Envision announced today that Ione Fine, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle and an expert in brain plasticity and sight recovery technology, will deliver the keynote address at the 13th annual Envision Conference, to be held August 22-25 at Wichita, Kansas.
Dr. Fine’s presentation, “Blindness, Brain Plasticity and Future Sight Recovery Technology,” will address how individuals who are blind come to understand the language and concepts of the sighted world and, ultimately, learn to navigate through it fluently. She will discuss what is known about brain plasticity, its effect on brain development, and the extent to which it may eventually be harnessed to interpret the information provided by sight recovery technologies.
“We are excited to have Dr. Fine lead off our 2018 program as the keynote speaker. Her research into brain plasticity and sight recovery technology has direct implications to the validity of vision rehabilitation interventions and clinical practice techniques for people who are blind or low vision,” said Michael Epp, manager of professional education at Envision. “Her work understanding the effects of blindness will prove increasingly important as new sight-restoration procedures such as retinal prosthetic implants, epithelial stem cell replacements, gene therapies, retinal transplants and others become available in the next few years and are incorporated further into the treatment of vision loss. She will provide the perfect foundation on which to launch several days of discussion centered around current and future approaches to addressing vision loss and impairment.”
Dr. Fine is a fellow of the Optical Society of America and has been a selected speaker at the National Eye Institute’s (NEI’s) 50th Anniversary Symposium focusing on low vision. Her projects, which have a direct correlation to vision loss and impairment, include a five-year study funded by the NEI to examine how neural responses to auditory stimuli might mediate the enhanced behavioral abilities observed in early blind individuals.
Presented annually by the non-profit organization Envision, the Envision Conference draws optometrists, ophthalmologists, teachers of the visually impaired, occupational, rehabilitation and licensed visual therapists, researchers, and suppliers of vision-related products and services. It has increasingly attracted researchers and practitioners from fields including psychology, neurology and other areas whose interests show real or potential ties to the field of vision. Registration for this year’s conference is now open and will be held at Hyatt Regency Wichita.