Women's Health & Vision Symposium 2022

Women's health care has made great strides in the past two decades. The recognition that women have different health care needs than men has enabled changes to take place in clinical care, research, and education. Join PBT in the mission of advocating for women in the vision field.

Prevent Blindness Texas’ Women’s Health & Vision Symposium is an evening focused on highlighting women and discussing how to empower women in their eye health and overall health. This event is an opportunity to candidly discuss how women navigate the healthcare system both as a doctor and patient. PBT’s Women’s Health and Vision program will present educational experiences to help inform women of their vision loss risks associated with overall health issues. The event and following program will provide resources for connecting women to care and will elevate the conversation of how to bring more women into the healthcare field. Prevent Blindness Texas’ goal is to empower women and provide pathways to better health—especially eye health.

Agenda
6:30 pm- Check-in, appetizers, cocktails
7:00 pm- Introductions and Purse Bingo
7:30 pm- Keynote Speaker
7:50 pm- Panelists and Audience Discussion
8:45 pm- Dessert

Keynote Speaker

Rachel Aubert, D.O.

Rachel Aubert, D.O. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology, Cerebrovascular Division at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Aubert earned her medical degree from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) Carolinas Campus. She completed her internship and adult neurology residency at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, where she served as chief neurology resident. Dr. Aubert went on to complete a vascular neurology fellowship at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. She currently sits on the Texas Neurological Society Legislative Committee, TNS Women’s Neurology committee, Society for Vascular and Interventional Neurology WIN subcommittee, and the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council Stroke Systems of Care and Research Work Committees. She has special research interests in anticoagulation in stroke and work interests in medical education.

Moderator
Lynne Becker, MSPH

Lynne Becker, MSPH is the CEO and Founder of, Power of Patients, the first patient-led real-time brain injury data warehouse that helps patients, caregivers, and providers improve rehabilitation by sharing data unlike existing electronic medical record systems and providing a resource for clinical trials. She is a caregiver to her two daughters with TBIs and stroke. This unforeseen journey led Lynne to tackle the biggest problem for people with brain injuries, knowledge gap, due to a lack of research. Lynne Becker, MSPH is a biostatistician with an emphasis in epidemiology. She has curated a highly flexible skill set that encompasses 20+ years of experience in drug metabolism, orthopedics, diabetes, obesity, devices, oncology, ophthalmology, dermatology, animal research, gastrointestinal disorders, biologics, and behavioral research. Her specialty is in Telehealth applications and big data. Lynne began her career in ocular corporate research, moved into academics, and then shifted to the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Defense Health Agency (DHA ) government sectors where she was a team lead in building the world’s largest healthcare repository (Oracle), then led a team in the redesign of the VA’s patient facing EMR until being recruited to manage the TBI portal for the Special Ops teams. Lynne has an in-depth understanding of clinical trial management from both sponsor and site perspectives with a keen ability to manage multiple projects in dynamic environments. Lynne is consensus-oriented, open and productive communicator with an impressive portfolio of accomplishments that stems from a “Can Do” philosophy complemented by a “What If” mind.

Meet Our Panelists

Lindsay Berry O.D., FCOVD

Dr. Lindsay Berry earned her bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She went on to graduate as Valedictorian from Southern California College of Optometry and was recognized for her clinical skills. She then completed a Residency in Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation and earned her Fellowship from the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (FCOVD). Dr. Berry is one of only five Optometrists in DFW to hold the prestigious FCOVD title. Dr. Berry is also a certified Optometric Glaucoma Specialist and provides a variety of eye care services including pediatric vision exams, lazy eye evaluation, routine contact lens exams, diabetic eye examinations, glaucoma evaluations, emergency eye care, and surgical (LASIK/PRK and Cataract) co-management. Dr. Berry is a member of several professional organizations including the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD), Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA), American Optometric Association (AOA), and Texas Optometric Association (TOA). In her spare time, Dr. Berry enjoys spending time with her husband and their young daughter, taking her labradoodle for walks, cooking, and doing jigsaw puzzles.

Preston H. Blomquist, M.D.

Preston H. Blomquist, M.D., is Professor and Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Ophthalmology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. A Distinguished Teaching Professor, he is a comprehensive ophthalmologist whose research interests include resident surgical training and ocular trauma. Dr Blomquist has received multiple teaching awards, including the Straatsma Award for Excellence in Resident Education from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology, and the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards. He received the Secretariat Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, which recognizes special contributions to the Academy and ophthalmology.

Melanie Truong-Le, D.O., O.D.

Dr. Melanie Truong-Le received her bachelors degree in Chemical Sciences from Wichita State University before attending optometry school at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. Shortly after graduating from optometry school, she married her high school sweet heart who is also an optometrist and opened her own business which soon expanded to a full-service optometry practice. Dr. Truong-Le took on the challenges of running a business with employee management as her forte while assisting her father-in-law during his terminal diagnosis of amyotrophy lateral sclerosis by helping him navigate the health care system. This time managing the psychological effects of a terminal disease was eye opening and led to Dr. Truong-Le becoming a physician who could who understand how patients feel in the system while fighting disease. After years out of academics, she returned to the Texas Osteopathic College of Medicine and matched into the UTSW neurology residency and realized her passion in serving people as a teacher while being a neuro-ophthalmologist. She completed two fellowships: one at the University of Iowa and then one at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. As a woman, Dr. Truong-Le knows and understand the inherent difficulties of the health industry and is happy to represent at the PBT Women’s Symposium.

"As we mature in our womanhood, each of us learn to follow our hearts. This is how successes are born!”