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Dr. Jemilah Mahmood is a medical professional with more than two decades experience managing crises in health, disasters and conflict settings. She is currently Professor and Executive Director of the newly established Sunway Centre for Planetary Health at Sunway University in Malaysia.
She holds advisory roles at the Consultative Council for Foreign Policy Malaysia and is currently a member of the Health White Paper Advisory Council at the Ministry of Health Malaysia. Dr Mahmood is on the board of the Employers Provident Fund Malaysia, the CVS Foundation and ALAM Foundation in Malaysia, the National Advisor to the Malaysia Red Crescent Society and the Sustainability Advisor to Air Asia.
Globally, she is a member of the board of Roche in Switzerland and the Norwegian Refugee Council. In 2023, she was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council of Responsible Resource Use. She is a strong advocate of planetary health and sustainability and actively advises on Environment, Social and Governance in the advisory and board roles she holds.
Adam Askew has been working for over 18 years to build partnerships and campaigns for change. He is an advisor for the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation supporting the founders on key eye health initiatives including, the Vision Catalyst Fund, Peek Vision and the IAPB.
Previously he was Director of Philanthropy for the investor, philanthropist and supermodel Natalia Vodianova, responsible for her partnerships with the UN, her anti-stigma platform ‘Let’s Talk’ and embedding social purpose into a broad investment portfolio. Adam was the Head of Funding Partnerships at Comic Relief, where he oversaw and supported all their major partnerships with trusts, foundations, government and companies, which supported the delivery of their impact programmes, including its public affairs with global bodies such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, UK government and United Nations.
He was also responsible for developing Comic Relief’s innovation and development funds. Adam has also worked for Oxfam GB, where he led advocacy and campaign development work in the UK and globally. Adam started his career in the youth development sector.
Andy has been engaged with the IAPB Climate Action Working Group since its inception and supported CAWG commusioning of the IAPB Fuide to Sustainable Eye Care Services akong with serving on FHF Environmental Climate Change Working Group.
CAWG Colleagues are committed to supporting IAPB Members, Ministries Of Health and Eye and General Healthcare systems changeHeth.
Anshu Taneja is an award-winning social entrepreneur. He has been leading VisionSpring in India since 2013 and has grown its impact tenfold.
VisionSpring provides clear vision through eyeglasses to one million people in India annually, thus helping them earn and learn better and lead safer lives. VisionSpring has provided eyeglasses to more than ten million people around the world and has created more than $2 billion of economic impact. In 2017, the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship recognised Anshu as an Outstanding Alumnus for using his career to create high-impact and effect positive change.
In 2019, The British Council recognised Anshu as a Distinguished Alumnus. He also received the NGO Leadership Award in the same year. In 2021, Anshu was the recipient of the Amity Alumni Achiever Award for Public Contribution and Entrepreneurship and the Indian Achievers’ Award in recognition of outstanding professional achievement and contribution in nation building.
Beatrice Varga is a Senior Program Manager at The Fred Hollows Foundation who has spent the last 2 years working with the team in Cambodia to deliver the first USAID funded ATscale grant; a market shaping project to scale up refractive error services and refine financing models for eye glass provision in Cambodia.
Prior to that, Beatrice spent the last 15 years working in the eye care sector with a focus on global health research, project design, implementation and management. She holds Master’s degrees in Public Health and Social Policy.
Busisiwe is a seasoned Public Health Practitioner who is passionate about eye health. She has more than 17 years experience in Public Health and Health Promotion.
Her work in eye health includes advocacy, community mobilization and she has also published a number of articles.
Dr Covadonga Bascaran is a clinical research fellow at the International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she works in research, capacity development and education to improve eye health worldwide.
Cova has a particular interest in diabetic retinopathy and leads the Diabetic Retinopathy Network (DR-NET) and co-chairs the IAPB work group in diabetic retinopathy.
Ass. Prof. Do Seiha, is currently working at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital as the deputy director and consultant ophthalmologist. He has received his MD degree at the Second Tashkent State Medical Institute, Uzbekistan (Former USSR ) in 2003. He completed his Ophthalmology In-Service Training in 2006 in Cambodia and got the scholarship for the Fellowship Training in Clinical and Surgical Ophthalmology at the Lion Eye Institute, University of Western Australia from 2006 to 2008.
Ass. Prof. Do Seiha used to be President of the Cambodian Ophthalmological Society (2009-2011) and involved teaching at the University of Health Science over 20 years. Ass. Prof. Do Seiha has been actively involved in the Prevention of Blindness activities in the country as worked as the Vice Chairman of National Program for Eye Health of the Ministry of Health since 2008 to date.
Dr Machin is an ophthalmic nurse. She is Chair of the Global Alliance of Eye Bank Associations; and Senior Project Manager and Lions Fellow to the Centre for Eye Research Australia’s Lions Eye Donation Service and Biobank. She has led sector wide reform, including the development of The Barcelona Principles, and worked in over 30 countries, previously with ORBIS International’s Flying Eye Hospital and as consultant to Fred Hollows Foundation NZ.
She is Project Officer to the Eye Bank Association of Australia and New Zealand; Representative to Lions Clubs International Eye Bank Working Group; Member of the Australian Organ and Tissue Authorities Eye and Tissue Advisory Committee; co-developer of the WHO’s Global Action Framework for Tissue in Transplantation; and co-President of the Australian Ophthalmic Nurses Association. She is passionate about improving eye donor awareness, global access to tissues for transplantation, training and research, and the role of nurses in ophthalmology.
Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Singapore — the largest and the most active international business association in Singapore and Southeast Asia representing over 650 companies. Hsien is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, member of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Advisory Board, Vice President of the Precision Public Health Asia Society, board member of TalenTtrust, member of the United Women Singapore STEM Advisory Panel, and member of the 2023 FIRST Global Challenge host committee.
Prior to AmCham, Hsien was Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Medtronic Asia Pacific, where she was responsible for the Medtronic Innovation Centers in Japan and Korea, training and education, and the company’s health systems transformation strategy in the region. Hsien has extensive experience in scientific affairs, corporate and healthcare communications, advertising, public relations and government affairs.
Hsien has lived and worked in the US, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, UK, and is now based in Singapore. She holds a BA (with honors) in Human Biology from Stanford University and a PhD in Epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health where she was the recipient of a US National Institutes of Health Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology Training Grant. Her doctoral thesis explored the genetic epidemiology of end-stage renal disease and type 2 diabetes. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at National Taiwan University Hospital in the Department of Internal Medicine.
James Chen is a Hong Kong-based philanthropist. He is a key proponent of the concept of ‘Moonshot philanthropy’, the uncompromising belief that philanthropic ventures must carry risk.In order to create real world-shifting change, philanthropists must embrace a risk-taking mindset, build a domain expertise and persevere through inevitable setbacks.
James has used this form of philanthropy to focus on two key areas, early childhood literacy and the world’s largest unmet disability: poor vision. He is the Founder of Clearly, a global campaign aiming to bring universal affordable eye-care to the 2.5 billion people globally with uncorrected poor vision. Following five years of campaigning success, Clearly transitioned to IAPB in January 2021. James took up a role as IAPB Global Ambassador following the success of Clearly. He also authored “Clearly: How a 700 Year Old Invention Can Change the World Forever” (Biteback Publishing, 2017), in which he explains his mission and identifies the barriers to delivering universal access to glasses.
As an innovative blended value investor, James co-founded the variable power lens technology company Adlens and is founder and trustee of Vision for a Nation, an award-winning charity, working to make eye care accessible globally. In just five years, Vision for a Nation established a transformative, sustainable eye-care service in Rwanda that is now accessible to its entire population of 12 million people. It has now moved into Ghana to roll out its programme.
James was an early adopter of venture philanthropy with the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation. Alongside his wife, Su Lee, the Foundation founded Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, an NGO promoting family literacy, and the Feng ZiKai Chinese Children’s Picture Book Award. He is the Chairman of his family’s enterprise Wahum Group Holdings, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath to recognise his philanthropic work.
James is a Health Systems Strengthening specialist currently working in Novartis Pharmaceuticals as the Health System Strengthening Partnerships Specialist in charge of East and Southern Africa Cluster handling various programs i.e., Avoidable Blindness programs, Integrated Healthy Family programs, Sickle cell Disease programs among other programmatic roles across the region.
He has 10 years’ experience in pharmaceutical industries with a background in Biochemistry and molecular Biology (first degree) and currently pursuing a post graduate degree (masters) in strategic management. James is very passionate at positively impacting the most vulnerable in the society to improve their quality of life and give them a smile.
Jeff Todd is President and CEO of Prevent Blindness, the leading eye health and safety patient advocacy organization in the United States dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight across all ages and eye conditions. Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness fulfils its mission through education, public policy advocacy, early detection program training and implementation, public health research, systems enhancement, and patient engagement.
In addition to his work at Prevent Blindness, Jeff is currently Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the National Health Council, was a co-founder and former Chair of Vision 2020 USA, is past Chair of the Vision Care Section of the American Public Health Association, and was the inaugural recipient of the Champion of Vision Award of the Children’s Eye Foundation and the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.
Jennifer Chen is the Chief Executive of the Chen-Yet Sen Family Foundation, the global foundation using ‘Moonshot Philanthropy’ to address early childhood literacy and vision correction. She leads all Asia operations for the Clearly campaign, which shifted global public perception of vision correction, framing poor vision as a development issue, and as the golden thread to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The campaign led to the founding of the UN ‘Friends of Vision’ group in 2018 and the UN’s unanimous ‘Vision for Everyone’ resolution in 2021.
Jerry has been involved with the provision of eye services to crisis-affected populations since 1990. He is a consultant for the Seva Foundation for refugee and humanitarian eye care, he teaches public health in the Faculty of Optometry at Rangsit University and lectures in humanitarian and refugee health at Thammasat University’s Public Health Program.
His interest is finding solutions for the most marginalized populations living in the most stark environments.
Joy Koech is the Head of Inclusive Eye Health Programmes at CBM. She is a Public Health Specialist with extensive experience in Public Health Programming and Health System Strengthening in low and middle-income countries.
Joy is a strong advocate for health equity and enhancing access to care, as such she is passionate about building and strengthening resilient health systems in low and middle-income countries. In Inclusive Eye Health Programmes, she believes that health system strengthening, digital health innovations, and good health governance put together can improve people’s eye health significantly.
Karlyn Tan is Vice President, Benefits (Asia ex. Japan) of Nomura Singapore Limited. She is a seasoned Human Resources Professional with 15 years of experience in various industries.
In her current role, she specialised in employee benefits and wellbeing. She is also IHRP Certified Professional and Certified Compensation Professional with World at Work.
Professor Kovin Naidoo is a Global Head of Advocacy and Partnerships at the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation He is an academic, former anti- apartheid activist and political prisoner, optometrist and an internationally celebrated public health leader. His professional life has been dedicated to delivering eye care to people in need.
Professor Naidoo is Honorary Professor of Optometry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and Adjunct Professor at University of New South Wales. He has published extensively in epidemiology and public health. He served on the 2019 WHO World Report on Vision editorial committee. Prof Naidoo initiated the formation of the African Vision Research Institute (AVRI). He is a former member of the World Council of Optometry Executive and Chair of the Red Cross Air Mercy Services among his many esteemed affiliations.
He is the founder of the Childrens Vision Campaign, co-founder of the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition and co-founder of the One School At A Time(OSAAT) program.
Associate ProfessorMarcus Ang is an academic clinician with a special interest in Myopia, Cornea and Refractive Surgery. He has published numerous peer reviewed articles in these fields, most recently on the use of AI and technology in the field of Myopia.
He has been recognized with several international awards for his research as well as contributions to prevention of blindness and global ophthalmology.
Mitasha is the Co-Chair of the Climate Action Working Group at the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and also work as a Consultant for the World Health Organisation in the Vision and Eye Care Programme.
She is a public health expert with over 16 years’ experience in public health eye care, international development, and clinical optometry. She is passionate about promoting the link between climate change and eye care, and climate action strategies the sector can implement.
Maggie Savage has more than 10 years of experience in health financing, market shaping, market access consulting, and health equity research with focused expertise in access to assistive technologies. At EYElliance, Maggie oversees execution for its government delivery and sustainable financing strategies to increase routine, reliable access to eyeglasses.
Prior to joining EYElliance in 2021, Maggie worked for more than six years with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), where she served in various roles, including as the Senior Manager for Assistive Technology. Prior to her work with CHAI, Maggie served in research roles with the London School of Economics and Political Science, the American Institutes for Research, and the Duke University Health Inequalities Program.
She also led US operations of a start-up non-profit focused on HIV/AIDS fundraising and advocacy and was a member of the inaugural class of Global Health Corps Fellows. Maggie holds a BA in Public Policy from Duke University and a Masters in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Raghu Gullapalli is the Executive Director of Global Partnerships & Development L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) As a passionate trailblazer in EyeCare, I’ve devoted my career to unraveling the enigma of exponential technologies.
Dr. Rengaraj Venkatesh is the Chief Medical Officer at Aravind Pondicherry and Consultant in Glaucoma and Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology (LAICO). He has over 20 years of experience in the field of ophthalmology and has performed over 100 thousand surgeries.
He has visited over 20 hospital in India and East Africa (Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya) for consultancy and capacity building of Eye hospitals. He has been actively involved in teaching and training for general ophthalmology, Cataract surgery and Glaucoma management. He has trained various overseas residents and short-term trainees. He has an experience of working over 25 major projects and published over 120 articles and 12 book chapters.
He has participated in various International (ASCRS, AAO, BMJ, WOC) and national conference and won numerous awards. At present Venkatesh heads the Aravind Center for Eye Care Innovation and mentors young Ophthalmologists at Aravind to think out of the box. He also advocates low carbon eye care at Aravind Eye Care System and is actively involved in environmental sustainability activities of IAPB through the Climate Action Working Group.
Sangchul Yoon is a Professor at the Yonsei University College of Medicine. He is an ophthalmologist with sub-specialties in cornea and preventive ophthalmology. In 2018, he obtained his doctorate in public health from Yonsei University. He is a public health expert who bridges the gap between the laboratory and the field in order to generate evidence.
His research interests have centred on innovative health accessibility and efficiency enhancing technologies, such as digital health and artificial intelligence. Prof. Yoon has served as Vice Director of the Centre for Global Development at the Yonsei university health system to enhance the health status and accessibility of people in low- and middle-income countries.
As the principal investigator on a number of humanitarian research grants, a number of global health initiatives have been implemented, including the use of mobile health (mHealth) systems in rural areas of Malawi, Bangladesh, Morocco, Nepal, and Vietnam.
Sarah Khor is the Director, EU Advocacy and Government Affairs Lead at Horizon Therapeutics.
A Global and European advocacy and government affairs expert, Sarah has been leading Horizon’s two departments since the Company’s European commercial launch in July 2021.
Dr. Mundle graduated from the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada in 1983. He practised in a group optometric practice in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for 39 years, retiring in 2021.
Dr. Mundle is a Past President of the Canadian Association of Optometrists and the World Council of Optometry. He is the WCO Delegate to and a member of the Executive of IAPB. He a Co-Chair of IAPB’s Refractive Error Work Group and a member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Clear Vision.
Sikai is the Chief Operating Officer of Tri-Sector Associates. He is interested in using Pay for Success as a partnership tool to improve accountability towards social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
He is experienced in structuring partnerships across pioneering markets such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He was previously a Senior Consultant with Dalberg Advisors, where he advised organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GE Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Tata Sustainability Group, and the USAID. Sikai has a BSc in Economics (cum laude) from the Singapore Management University.
Suzanne is a social epidemiologist and anthropologist by training who was recruited into eye care by Dr. G Venkataswamy in 1978 when he co-founded Seva Foundation. Suzanne has been an active member of the global eye health community ever since. Through her work with Seva Foundation she builds local eye health champions, their teams, and sustainable programs in every region of the world. Active with IAPB as chair of working groups, task forces and now North America Region Chairperson.
Optimistic about improvements in clarity of global eye sector goals, intersectionality beyond health into broader development, and strengthening local voices and leaders in getting the job done. Focus now on building research skills among eye health professionals so they can ask their own questions, derive their own answers, and use results for continuous improvement.
Tricia Keys has been working in the not-for-profit and international development sector for over 15 years. Tricia is the Head of Operations at Act for Peace, an Australian NGO with a mission in working to create, together, a world where people uprooted by conflict and disaster have a safe place to belong.
Coming from an optometry, public health and program management background Tricia has a thorough understanding of development, its issues and practical implementation measures. She has a special interest in evaluation and impact, including ensuring structures and systems are in place to better ensure effectiveness and accountability.
After working with the Brien Holden Vision Foundation, Tricia moved into the humanitarian sector and worked for Australia for UNHCR before joining Act for Peace. Qualifications include: Masters of Public Health, Grad Cert in Program Evaluation and Bachelors of Optometry.
Sammie Ho Dumas is the Director of Social Impact & Sustainability at Williams-Sonoma. At Williams-Sonoma, she collaborates with leadership across the business to achieve the goal of 75% of products purchased from suppliers who offer worker wellbeing programs by 2030. She is a CSR practitioner with 20 years of experience.
She has managed CSR and sustainability programs at Target, C&A, Abercrombie & Fitch, and American Eagle Outfitters.
