Mary Kane, Executive Editor
Mary helps to oversee the editorial coverage of
Vision Monday and its print publication,
VMAIL, e-newsletters,
VisionMonday.com and the
Vision Expo Dailies. She also covers general company news, industry developments and business trends, as well as professional associations news and features. She is also responsible for deadline queries and operational questions for
Vision Monday print editions and
VMAIL. Contact Mary at
mkane@jobson.com.
By Mary Kane
Friday, September 1, 2023 8:30 AM
September arrived yesterday signaling the lazy days of summer are coming to an end. And with Vision Expo just around the corner, it’s time to get down to business again. In less than a month, the optical industry will be gathering in Las Vegas for Vision Expo West, and this time around, it will have a palpable post-pandemic feel, despite the fact that COVID 19 seems to be rearing its ugly head again. (Click
here to find out what some of our top docs think about the state of COVID today and what might be in store for us). This year’s Vision Expo has a lot to offer attendees including new exhibitors, new neighborhoods on the show floor, a robust curriculum of continuing education and a spate of special events so we opti folk can do what we do best—network with our colleagues.
By Mary Kane
Friday, August 4, 2023 8:30 AM
For more than 20 years,
Vision Monday has been shining a spotlight on women in the optical industry who check all the boxes. They are high achievers, difference makers and trendsetters who just plain stand out and every July we are honored to share their stories of success in our
Most Influential Women in Optical Report. This year’s “class” of honorees does not disappoint. Having finally emerged from the shadows of the pandemic, this year’s honorees are at long last looking forward to a brighter and more promising future. Their positivity and can-do attitudes are apparent as we chronicle their achievements in an ever-changing optical landscape.
By Mary Kane
Sunday, July 23, 2023 2:03 AM
Last year marked the 20th anniversary of our Most Influential Women in Optical Special Report so we did what everyone else does for an anniversary—we threw a party. Actually, it was a luncheon held at Vision Expo West and it was such a resounding success, we decided to make it an ongoing tradition.
By Mary Kane
Friday, July 7, 2023 8:30 AM
Most people over 40 are familiar with the perils of presbyopia, a vision condition in which the lens in your eye becomes harder and less flexible as you age. As a result, the lens loses its ability to focus light correctly on the retina, which makes it difficult to focus on close objects. Many presbyopes can be identified by their reading glasses which often sit on top of their head until it’s time to look at or read something up close. Presbyopia is a natural part of the aging process of the eye. It is not a disease, and it cannot be prevented. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t solutions out there for the nearly 128 million Americans affected by the condition.
By Mary Kane
Friday, June 9, 2023 8:30 AM
According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one million cataract surgeries are performed each year and more than half of Americans over the age of 80 are living with cataracts. Cataract is the leading cause of vision loss in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of blindness worldwide, the CDC said.
VMAIL Weekend recently sat down with Dr. David Litoff, a corneal specialist and surgeon specializing in both cataract surgery and refractive surgery. Here’s what he had to say about the early signs of cataract, how patients can protect themselves from developing cataracts and what's involved in cataract surgery.
By Mary Kane
Friday, May 19, 2023 8:30 AM
It seems only fitting that after celebrating Earth Day last month,
VM tackled the subject of sustainability in the optical industry in our May Cover Story titled "Sustainability Takes Root." Across most sectors of the industry, eyewear companies, contact lens manufacturers, lens makers, optical labs and ECPs are all hopping on the sustainability bandwagon. And for good reason. One of the most powerful ways that people can help save the environment is to support and buy from companies with a sustainability mindset.
VM’s Editors talked to a wide variety of optical players for this special feature and one theme resonated—optical companies are adopting, expanding and advancing their sustainability practices and their efforts are inspiring other optical players to get on board the sustainability train.
By Mary Kane
Sunday, April 23, 2023 12:28 AM
NEW YORK—Jennifer Hauser, managing director, Edelman Health and founder/director, Wellness 360, presented highlights from the Edelman Trust Barometer, the well-respected annual trust and credibility survey. In a session titled Cultivating Trust: The New Urgency in Business and Healthcare, she explained how our attitudes about trust are being shaped, and what businesses and brands can do to strengthen our trust in them.
By Mary Kane
Sunday, April 23, 2023 12:25 AM
NEW YORK—In a presentation titled “AI, ChatGPT and ‘Metaversal’ Madness,” John Whyte, MD, chief medical officer for WebMD, explained how artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality are adding new dimensions to the patient experience. Dr. Whyte believes that health happens when you leave the doctor’s office because today’s patients are using wearables, whether it be smart watches or smart jewelry, to track their health.
By Mary Kane
Sunday, April 23, 2023 12:20 AM
NEW YORK—Dwight Akerman, OD, MBA, FAAO, FBCLA, chief medical editor, Review of Myopia Management and International Myopia Institute global ambassador and Lisa McAlister, global myopia lead at Johnson & Johnson Vision and recently-elected board chair of the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition (GMAC), spoke about new efforts to expand awareness of myopia management.
By Mary Kane
Friday, April 21, 2023 8:30 AM
For the last 53 years, we have been celebrating Earth Day and today Americans of all ages will take time out of their very busy lives to participate in events to increase public awareness of environmental concerns and to celebrate their respect for our somewhat fragile environment. Today, more than ever, we need this very important reminder as we are bombarded with headlines about powerful tornadoes and hurricanes, pollution to our oceans, lakes and rivers, and scientific evidence about the perils of climate change as our planet warms toward catastrophic levels. But before we look ahead to what’s in store for Earth Day, let’s take a look back at the history of the environmental observance.
By Mary Kane
Friday, March 24, 2023 3:00 PM
Nearly three years to the day of when lockdowns began during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Javits Center opened its doors on March 17 to thousands of vendors, buyers, eyecare professionals and industry leaders. “This is the first year where it feels like the energy is back,” VSP Vision’s Stevie Mitchell keenly observed. Vision Expo East was the largest gathering of ophthalmic professionals in the U.S. in recent years. The Show, which ran from March 16 -19, welcomed thousands from the international vision care industry. Read on for a recap of some of Expo’s major highlights as well as photos of some of the many Show Floor events.
By Mary Kane
Friday, March 17, 2023 8:30 AM
Back in February of 2017, the sales and editorial team at
VM got the bright idea to put out a weekend edition and we called it, what else,
VMAIL Weekend. At the time, it seemed like a scary premise to add a 6th newsletter to our weekly news and feature-writing arsenal but in retrospect, it was a bold and rewarding move. Our biggest challenge with
Weekend has always been coming up with ideas for our anchor feature called Today’s Read. The TR was always meant to be a feature-driven story that readers could curl up with on a Saturday morning along with a cup of hot coffee. Six years later, it turns out the TRs have produced some of our most popular stories ever. So here are our top 5 most popular TR stories from
Weekend. Happy reading.
By Mary Kane
Friday, March 3, 2023 8:30 AM
When 14-year old Harini Venkatesh’s younger sister visited the eye doctor for her first checkup and came home complaining that she hadn’t been able to tell what was blurry and what wasn’t when the doctor had asked, she thought to herself, there has to be a better way to do this. “It was jarring to realize that her experience at an optometrist’s office would be very different than mine.” So she set out to find a solution and ended up winning second place in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge with Discovery Education, for her prototype titled The Comptometrist: An Efficient Way to Determine Myopic Power.
By Mary Kane
Friday, February 10, 2023 8:30 AM
Let’s face it, football is a very statistical game. And as we all know, for play-by-play announcers and color commentators, there is no shortage of stats on any given Sunday. When the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs at 6:30 tomorrow night, it is estimated that nearly 193 million adults will tune into Fox TV to watch the big game, according to data from National Retail Federation. With only one day left until the season’s biggest game,
VMAIL Weekend thought it would be a kick to list some fun facts about Super Bowl LVII as well as some stats from games in past years.