The 2025 Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health Summit, Perspectives in Vision brought together professionals, policymakers, patient advocates, and innovators to exchange ideas, share experiences, and forge strategies to promote equitable access to vision care.
Eye care practitioners, public health officials, researchers, policymakers, non-profit leaders, patient advocates, and anyone passionate about vision health are welcome to join this free virtual event.
The 2025 Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health Summit: Perspectives in Vision
SESSION 1: Opening Remarks, Keynote Discussion – Leading the Way: National Lessons in Eye Health Advocacy and Collaboration & Reaction Panel
How the U.S. can take lessons learned from the recent passing of the Canadian National Strategy for Eye Care Act.
- Opening remarks and moderator: Jeff Todd, President & CEO, Prevent Blindness
Elisabeth Fowler, CEO, Canadian Ophthalmological Society
Jennifer Jones, President & CEO, Fighting Blindness Canada
Reaction panel: What can we in the US, along with other countries around the world learn from Canada’s efforts as we look to make vision a national governmental priority?
- Philip Goglas II, Managing Partner, Health and Medicine Counsel
Dan Ignaszewski, Executive Director, Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) & National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)
SESSION 2: Fireside Chat: Factors that Matter in Vision Research
An exploration of key factors that impact eye health and vision research, including race, ethnicity, gender, and social determinants of health.
- Moderator: Ruth Y. Shoge, OD, MPH, FAAO, Associate Clinical Professor and Chief Diversity Officer, University of California Berkeley School of Optometry & Vision Science
- M. Roy Wilson, MD, MS; President Emeritus, Wayne State University; Distinguished Professor, Wayne State University School of Medicine
SESSION 3: Putting Advocacy into Action
How patients can drive advocacy efforts at the government, corporate, and community levels to create meaningful change in eye health and vision care.
- Moderator: Heather Shirk Patrick, President & CEO, Prevent Blindness Texas
- Linda MacLeod, Retired Attorney, Prevent Blindness ASPECT Patient Engagement Program Graduate
- Abubakar Sadik Mohammed, OD, Vision Science Graduate Trainee, School of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Prevent Blindness ASPECT Patient Engagement Program Graduate
- Leslie Nwankwo, DNP, RN, Director of Education Services, CareBasics LLC, Prevent Blindness ASPECT Patient Engagement Program Graduate
SESSION 4: The Future of Diagnosis and Treatment in Eye Care & Closing Remarks
An exploration, through a roundtable discussion, of the connection between eye health and overall well-being (oculomics), of key considerations for genomic research in rare diseases, and innovative device technologies that are transforming the lives of individuals who are blind.
- Moderator: Yvonne Ou, MD, Dr. and Mrs. Stacy J. Mettier Professor of Ophthalmology, Vice Chair of Postgraduate Education, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Francisco
- Matthew D. Benson, MD, MSc, FRCSC, Assistant Professor and Clinician-Scientist, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
- Yun Liu, PhD, Senior Staff Research Scientist, Google Research
- Philip R. Troyk, Executive Director, Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Robert A. Pritzker Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Armour College of Engineering, Affiliate Professor, Stuart School of Business, Director, Laboratory of Neural Prosthetic Research, Illinois Institute of Technology, CEO, Sigenics, Inc.
- Closing Remarks: Jeff Todd, President & CEO, Prevent Blindness
