Anjali J. Forber-Pratt, PhD is a disability activist, a two-time Paralympian and the Director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) in the Administration for Community Living. As a researcher, her primary area of work relates to disability identity development. As a wheelchair-user for over 35 years, Dr. Forber-Pratt is nationally and internationally recognized as a disability leader and mentor. As a Paralympic medalist in the sport of wheelchair racing, she has dedicated her life to helping others recognize their potential. Globally, she is involved with disability advocacy efforts related to access to employment, education and sport through public speaking and media appearances. She was a White House Champion of Change in 2013 and the American Psychological Association awarded her the 2020 Citizen Psychologist Award for Advancing Disability as a Human Rights and Social Justice Issue Award.

Dr. Siegfried Wagner qualified in Medicine from the University of Oxford in 2012 having graduated in neurosciences in 2009. He moved to London to commence ophthalmology specialty training thereafter and, in 2016, became an academic clinical fellow funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) exploring machine learning for retinal image analysis.

Dr. Wagner’s PhD focuses on improving the understanding of how the eye changes in systemic diseases, such as dementia and cardiovascular disease. Using retinal imaging with both traditional statistics and modern artificial intelligence techniques, he evaluates the potential of leveraging retinal structure as a proxy for general physiology. He is funded as a clinical research training fellow by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Dr. Kyle Keane is a Lecturer and Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He teaches the interdisciplinary applied engineering course called Principles and Practices of Assistive Technology (ppat.mit.edu) and his lab supports a number of research projects dedicated toward integrating technology where it is helpful in globally diverse support systems for Persons with Disabilities.

Frank Bruni has been a prominent journalist for more than three decades, including more than twenty-five years at The New York Times, the last ten of them as a nationally renowned op-ed columnist who appeared frequently as a television commentator. He was also a White House correspondent for the Times, its Rome bureau chief, and, for five years, its chief restaurant critic. He is the author of three New York Times bestsellers. In July 2021, he became a full professor at Duke University, teaching media-oriented classes in the school of public policy. He continues to write his popular weekly newsletter for the Times and to produce occasional essays as one of the newspaper’s official Contributing Opinion Writers.

Shervonne Poleon is a PhD student in the Vision Science Graduate Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She originally hails from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and completed her undergraduate training at Grambling State University. Due to an early experience with blindness of a loved one, Shervonne has a keen interest in health psychology, and her research focuses on addressing sociobehavioral barriers to optimal medication adherence in glaucoma. In her spare time, Ms. Poleon enjoys English literature and learning to play bass guitar.

Dr. Elizabeth Lundeen is a Senior Scientist in the Vision Health Initiative at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She manages the development of CDC’s Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System and leads epidemiological and health services research on vision health and eye diseases. The Vision Health Initiative is located within CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, and Dr. Lundeen’s research has focused on diabetic retinopathy. Her interests also include the social determinants of health, health disparities, machine learning, and the use of electronic health record data to conduct population health research. She came to CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in 2015 and completed her fellowship in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. She began her public health career by spending five years working for the Swiss Red Cross in Kyrgyzstan working with village health committees and implementing a home fortification program to address childhood anemia. Dr. Lundeen received her MPH in health policy from Yale School of Public Health and PhD in nutritional epidemiology from Emory University.

David Rein is the Director of NORC’s Public Health Analytics Program and the Principal Investigator for CDC’s Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS). Dr. Rein is a health services researcher with a specialization in public health policy. He has worked on projects studying the epidemiology and economics of vision-threatening conditions since 2003.

Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, of UT Health San Antonio, is a health equity pioneer who has achieved local, state, national, presidential, and international recognition for her successes in reducing Latino cancer health disparities and championing system and policy changes that promote health equity for Latinos. As Chair and Full Professor of the Department of Population Health Sciences at UT Health San Antonio, a Hispanic-Serving Institute, Ramirez leads a multidisciplinary team of public health researchers, data scientists, and communication specialists in addressing the cancer experience of Latinos. As leader of community outreach at the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, Dr. Ramirez has implemented system changes that have enhanced surveillance of the South Texas cancer burden, improved equity and diversity in cancer clinical trial recruitment, and engaged the community in clinical research and preventive cancer care. Dr. Ramirez also leads the Salud America! communication program (www.salud-america.org; @SaludAmerica). Salud America! is a national network of over 500,000 community, school, and healthcare leaders who are fueled with content and tools to advocate for equitable changes in policies and systems related to healthcare access, housing, transportation, and social cohesion in Latino communities. Salud America!’s core members led 275 health policy changes in a year, according to a recent evaluation. Dr. Ramirez has been recognized by the Society of Behavioral Medicine, the Obama White House, the National Academy of Medicine, and more. Dr. Ramirez is a native of Laredo, Texas.

Michael Steinert has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, and has practiced as a Licensed Professional Counselor since 1999.

Mr. Steinert’s background is in the behavioral health and education profession, across a variety of settings, for the past 30 years. His experience includes providing clinical mental health care in inpatient, outpatient, acute care hospital, community-based, and school settings. His primary focus has been developing and coordinating supportive services for at-risk populations.

As the Assistant Superintendent of Student Support Services for Fort Worth Independent School District for the past 21 years, he has had the opportunity to develop systems of care for a large urban district serving over 73,000 students in the Tarrant County area. His purview includes Health Services, Family and Community Resources, Prevention and Intervention Programming, Adolescent Pregnancy Support, After School Programming, Counseling Services, Student Discipline and Alternative Education.

Frank Bruni has been a prominent journalist for more than three decades, including more than twenty-five years at The New York Times, the last ten of them as a nationally renowned op-ed columnist who appeared frequently as a television commentator. He was also a White House correspondent for the Times, its Rome bureau chief, and, for five years, its chief restaurant critic. He is the author of three New York Times bestsellers. In July 2021, he became a full professor at Duke University, teaching media-oriented classes in the school of public policy. He continues to write his popular weekly newsletter for the Times and to produce occasional essays as one of the newspaper’s official Contributing Opinion Writers.

Dr. Bobeck S. Modjtahedi is a vitreoretinal surgeon at the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG)/Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) where he also serves as the Director of the Eye Monitoring Center, which provides tele-ophthalmology care, and the Electrophysiology and Retinal Degeneration Service. He is a Clinician Investigator in the SCPMG Department of Research and Evaluation and is the Co-Chair for the Center for Ophthalmology Research and Innovation which helps coordinate Kaiser Permanente’s ophthalmology research nationally. Dr. Modjtahedi has an interest in predictive analytics and developing public health initiatives to improve clinical outcomes. He has led several projects on myopia and served as the lead author of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s white paper entitled “Reducing the Global Burden of Myopia by Delaying the Onset of Myopia and Reducing Myopic Progression in Children: The Academy's Task Force on Myopia.”

Michael F. Chiang, MD is Director of the National Eye Institute, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. His clinical practice focuses on pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus, and he is board-certified in clinical informatics. His research develops and applies biomedical informatics methods to clinical ophthalmology in areas such as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), telehealth, artificial intelligence, clinical information systems, data science, and genotype-phenotype correlation. His group has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, and has developed an assistive artificial intelligence system for ROP that received Breakthrough Status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Chang received a BS in Electrical Engineering and Biology from Stanford University in 1991, an MD from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in 1996, and an MA in Biomedical Informatics from Columbia University. He completed residency and pediatric ophthalmology fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. Between 2001-2010, he worked at Columbia University, where he was Anne S. Cohen Associate Professor of Ophthalmology & Biomedical Informatics, director of medical student education in ophthalmology, and director of the introductory graduate student course in biomedical informatics. From 2010-2020, he worked at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), where he was Knowles Professor of Ophthalmology & Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, and Associate Director of the Casey Eye Institute. He co-directed an NIH-funded T32 training program in visual science for graduate students and research fellows, as well as an NIH-funded K12 clinician-scientist program at OHSU.

He has served as a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Board of Trustees, Chair of the AAO IRIS Registry Data Analytics Committee, Chair of the AAO Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Chair of the AAO Medical Information Technology Committee, and on numerous other national and local committees. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and on the Editorial Board for Ophthalmology and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology, and is Associate Editor of the textbook Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Health Care and Biomedicine. He has previously served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and on the Editorial Board for Ophthalmology Retina.

Dr. R.V. Paul Chan is the Department Head and the John H. Panton, MD Professor of Ophthalmology at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His clinical practice focuses on vitreoretinal surgery, with an expertise in pediatric retinal disease. Dr. Chan received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania, MD from the Temple University School of Medicine, MSc from Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), and MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. After completing Ophthalmology residency at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital of WCMC, he went on to a Fellowship in Vitreoretinal Surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chan spent nine years on faculty at WCMC, as Director of the Retina Service and Vitreoretinal Fellowship, before moving to UIC.

Dr. Chan previously served as the Vice Chair for both Clinical Affairs and Global Ophthalmology in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UIC and is a global leader in pediatric blindness prevention and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). His primary research interests focus on utilizing new technology and imaging techniques to better evaluate and manage children with retinal disease. He has authored over 180 peer-reviewed articles and has received grant funding by the NIH, the NSF, and a number of charitable foundations. He is a core team member of the Imaging and Informatics for ROP (i-ROP) consortium and leads the Global Education Network for ROP (GEN-ROP), which is an international collaboration of investigators with expertise in neonatology, ophthalmology, biomedical informatics, international health, and medical education. Together, they have developed tele-education and telemedicine programs, and have established clinical, teaching, and research collaborations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Dr. Chan also serves as a consultant for programs sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Orbis International, and Helen Keller International (HKI).

Dr. Chan has been very actively involved in academic ophthalmology and organized medicine. He serves on the Board of Trustees for HKI, the Board of Directors for Prevent Blindness, the Executive Committee for the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO), and the Committee of Secretaries for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), where he is the Secretary for Global Alliances. Dr. Chan is an assistant editor for the journal, Retina, and is on the editorial board for Retina Today, Ocular Surgery News, the Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology, and the Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases. He is an active member in a number of ophthalmic societies, including the American Ophthalmological Society, the Club Jules Gonin, the Retina Society, the Macula Society, founding member of the Vit-Buckle Society, the Association of Pediatric Retina Surgeons, the American Society of Retina Specialists, and he is Past President of the Chinese American Ophthalmological Society and Past President of the American Eye Study Club. He has also served on the Global ONE Advisory Board and the Ethics Committee for the AAO.

Presciliana Olayo’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Risk Management and Compliance. Ms. Olayo’s professional experience spans a total of 20 years in Public Education (K-12) under the business and finance umbrella, particularly in program management of federal, state, and local grant funds.

During her different roles in Fort Worth Independent School District for the past 20 years, she has had the opportunity to collaborate with community partners and administrative leadership teams to develop systems that foster and provide services designed to support a well-rounded education program.

As the Vision Care Services Coordinator in a joint effort with community partners, they address student vision needs essential for their health-wellbeing and academic readiness. Ms. Olayo’s personal goal is to support systems that reduce health-related barriers and empower students and their families with the knowledge and skills needed to excel and achieve lifelong health and wellness.

Dr. Penny Rosenblum is the Director of Research at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). In the year and a half she has been with the organization, she has led projects to examine the impact of COVID-19 on adults with visual impairments and education of students with visual impairments. In addition, she has done work with AFB’s Blind Leaders Development Program, a study with Guide Dogs for the Blind, and research to examine technology use in the workplace by those who are blind or have low vision. She is a teacher of students with visual impairments and spent more than 25 years in academia before joining AFB.

Dr. Stacy Lyons is a Professor of Optometry and serves as Chair of the Specialty and Advanced Care Department at the New England College of Optometry. She has been a faculty member at the College since 1989. She teaches in the Binocular Vision and Pediatric Optometry courses at the college and provides pediatric eye care and vision therapy at the Charles River Community Health Center. Dr. Lyons is the 2019 recipient of the Dupuis-Pellerin Award for Faculty Excellence. In 2016, Dr. Lyons was honored with the Theia Award for Excellence in Education by Women in Optometry. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.

Dr. Lyons serves as the Chair of the National Advisory Committee to the National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health. She is a Past-Chair of the Vision Care Section of the American Public Health Association, co-director of the Massachusetts Opening Eyes program as part of the Special Olympics Healthy Athlete Initiative, and member of the Children’s Vision Massachusetts Coalition. Dr. Lyons also serves on the Advisory Board of Women in Optometry.

Dr. Ranya Habash is CEO of LifeLong Vision Special Purpose Acquisition Company and the former Medical Director of Technology Innovation at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. She was appointed to the FDA’s Digital Health Network of Experts and listed on The Ophthalmologist Power List, first recognizing the top 50 stars in the world "who will lead ophthalmology over the next few decades and shape its future," then as one of the “most influential” female ophthalmologists in the world, and most recently as one of the “Top 100 most influential people” in ophthalmology worldwide.

Dr. Habash was also Chief Medical Officer of Everbridge and Co-Founder of HipaaChat. She was listed by Becker's Hospital Review as a Top Healthcare Entrepreneur to Know. As a publicly-traded company, Everbridge integrated HipaaChat’s secure messaging and telemedicine platform within its software suite, serving over 1500 hospitals and health systems. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Habash provided strategic clinical insight for Everbridge’s business development, sales, and product teams, while collaborating with companies like Apple, Amazon, and Verizon to modernize communication for health systems. This included HIPAA-compliance, automated code alerts, IoT monitoring of medical devices, mobile SOS safety software, and care coordination between hospitals, ambulances, and emergency services on a city-wide and state-wide scale. Her training sessions and materials have been internationally embraced, and her work was cited in U.S. Senate Committee hearings for telehealth expansion in all medical specialties.

Combining her unique clinical, tech, and product backgrounds, Dr. Habash joined Microsoft’s healthcare team to lead a global machine learning project between Microsoft and Bascom Palmer, delivering a multi-disease retinal algorithm to automate diagnosis and treatment of eye conditions. As program manager for Microsoft, she worked to build a global collaborative network for data sharing and digital health collaboration. Her latest research focuses on brain-computer interface technology for the diagnosis and treatment of multiple ophthalmic and neurologic conditions. These extraordinary experiences fuel her strategy for LifeLong Vision SPAC and the impact she hopes to make on healthcare.

H.E. Dr. Walton Webson holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science in Management of Non-Profit Organizations, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Organizational Development from the New School for Social Research, and a DM in Management from Case Western Reserve University. He worked for several international nongovernment organizations including: Sight Savers International (UK), The Caribbean Council for the Blind (Antigua and Barbuda), Hellen Keller International (New York), and Perkins International where he worked from 1992 to 2014 and was the organization's Chief Executive from 2011.  Dr. Webson is an Antiguan diplomat. He has served as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York of Antigua and Barbuda since 2014. 

Since joining the United Nations, Ambassador Webson served as President of UNICEF in 2017 and was Vice President of its Board in 2016. Ambassador Webson chaired the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence of Colonial Countries and Peoples also known as the Special Committee on Decolonization or C-24 in 2018. He was appointed by the President 72nd session of the UN General Assembly to co-facilitate with the Ambassador of Japan the high-level meeting on tuberculosis which took place in September 2018. He has served as a co-facilitator on the Steering Committee on Accessibility appointed by the President of the UN General Assembly in 2019 and continues to serve in that capacity to date.

Ambassador Webson is an innovator and a leader. He founded the Friends of Vision at the United Nations, a group responsible for advocating for eye health to be included in universal health care (UHC). He was successful in getting eye health included for the first time in a UN resolution on UHC. He was the lead sponsor on two resolutions affecting the lives of persons with disabilities around the world on disabilities issues and a leading voice on issues of Small States.

Ambassador Webson served in 2020 as the President of the board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, UNOPS and UNFPA). He is the current co-chair of the UN Steering Committee on the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and has had the honor to lead the CARICOM Caucus at two General Assemblies over his first four years at the UN. Ambassador Webson is presently the Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Dr. Steven Silverstein is The George L. Engel Professor of Psychosocial Medicine, the Associate Chair for Research in Psychiatry, a Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Ophthalmology, a member of the Center for Visual Science, and the Director of the Center for Retina and Brain at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His research interests are in: 1) retinal, perceptual (visual) and cognitive changes in people with psychiatric and medical conditions; and 2) emotional adjustment and mental health challenges among people experiencing vision loss. Prior to joining the University of Rochester, Dr. Silverstein was at Rutgers University, where he established Eye-2-Eye, a peer-led telehealth program for people adjusting to vision loss. Dr. Silverstein has over 270 publications, and has received grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, state offices of mental health, and multiple foundations.

Dr. Yvonne Ou is an Associate Professor, Vice Chair for Postgraduate Education, and Academic Director of the Glaucoma Division in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She is also the Co-Director of the UCSF-Proctor K12 Clinician Vision Scholars Program. Dr. Ou received her BA and MD, both magna cum laude, from Harvard. She underwent residency training at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA, and then completed both clinical and postdoctoral fellowships at Duke University. She is the recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Alcon Research Institute and the Dr. Douglas H. Johnson Award for Glaucoma Research from the BrightFocus Foundation.

Dr. Ou specializes in the treatment of glaucoma with medical, laser, and surgical therapies, the latter including cataract surgery, microinvasive glaucoma procedures, filtering surgery, and drainage implant surgery.

The research interests of the Ou laboratory are in the area of neurodegeneration, circuit disassembly and reassembly, and neuronal plasticity. The team is studying the cellular and synaptic mechanisms of retinal ganglion cell degeneration and identifying specific types of ganglion cells and circuits that are particularly susceptible, with an eye for improving diagnostic and treatment modalities for patients. The group also has developed translational applications from the team’s laboratory findings, specifically novel clinical ERG paradigms and virtual-reality based oculokinetic perimetry for glaucoma diagnostics.

Dr. Ruth Shoge received her Doctor of Optometry degree from and completed a residency in Pediatrics and Vision Therapy at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO). She received her Master of Public Health from Temple University with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Science. During that time, she developed a special interest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which includes addressing health disparity concerns through cultural competency training, recruitment and retention strategies, and curriculum reform. Her final master’s project was titled “Social Experiences of Underrepresented Minority Optometry Students.” She is the Director of the Summer Enrichment Program at PCO, a program aimed at improving the recruitment, matriculation, and graduation of underrepresented minority students. She currently serves as Chair of ASCO's Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee, which promotes racial and ethnic diversity and inclusion initiatives at optometric institutions. She recently created and is chair of an advisory board at PCO that will review the curriculum and implement strategies to ensure continuity in culturally competent education from matriculation to graduation. Dr. Shoge also recently started her own consulting company to deliver lectures and workshops to academic, research, corporate, and student members of the optometric industry.

As a clinical educator, Dr. Shoge’s specialties include pediatric care, binocular vision disorders, vision disorders related to traumatic brain injury, and vision therapy. In the clinical setting, Dr. Shoge aims to provide and model clinical competence and cultural humility to her students as they care for their patients. She serves as an investigator in several federally funded research studies which investigate pediatric and adult visual conditions such as amblyopia, strabismus, myopia, and concussion-related vision disorders. She has also had the opportunity to present nationally and internationally about binocular vision, vision therapy, and the management of concussion-related vision disorders and has delivered cultural competency workshops.

Dr. M. Roy Wilson became the 12th president of Wayne State University on August 1, 2013. Prior to joining Wayne State, President Wilson served as deputy director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.

Previously, he was dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for health sciences at Creighton University, president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver and chair of the Board of Directors of University of Colorado Hospital/Anschutz Medical Campus. President Wilson also chaired the Board of Directors of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and was acting president during part of that time.

President Wilson’s research has focused on glaucoma and blindness in populations from the Caribbean to West Africa. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (Institute of Medicine). President Wilson received his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College, an MS in epidemiology from the University of California Los Angeles, and an MD from Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Stephanie Jones Marioneaux is a solo private ophthalmologist specializing in cornea and external diseases and general ophthalmology in the Tidewater Virginia area for 20 years. She specializes in cataract surgery, laser procedures and corneal transplants. Dr. Marioneaux is currently an Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, teaching residents and medical students.

Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, of UT Health San Antonio, is a health equity pioneer who has achieved local, state, national, presidential, and international recognition for her successes in reducing Latino cancer health disparities and championing system and policy changes that promote health equity for Latinos. As Chair and Full Professor of the Department of Population Health Sciences at UT Health San Antonio, a Hispanic-Serving Institute, Ramirez leads a multidisciplinary team of public health researchers, data scientists, and communication specialists in addressing the cancer experience of Latinos. As leader of community outreach at the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, Dr. Ramirez has implemented system changes that have enhanced surveillance of the South Texas cancer burden, improved equity and diversity in cancer clinical trial recruitment, and engaged the community in clinical research and preventive cancer care. Dr. Ramirez also leads the Salud America! communication program (www.salud-america.org; @SaludAmerica). Salud America! is a national network of over 500,000 community, school, and healthcare leaders who are fueled with content and tools to advocate for equitable changes in policies and systems related to healthcare access, housing, transportation, and social cohesion in Latino communities. Salud America!’s core members led 275 health policy changes in a year, according to a recent evaluation. Dr. Ramirez has been recognized by the Society of Behavioral Medicine, the Obama White House, the National Academy of Medicine, and more. Dr. Ramirez is a native of Laredo, Texas.

Dr. Barbara E. Bierer, a hematologist-oncologist, is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Bierer co-founded and now leads the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of BWH and Harvard (MRCT Center), a collaborative effort to improve standards for the planning and conduct of international clinical trials. She is a co-founder of COVID-19 Collaboration Platform and of the non-profit Vivli, a global clinical research data sharing platform. She is also the Director of the Regulatory Foundations, Ethics, and Law program at the Harvard Catalyst, and Director of Regulatory Policy for SMART IRB. She serves as Faculty in the Center for Bioethics, HMS, and Affiliate Faculty in the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law at Harvard Law School. From 2003-2014, Dr. Bierer served as Senior Vice-President, Research, BWH where she founded the Brigham Research Institute and the Brigham Innovation Hub. She is a past chair of SACHRP and has served or serves on the Board of Directors of AAHRPP, PRIMR, MSH, Vivli, North Star IRB, and the Edward P. Evans Foundation. She has authored over 250 publications.

Dr. Rajeev Ramchandran is a vitreoretinal surgeon and the Director of Population Eye Health at the Flaum Eye Institute in the University of Rochester, where he is Associate Professor of Ophthalmology. Working in a multidisciplinary team, he is developing and deploying population health-based strategies to achieve universal vision and eye health in Western New York. Using population, improvement, and implementation science, Dr. Ramchandran is studying how to best use technology-based interventions in the community, including teleophthalmology, to promote eye health and wellness before people become patients.

Dr. Megan E. Collins is an associate professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute and associate faculty at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. She specializes in pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus. Her research focuses on eliminating barriers in access to eye care, epidemiology of pediatric eye disease, and the impact of refractive error on academic performance. She currently leads Johns Hopkins’ activities for Vision for Baltimore (V4B), a collaborative school-based vision program providing vision screening, eye exams, and eyeglasses to every child preK-8th grade in Baltimore City Public Schools. She is co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Consortium for School-Based Health Solutions.

Since 2011, Donna Mazyck has been executive director of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). While in undergraduate school, Ms. Mazyck determined a nursing degree would be foundational in her plan to return to her community to help individuals and groups become healthier in a variety of ways. She has been a nurse in community settings for most of her career. She worked as a school nurse in high school and alternative school settings. For 13 years at the Maryland State Department of Education, Ms. Mazyck provided consultation and leadership to local school health services and school-based health center programs. In that role, she worked with stakeholders in the development of school health policies and regulations. For decades, Ms. Mazyck prioritized collaborations with vision care providers and school nurses to champion student vision and eye health. She holds current certifications in school nursing, counseling, and as an association executive. Ms. Mazyck prioritizes leading staff and collaborating with organizations to optimize student health, safety, and learning.

Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka is a Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy, a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG (the Coalition) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Iruka is leading projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in the early years can support the optimal development and experiences of minoritized children and children from low-income households and communities. Her work focuses on ensuring that children start off well through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education system and programs. Dr. Iruka focuses on ensuring excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children and their families, through the intersection of anti-bias, anti-racist, culturally grounded research, program, and policy. Dr. Iruka serves and has served on numerous national and local boards and committees, including the Brady Education Foundation, Trust for Learning, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees, the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, and the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau. She has a BA in Psychology from Temple University, an MA in Psychology from Boston University, and an MS and PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Miami, FL.

Dr. Marissa Shoji is originally from Massachusetts and attended Harvard University, where she majored in neurobiology with a secondary in economics, ran on the varsity cross country and track teams, was a leader in mentorship and community service activities, and graduated with highest honors in neurobiology. She subsequently attended Harvard Medical School, where she was involved in ophthalmology research, mentored students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine, and continued leadership and community service activities. She is currently an ophthalmology resident at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and balances her clinical and surgical responsibilities and dedication to outstanding care for all patients with active involvement in mentoring, participating in community service with underserved populations, and conducting innovative research to advance understanding of ocular and orbital disease.

Nancy D. Miller works with people of all ages who are blind and multi-disabled, along with their families and unpaid caregivers. She is Executive Director/CEO of VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired since 1987. VISIONS serves 7000 people each year with in-home, community and center-based day and overnight services. VISIONS annual budget is $10.3 million with a staff of 107 fulltime and part time. VISIONS has scored number one in New York State for job placements of legally blind New Yorkers from 2016-2020.

Ms. Miller has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and a Master of Science degree in Social Work from Columbia University in group work and aging. She is a founder and President of the New York Vision Rehabilitation Association and serves on the Priorities and Policy Committee of the Human Services Council. She is a co-Founder and Board member of the Disabilities Network of NYC, Vice-President of the 500 Greenwich Street Condominium Board of Directors and Board member of LiveOn NY, an aging network advocacy organization. She is co-chair of the Public Awareness Committee of the VisionServe Alliance and on the Advisory Council to the Commissioner of the NYC Department for the Aging.

Mandie Schadwinkel is a recent graduate of the ASPECT program through Prevent Blindness. She has a family member that has been diagnosed with Stargardts and was glad to be connected with more resources. She has an MEd and has been involved in Montessori education for 20 years as a teacher and administrator. She is from Nebraska and is currently living in Southern California with her husband and two teenage children.

Nicole Guysi is a wife, mother of two, handler to her daughter’s service dog, transition technician in Peoria Unified School District and advocate. Married for over 12 years, Ms. Guysi’s two school-aged children (Brooke and Blake) are the fuel behind her passion to educate others and be educated herself. Brooke has multiple diagnoses in vision and in other areas. Since 2014, Ms. Guysi has volunteered and partnered with different organizations to learn for her daughter, along with helping to educate her daughter and other families and professionals.

Dr. Michael Ciszek graduated cum laude from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, as a triple major in biology, pre-med, and Spanish. Combining his interests, he spent several months studying in Arequipa, Peru at the Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria. Later, he went on to the Illinois College of Optometry where he again graduated cum laude and did his graduate thesis on HIV and contact lens wear. Areas of specialty include specialty contact lenses, ocular surface disease, and providing care to LGBTQ patients in need. His local philanthropy is highlighted by his work with Howard Brown Health Center, an organization with a mission to promote health and wellness to underserved LGBTQ patients in Chicago. He is part of a dedicated group of doctors who provide consultation services to the contact lens industry, bringing new technologies to the marketplace. He has also been published in Optometric Management Magazine. Dr. Ciszek’s experience with VOSH began in 2011 on a trip to Barranquilla, Colombia. Immediately moved by the experience and the direct impact on the community, he has now been on a multitude of trips, including Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Mexico, and is involved in domestic efforts to provide quality eye care to those in need in the USA. He was humbled to recently receive the Illinois College of Optometry Humanitarian Alumni of the Year Award in 2021.

Dr. Jacquelyn O’Banion is a comprehensive ophthalmologist and Director of Global Ophthalmology at Emory Eye Center in the Emory University School of Medicine. She practices clinically and performs cataract surgery as well as teaching residents in the clinic and OR at Grady Memorial Hospital. As the Director of Global Ophthalmology, she oversees the clinical, research and academic outreach endeavors of Emory Eye Center. She does work locally throughout Georgia as well as in Ethiopia and Eswatini. She helped found and establish the Georgia Vision 2020 Collaborative which brings together eye care not-for-profits and providers across the state to ensure adequate access to eye care across the state. She has done extensive work in Georgia to understand the eye care needs of the population and work towards the elimination of avoidable blindness.

Karen Woodhouse is the Director of Eyes on Learning, a statewide coalition of partners and organizations committed to improving children’s vision. 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. 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.

Cindy Hillyer is a director in the Early Childhood Education Department at Minneapolis Public Schools. Throughout her career, Cindy has led public health and education initiatives focused on cross sector collaboration and advancing equity. She currently serves on the University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration Advisory Board, the Executive Committee of the City of Minneapolis Child Friendly City Initiative, and chairs the Minnesota Early Childhood Vision Health Task Force — a National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health Better Vision Together team.

Caroline Casey is the businesswoman and activist behind The Valuable 500, the world’s largest CEO collective and business move for disability inclusion. She launched the movement at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Summit in 2019 and since then has signed up 500 multinational organizations with a combined revenue of over $8 trillion, employing 20 million people worldwide to radically transform the business system. The membership includes 36 of the FTSE 100 companies, 46 of the Fortune 500 and 28 of the Nikkei.

Recently appointed President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), Ms. Casey also sits on several diversity and inclusion boards to include L’Oréal and Sky and is a much sought-after speaker.

Ms. Casey has received an honorary doctorate as well as multiple awards and accolades for her work as a disability activist.

Dr. Swaroop obtained his PhD at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and completed postdoctoral training at Yale University in molecular biology and human genetics. He then joined the faculty at the University of Michigan (UM) in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and in Human Genetics. Dr. Swaroop held the Harold F. Falls Collegiate Professorship at UM when he was recruited in 2007 to establish the Neurobiology-Neurodegeneration and Repair Laboratory at the National Eye Institute (NEI) for advancing research in retinal development and disease.

The studies in Dr. Swaroop’s laboratory have focused on genetic and epigenetic regulation of photoreceptor development, evolution and aging, mechanisms of photoreceptor dysfunction in retinal neurodegeneration, genetics of age-related macular degeneration, and design of new therapeutic paradigms using cell, gene or small molecule-based approaches. Dr. Swaroop has received many honors and awards, including the National Institute of Health Director’s Ruth L. Kirschstein Award "for exemplary performance while demonstrating significant leadership, skill and ability in serving as a mentor" in 2013, and the NEI Director’s Diversity Champion Award “in recognition of a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion” in 2020. He has trained over 500 students, interns and fellows. A number of his trainees hold faculty or scientist positions at institutions globally and in biomedical industry. Dr. Swaroop has published over 350 articles (Scopus h-index=75) and delivered 300 invited lectures (including several named and keynote talks) worldwide.

Hursuong Vongsachang completed her medical and public health degree at Johns Hopkins University. Her interest lies in public health ophthalmology, particularly regarding access to vision care and vision health disparities. She is a current intern in the Harvard ophthalmology residency program at Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

Dr. Dean VanNasdale received his Doctor of Optometry degree from the Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University in 2003 and completed a cornea and contact lens residency at Indiana University in 2004. He received a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research and a PhD in Vision Science from Indiana University in 2011. Dr. VanNasdale has a research focus in population health data analysis. Using multiple, complementary datasets, he studies associations between health determinants and vision impairment on a local, county, state, and national scale. The goal of this research is to improve insight into the underlying cause of vision impairment, identify common co-morbid conditions, and educate broad stakeholder groups. This analysis helps quantify the impact of vision impairment, identify areas where resources are needed to reduce vision impairment, and inform policy development. Dr. VanNasdale is engaged in advanced retinal imaging research, with an emphasis on normal aging changes and the identification of early pathological changes associated with diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. Dr. VanNasdale is also a clinical instructor in the Contact Lens Services at Ohio State University’s College of Optometry.

John Wittenborn is a research data scientist in the Public Health Analytics program at NORC at the University of Chicago. His background is in health economics, burden of illness and surveillance with a particular interest in visual health. He is currently serving as the Project Director for the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System.

Dr. Elizabeth Lundeen is a Senior Scientist in the Vision Health Initiative at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She manages the development of CDC’s Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System and leads epidemiological and health services research on vision health and eye diseases. The Vision Health Initiative is located within CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, and Dr. Lundeen’s research has focused on diabetic retinopathy. Her interests also include the social determinants of health, health disparities, machine learning, and the use of electronic health record data to conduct population health research. She came to CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in 2015 and completed her fellowship in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. She began her public health career by spending five years working for the Swiss Red Cross in Kyrgyzstan working with village health committees and implementing a home fortification program to address childhood anemia. Dr. Lundeen received her MPH in health policy from Yale School of Public Health and PhD in nutritional epidemiology from Emory University.

Dr. Fuensanta Vera-Diaz is an expert in myopia control, from both a scientific and clinical perspective. She received a PhD in Optometry from the University of Bradford, UK, for her work investigating optical and neural factors in myopia. She then undertook a postdoctoral research position at New England College of Optometry (NECO) and a research fellowship at Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard Medical School. As a tenured Associate Professor at NECO, Dr. Vera-Diaz has developed a successful research program funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She investigates mechanisms contributing to the development of myopia; specifically, optical, retinal and visual processing structures and functions of the human visual system. Dr. Vera-Diaz has a strong publication record and serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and is a reviewer in NIH study panel sections. She also leads NECO’s Myopia Control Clinic.

Robin Casten, PhD is a research psychologist and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Casten received her PhD from Temple University, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in gerontology at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center. Dr. Casten’s research interests include understanding relationships between mental health and age-related vision impairment, and developing behavioral interventions to help older people cope with late onset vision loss. She has conducted several randomized controlled clinical trials to test the efficacy of behavioral treatments to prevent depression in people who have age-related macular degeneration.

Dr. M. Kathleen Murphy has led population-based health program design and implementation regionally, nationally and internationally primarily with persons and populations historically under-resourced and underserved. Currently, she is the Associate Dean for Inclusivity, Global Health & Community Engagement, and the A. O. Stubblefield Professor of Nursing at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) School of Nursing. Dr. Murphy has a long-standing interest in policy and vision health and continues to advance work in both of these areas through leadership roles in not-for-profit and community agencies at the intersection of policy and practice.
Dr. Murphy is Chair, Prevent Blindness Board of Directors, and she also serves on the Advisory Committee to the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health. She is a fellow of the International Council of Nurses Global Nursing Leadership Institute (2018), the American Academy of Nursing (2015), and an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows Program (2004-2007).

Jeff Todd is President and Chief Executive Officer of Prevent Blindness, overseeing an organization established in 1908 to prevent blindness and preserve sight across all age spectrums. Prevent Blindness accomplishes this by educating the American public on the importance of taking care of their eyes and vision, by promoting advances in public health systems of care that support eye health needs, and by advocating for public policy that emphasizes early detection of vision problems and access to appropriate eye care.

Mr. Todd joined the organization in 2003 as Director of Public Health and later served as Chief Operating Officer until becoming President & CEO in April 2018. His contributions to the organization include establishing the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health, a resource that promotes a continuum of eye health care for children across the country; fostering an annual national summit as a forum for the exchange of ideas relating to vision and public health; and overseeing the development of leading public health research, which has become widely used to capture the prevalence and cost of vision problems across the United States.

Dr. Bruce Ksander received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Illinois while studying the immune response to herpes keratitis in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Hendricks at the Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary. His postdoctoral fellowship was with Dr. J Wayne Streilein at the University of Miami Medical School and the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami Florida where he studied the immune mechanisms that regulate ocular immune privilege to corneal allografts and intraocular tumors. Dr. Ksander is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Scientist at the Schepens Eye Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He conducts research in three main areas: (i) understanding the function of inflammation during the development of glaucoma, (ii) restoration of the corneal epithelium using limbal stem cells, and (iii) the reversal of aging by epigenetic reprogramming.

Sayoko Moroi, MD, PhD, is a board certified and glaucoma fellowship trained ophthalmologist. She is a clinician-scientist and has served as principal investigator, multi-principal investigator and co-investigator of NEI/NIH grants, NSF grant, private foundation grants, and industry-sponsored FDA glaucoma trials. After 25-years of service at University of Michigan, she returned in 2020 to her alma mater of The Ohio State University (OSU) to serve as chair in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. She has a diverse research portfolio of genetics, glaucoma, precision medicine for eye health, technology, mobility, and women’s health. She is committed to mentoring and sponsoring individuals at all levels of training and work force positions. She is committed to address and overcome disparities for women and underrepresented minorities. Dr. Moroi expanded her educational journey on implicit bias and is a certified facilitator through OSU Wexner Medical Center Diversity Council. Together with the outstanding faculty, staff and collaborators, we aspire to decrease glaucoma-related blindness.

Jeffrey J. Walline, OD PhD is the Associate Dean for Research at The Ohio State University College of Optometry. He received his Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry, and he received his Master’s and PhD degrees from The Ohio State University College of Optometry. Dr. Walline has led several pediatric contact lens studies, and he is the Study Chair of the Bifocal Lenses In Nearsighted Kids (BLINK) Study, a National Eye Institute-sponsored randomized clinical trial to investigate the myopia control effects of soft multifocal contact lenses.

Dr. Robert A. Sisk is a Board-Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His peers selected him as one of The Best Doctors in America. Dr. Sisk is actively engaged in clinical research and ophthalmic education. Dr. Sisk is a principal investigator or co-investigator for many FDA-regulated investigational drug trials and studies for identification and treatment of genetic eye diseases. Dr. Sisk performs cell therapy and gene therapy procedures, including the FDA-approved gene therapy, Luxturna®. He is an Associate Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati, where he educates residents and fellows in vitreoretinal surgery. He is the author of numerous publications in the peer-reviewed ophthalmic literature and presents regularly at international clinical and scientific meetings.
Dr. Sisk serves adults and older children at the Cincinnati Eye Institute offices in Edgewood, Kentucky and Blue Ash, Ohio. He provides care for neonates, infants, and young children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a top three hospital nationally, where he is Director of Pediatric Vitreoretinal Surgery and Director of Ophthalmic Genetics. While he routinely manages all forms of medical and surgical diseases of the retina in adults, Dr. Sisk has specialized expertise in pediatric retinal surgery, retinal dystrophies, and retinal electrophysiology.

Dr. Jonathan Lass is the Charles I Thomas Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and the University Hospitals (UH) Eye Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, Medical Director of Eversight Ohio, and Director of the UH Eye Image Analysis Reading Centers. After completing his ophthalmology residency at Boston University Medical Center in 1977, he went on to complete a two-year fellowship in cornea and external diseases at Harvard’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Eye Research Institute of the Retina Foundation. He joined the faculty at CWRU and UH in 1979 and became chair of the Department in 1993, serving until 2013. He also served as program director of the residency program at CWRU and UH during this same period. He is currently Senior Editor of the journal, Cornea and received the Senior Honor Award from the AAO in 2004, the R. Townley Paton Award from the EBAA in 2012, and received the Castroviejo Award from the Cornea Society in 2017. He is currently the medical director of the Cornea Image Analysis Reading Center in Cleveland and Medical Director of Eversight Ohio. Dr. Lass has research interests in the area of corneal physiology, genetics, cornea image analysis, and clinical trials of corneal disease with over 200 publications with funding from the National Eye Institute (NEI) for these studies over the past 25 years. Most recently he was the study chair of the NEI-funded multi-center prospective clinical trial, the Cornea Preservation Time Study (CPTS) between 2011 and 2019, which found that preservation time of the donor up to 11 days did not impact long term graft survival and endothelial cell loss following Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). He is now the study chair the NEI funded multi-center prospective clinical trial, the Diabetes Endothelial Keratoplasty Study (DEKS) that will examine the impact of diabetes and its severity in the donor and recipient on Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) outcomes. With diabetes in nearly 40% of the donor pool, determining which donors with diabetes are suitable and which are not is a very important question to address. He is an avid cellist and founding member of the World Doctors Orchestra (www.world-doctorsorchestra.org) since 2008. The orchestra has given concerts around the world and raised over 1 million euros for local charities. He most recently performed with the group in Paris and Houston in 2019 with the next concert post-Covid planned with the group in Frankfurt and Koblenz, Germany this coming November.

Marc Molea retired from the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) in 2019. At ODA he served as Chief of the Older Americans Act Programs and Strategic Partnerships Divisions for 24 years. Prior to coming to ODA, he held various planning and economic development positions in Ohio.
Currently he serves on various the boards, councils and committees, including Chair Elect for Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate, Advisory Committee Member for National Center for Vision and Population Health, and Emeritus Board Member for Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education.
He has Bachelors of Business Administration and Masters of Health Administration from Ohio University, and a Masters of City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).
He is recipient of the Soar Award, VANTAGE Aging (2019); Lifetime Achievement Award, Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education (2018); Charles B. Jenkins Legacy Award, Employment for Seniors (2017); and Muriel Bertsch Award, Ohio Association of Senior Centers (2013). He was an Ohio delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.

Within days of Ms. Washington-Lockett’s birth, her parents were faced with a monumental decision that would affect her entire life: major surgery for an infant less than two weeks old using a procedure that other consulting physicians said was futile because the odds of its success were nominal. But her parents took that bet, relying on the skills of Dr. Malcom Mazo from Houston Eye Associates to change her life. During her lifetime, Ms. Washington-Lockett has endured multiple surgeries from several highly experienced ophthalmologists. Even though Ms. Washington-Lockett was tasked with this uphill sight journey, it never stopped her from doing and succeeding in everything she wanted. She is more dedicated now than ever to the fight to help prevent blindness, be a patient advocate, change legislation and help health care professionals remember their reason “why.”