Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH, Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology, and director of the Clinical Research Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, received the 2019 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health at the end of the Prevent Blindness summit.
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CHICAGO—Prevent Blindness held its 8th annual Focus on Eye Health National Summit on July 17 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year’s summit was “A Lifetime of Vision,” and Bill Barkeley, a visually impaired adventurer, advocate and author was this year’s keynote speaker. This year, Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH, Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology, and director of the Clinical Research Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, received the 2019 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health at the end of the summit.

This award recognizes an individual, team or organization that has made significant contributions to the advancement of public health related to vision and eye health at the community, state, national, and/or international level.

Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness, said, “Every year, the Focus on Eye Health National Summit brings together leaders in the fields of public health, research and vision care, along with patients, to learn and collaborate on emerging strategies to save sight. We thank everyone who participated at the event and those who joined us via our webcast. A special thank you to all of our generous sponsors who make this event possible and help us to grow our audience every year.”



Bonnielin Swenor, PhD, MPH, the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, speaks at the Prevent Blindness Summit.
Gold sponsors for the 2019 summit included Center for Vision and Population Health at Prevent Blindness, Genentech, Horizon Therapeutics, International Retinal Research Foundation, Lighthouse Guild, National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness, NORC at the University of Chicago, Novartis, Regeneron, Takeda, The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, UAB Callahan Eye Hospital and Clinics, and UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

Silver sponsors included Allergan, Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR), American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Optometric Association, Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, Bausch Foundation, BrightFocus Foundation, CooperVision, Foundation Fighting Blindness, Lions Clubs International, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, OneSight, Research to Prevent Blindness, Seva Foundation, Vision 2020 USA, Vision Impact Institute, and VisionServe Alliance.

The National Eye Institute offered a VR experience at the Prevent Blindness Summit.
PDF copies of all presentations that took place at the summit are now available here, and the webcast recording is available to view here.