2025 Agenda REVISED

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

LOCATION
WBUR/CitySpace
890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

8:30–9:45AM
OPENING SESSION
The Optometrist of the Future: Integrated, Innovative, Indispensable
Format: Roundtable + Audience Reflections

Themes:

• Optometry’s growing integration into health systems and precision care

• Core skills for the future: digital fluency, clinical reasoning, interprofessional care

• Collective takeaways and next steps for schools, industry, and students

• Co-creating the roadmap for preparing tomorrow’s optometric leaders

9:45–10:00AM
Break

10:00AM–Noon
SESSION 1
Rebuilding the Foundation: Curriculum, Competence & Confidence
Panel, Audience Q&A, Breakouts

Themes:

• Foundational Science as a Launchpad

  • Anatomy, pharmacology, physiology, and pathology are essential to mastering lasers, AI, diagnostics, and evolving treatments

  • Strong scientific grounding = future adaptability and lifelong learning

• Clarifying What’s Vital

  • Challenge of determining what knowledge matters most in applied basic science (especially in Part 1)

  • Opportunity for collaboration between educators and regulatory bodies on aligning exams with evolving practice

• Cognitive Load & Mental Health

  • Addressing burnout from dense curricula and high-stakes exams

  • Strategies for retention, resilience, and building clinical confidence

• Institutional Momentum

  • Highlighting how more schools are rethinking curriculum, assessment, and advocacy

  • Calling for cross-sector collaboration to ensure student success

Noon–12:45PM
Lunch

12:45–1:45PM
SESSION 2
Tech-Forward, Patient-Centered: Innovation Without Losing the Human Touch
Format: Interactive Demos + Panel

Featured Technologies:

• Topcon + Oculomics – AI imaging tools that detect systemic disease

• Simbo.ai – Chatbot triage assistants, AI scribing, front desk support

• AI Imaging & Data Management – Platforms to streamline diagnostics and clinical decision-making

Themes:

• Preparing students to critically evaluate and implement new technologies

• Building data interpretation and digital health literacy

• Ensuring technology enhances, not replaces, empathy and human connection

• Live demos and hands-on experiences with clinical and practice management tools

1:45–2:45PM
SESSION 3
Beyond the Bench: How Industry Powers Education & Student Success
Format: Lightning Talks + Panel Discussion

Participants:
Industry partners, Optometry students, residents, faculty, and administrators

Themes:

• Industry’s evolving role in education, not just product delivery

• Research, simulations, and technology platforms

• Real-world examples of impactful partnerships

• Ethical collaboration and long-term student impact

2:45–3:00PM
Break

3:00–4:00PM
CLOSING SESSION
Vision 2030: The Future of Education

Speakers:
Dr. Joseph Aoun
President, Northeastern University
“Robot-Proofing Optometric Education in the Age of AI”

Dr. Kiame Mahaniah
Secretary, Massacheustts Executive Office of Health & Human Services
“Metabolic Disease, Public Health, and the Role of Eye Care”

Themes:

• Training future-ready, critically-thinking, AI-literate clinicians

• Eye care’s expanding role in systemic disease detection (e.g., diabetes, cardiac-metabolic)

• Public health alignment and interprofessional collaboration

• EYE CARE = HEALTH CARE