Functional Vision and Accessibility conference, San Francisco, Aug 3-4, 2023

To celebrate our 60th anniversary, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute is hosting a hybrid conference on Functional Vision and Accessibility, a 2-day international workshop on translational research to address visual impairment and accessibility. The conference will bring together stakeholders (those experiencing vision loss and blindness) and those doing translational research (scientists, clinicians, and inventors) to address long-standing and emerging vision problems with promising new approaches. Currently we have a limited number of travel grants for trainees and members of underrepresented groups to attend. We are waiting to find out whether we get funding for more travel grants.

More details of the meeting can be found at www.ski.org/FVAconference.

Our sessions topics and speakers include:

• Understanding the role of eye movements in active visual perception and their potential as a biomarker for various clinical conditions

Speakers: Jacob Yates (UC Berkeley), Jorge Otero-Millan (UC Berkeley), Esther Gonzales (U Toronto), Christy Sheehy (CLight Technologies)

Discussant: Preeti Verghese (Smith-Kettlewell)

• Understanding the role of the maldevelopment of vergence and accommodation on impaired binocular function and its functional consequences

Speakers: Paul Gamlin (U Alabama Birmingham), Jenny Read (U Newcastle), Rowan Candy (U Indiana, Bloomington), Ewa Niechwiej-Szwedo (U Waterloo)

Discussant: Dennis Levi (UC Berkeley)

• Evaluating retinal and cortical visual function in health and disease

Speakers: Omar Mahroo (University College London), Ravi Jonnal (UC Davis), Yoichiro Masuda (Jikei University), Holly Bridge (Oxford University)

Discussant: Christopher Tyler (Smith-Kettlewell)

• Brain plasticity after partial or complete loss of functional vision

Speakers: Mriganka Sur (MIT) Wu Li (Beijing Normal University), Lotfi Merabet (Mass. Eye & Ear), Ione Fine (University of Washington)

Discussant: Lora Likova (Smith-Kettlewell)

• Using emerging tools such as artificial intelligence and neural networks to understand human vision and visual dysfunction, and using AI and data science to complement human expertise

Speakers: Miguel Eckstein (UC Santa Barbara) Frank Tong (Vanderbilt), Dan Yamins (Stanford), Danna Gurari (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder)

Discussant: Laura Walker (Apple)

• Using virtual and augmented reality in visual assessment, binocular training, and navigation

Speakers: Ben Backus (Vivid Vision), Brandon Biggs (Georgia Tech), Paul Ruvolo (Olin College), Yuhang Zhao (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison)

Discussant: James Coughlan (Smith-Kettlewell)

• A special session devoted to an in-depth discussion on vision restoration vs. using the remaining senses, in the context of the onset of visual impairment and the populations they serve 

Speakers: Juliette MacGregor (Univ. of Rochester), Michael Beyeler (UC Santa Barbara), Dan Adams (Neuralink), Josh Miele (Amazon), Gordon Legge (Univ. of Minnesota), Sile O'Modhrain (Univ. of Michigan), Don Fletcher (Smith-Kettlewell)

Discussant: Arvind Chandna (Smith-Kettlewell)