology, early glaucoma detection strategies, and cost-effective precision medicine solutions to prevent blindness.

Randall L. Rutta
Chief Executive Officer, National Health Council

Randall “Randy” Rutta is a seasoned health care executive with a passion for bridging policy and practice to enhance health care outcomes. As CEO of the National Health Council (NHC), he leads efforts to drive patient-centered health policy, fostering collaboration across diverse organizations to improve access and affordability. With over three decades of experience, Randy has held leadership roles in notable organizations such as the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association (AARDA) and Easterseals. He also serves on the boards of Patient Focused Medicines Development (PFMD) and the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC). Randy holds a Master of Arts in Politics and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, both informing his dedication to shaping impactful health care solutions.

Erica Shelton, OD, MS
PhD Candidate, The Ohio State University College of Optometry

Dr. Shelton is an optometrist and PhD candidate at The Ohio State University College of Optometry. Dr. Shelton graduated from The Ohio State University College of Optometry in 2018 with her OD and MS in Vision Science. She then completed a residency in Pediatric Optometry, Vision Therapy, and Rehabilitation at Ohio State in 2019. That fall she began her PhD in vision science under Dean VanNasdale, OD, PhD, FAAO. Since then, she has been working interpreting large data sets to better inform our understanding of vision care and vision impairment and working with state and regional pediatric vision care programs to better understand how they intersect with vision-related quality of life. She was awarded the AAOF Michael G Harris Ezell Fellowship in 2021, the John N. Schoen Fellowship in 2022, the APHA Vision Care Section Distinguished Student Award in 2021, the Ohio Lions Eye Research Foundation Fellowship in 2022, the Prevent Blindness Ohio Young Investigator Student Fellowship Award for Female Scholarship in Vision Research in 2022, the Arene T. Wray Fellowship in 2023, the 2023 Ohio Optometric Foundation Archer Award for Humanitarian Service, and has been a NIH Loan Repayment Program Recipient since 2020. When Dr. Shelton isn’t working she enjoys spending time outdoors with her dogs, Karla and Olive.

Joy Thomas
DoubleVision Blog, Prevent Blindness ASPECT Patient Engagement Program Graduate

Joy Thomas is a credentialed, masters-level teacher and has worked in the field of education for over 20 years. She has specialized training in the areas of academic and mental health interventions, 504 accommodations, and advocacy. A writer at heart, Joy uses her passion for words to help students reframe their life narratives in order to find their voice and advocate for their needs.

Joy currently works at a K-12 charter school leading Student Support Team meetings, parent workshops and teacher trainings. Certified as a yoga instructor and social/emotional facilitator, Joy brings aspects of mindfulness, breath work and integrated somatic approaches to her presentations and work with families.

An experienced group facilitator, Joy’s insights emerge from the dual lens of both an educator supporting students who are struggling and a person who faces disability-related challenges daily. Growing up legally blind, Joy has first-hand experience navigating life with vision loss and is deeply committed to empowering people with disabilities to lead full, meaningful lives.

Jeff Todd
President & CEO, Prevent Blindness

Jeff Todd is President and Chief Executive Officer of Prevent Blindness, the leading eye health and safety patient advocacy organization in the United States dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight across all ages and eye conditions.

In addition to his work at Prevent Blindness, Mr. Todd is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Health Council. He also serves on the Advisory Committee to the Prevent Child Injury coalition; the Executive Committee of Vision 2020 USA, for which he formerly served as Chair; and the Advisory Board to Jonas Children’s Vision Care at Columbia University Medical Center.  He is a past chair of the Vision Care Section of the American Public Health Association, has served on the Board of Directors of Chicago-based Howard Brown Health Center, and is a member of the District of Columbia (D.C) Bar Association.

Mr. Todd’s past experiences have crossed over government, non-profit, and for-profit sectors.  Beginning his career in the Governor’s Office of the State of Indiana, he coordinated a statewide community development initiative supporting county-level health and safety interventions.  He then moved to an executive position with the Center for Youth as Resources, overseeing field operations for this national organization focused on positive youth development.  Prior to Prevent Blindness, Mr. Todd directed the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, a comprehensive repository of federal resources aimed at curbing violence toward and among the nation’s young people.

Originally from Indiana, Mr. Todd currently resides in Chicago.  He holds a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law–Indianapolis, a Master’s Degree in communications from Butler University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University–Bloomington.

Karen Woodhouse
Director, Eyes on Learning

Karen Woodhouse is the Director of Eyes on Learning, a statewide Arizona initiative and coalition of partners and organizations committed to improving children’s vision through vision screening, eye exams and follow-up care when needed. She believes that every child should experience their best vision health and learning success. Using collaborative partnerships to develop policy and programs, she is experienced in building statewide system initiatives from the ground up, as well as improving strategic policies and increasing funding to support unique approaches to allow more children to achieve their best vision health. Her prior roles include Chief Program Officer at First Things First, where she strived for continuous improvement of early childhood systems, including preventative screening for developmental delays and hearing and vision concerns. As Deputy Associate Superintendent at the Arizona Department of Education, she established the department’s Early Childhood Education Division. Karen completed a Master’s of Science degree from the University of Arizona, and throughout her career has focused her passion for young children on increasing equitable opportunities for rich early childhood experiences, healthy development and learning success. More at eyesonlearning.org.

Benjamin Xu, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology
Chief of the Glaucoma Service
Director of the Data Science and AI Core
USC Roski Eye Institute

Dr. Benjamin Xu, MD, PhD received his BS from Yale University and MD and PhD in neuroscience from Columbia University. He then completed his ophthalmology residency at the USC Roski Eye Institute and glaucoma fellowship at the UCSD Shiley Eye Institute.

Dr. Xu is now Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology, Chief of the Glaucoma Service, and Director of the Data Science and AI Core at the USC Roski Eye Institute. His NIH-funded research focuses on developing novel diagnostic tools to care for patients with glaucoma using OCT imaging and artificial intelligence (AI). He also uses epidemiological and electronic healthcare data to study the impact of glaucoma on diverse populations and devise strategies to deliver more effective glaucoma care worldwide.