Building Eye Care Access Through Collaboration with Indigenous Communities

Learning from the 2025 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health Recipient

Focus on Eye Health Webinar Series

Join us for a webinar featuring the Dean McGee Eye Institute (DMEI), recipient of the 2025 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health. DMEI will share lessons from its work expanding access to eye care across all 77 Oklahoma counties, especially in rural and underserved communities as well as Indigenous populations, while also contributing to global vision research. The discussion will highlight how other institutions can adopt scalable models that serve both clinical and public health priorities in eye health. Dr. Judy Goforth Parker, Chickasaw Nation Commissioner of Health Policy, will offer insights on how the Chickasaw Nation has partnered with DMEI to develop strong partnerships between eye care providers and indigenous communities leading to improved vision health outcomes.

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This virtual event is supported by funding from:

Platinum: Alliance for Aging Research, PhRMA

Gold: Amgen, BIO, BrightFocus Foundation, Collaborative Community on Ophthalmic Innovation, Genentech

Moderators

Mitchell V. Brinks, MD, MPH
The Sterling H. and Anna Marie Tebbetts Professor of Global Ophthalmology
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine
Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Brinks was raised and educated in the Pacific Northwest. He focuses on bringing advanced technology and high-quality eye care to under-served rural communities throughout Oregon, Washington and Alaska. His international teaching and research endeavors have taken Dr. Brinks overseas to Cambodia, Bhutan, East Timor, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands and the Samoas. He completed a master’s degree at OSU in international health to support his work with the ministries of health overseas, furthering their vision for eye care in their countries. While not at work, Dr. Brinks enjoys native forest restoration, surfing, and archery. Dr. Brinks also serves on the Board of Directors for Prevent Blindness and Chair of its Public Health & Policy Committee.

Anna Marie Tebbetts
Professor of Global Ophthalmology
Oregon Health & Science University

Speakers

Judy Goforth Parker, PhD, APRN
Commissioner of Health Policy
Chickasaw Nation

Dr. Judy Goforth Parker has been an integral part of the Chickasaw Nation health system for decades and currently serves in the governor-appointed role of Commissioner of Health Policy. She completed master’s degrees in nursing and advanced practice nursing at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing and earned a PhD in nursing from Texas Woman’s University. Dr. Parker completed post-doctoral studies in the inaugural cohort of Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee post-doctoral degree program in health policy. Her focus included curriculum development in health policy for young Chickasaw scholars, development of health impact assessment and health impact checklist tools, development of a quarterly health policy newsletter and co-authoring a scholarly policy article over mortality in American Indian and Alaskan Native women. Dr. Parker served as an elected tribal legislator for five, three-year terms (1994-2009) and was a staunch supporter of health issues within the tribal legislative body. In 2014, she was named to Governor Bill Anoatubby’s Cabinet for the Chickasaw Nation, and she assumed the role of Secretary of the Chickasaw Nation Department of Health (CNDH), serving from 2009-2018. This long history of tribal service highlights Dr. Parker’s close relationship with the people of the Chickasaw Nation and First Americans as a whole. Certainly, she has been an integral part of the CNDH for many years.

Michael Siatkowski, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Dean McGee Eye Institute

Edward L. Gaylord Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine

Dr. R. Michael Siatkowski is the Chief Executive Officer of the Dean McGee Eye Institute and the Edward L. Gaylord Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Oklahoma. He is the only ophthalmologist in the history of the University of Oklahoma to hold a David Ross Boyd Professorship.

Dr. Siatkowski received his undergraduate degree from the Pennsylvania State University and graduated from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University with distinction and as a junior member of the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Medical Honor Society. He completed residency training at St. Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1991 and fellowship training at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute/University of Miami in 1993. He is fellowship trained in both neuro-ophthalmology and pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus. He served on the faculty of the University of Miami from 1993 to 1999, at which time he relocated to the Dean McGee Eye Institute.

Dr. Siatkowski is a former president of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), and the Program Directors Council of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO). He is an Emeritus Director of the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO), former president of the Christian Ophthalmology Society (COS), and past Vice Chair for the Ophthalmology Residency Review Committee (RRC) of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Dr. Siatkowski has also been inducted into the American Ophthalmological Society (AOS). He is the past Chair of the San Francisco Match Oversight Committee and serves on the Board of Trustees for the AUPO.  He recently completed his term as Associate Secretary for Subspecialty Day for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Siatkowski has received eight different teaching awards throughout his career. He has published over 185 peer-reviewed articles, has had over three dozen extramural speaking invitations, and was the recipient of a Presidential Professorship from the University of Oklahoma in 2008.

Dr. Siatkowski is married to Rhea L. Siatkowski, MD, a cornea and anterior segment surgeon. They have three grown children, Abigail, Elizabeth, and Joshua. He is also an experienced classical pianist and has performed in multiple venues for both artistic and charitable events.