Presenters
Premilla Banwait, OD, MPH, FAAO
Vice President of Clinical Programs 
UnitedHealthcare Vision

Ruth Y. Shoge, OD, MPH, FAAO
Associate Clinical Professor 
Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
University of California Berkeley 
Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science
Berkeley, California

About the presenters
Dr. Banwait is the vice president of clinical programs for UnitedHealthcare Vision, a leading eye health company serving more than 25 million people enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual, private label and Medicare and Medicaid plans. Dr. Banwait leads the advancement of eye health programs to support the well-being of members, in collaboration with clinicians in a national network of more than 33,000 eye care professionals, helping to make quality eye care more affordable and accessible. 

Dr. Banwait earned a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from the University of California San Diego, an optometry degree from the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry and a master of public health in health policy and management from the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. She completed her pediatric optometry residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. 

Dr. Banwait also is a member of the American Optometric Association and a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry. In her free time, she enjoys bouldering, yoga, being outdoors and spending time with her children and family.

Dr. Shoge is currently an associate clinical professor and the director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) at the University of California Berkeley Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science. She received her doctor of optometry degree from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, where she also completed a residency in pediatrics and vision therapy. She received her Master of Public Health from Temple University with a concentration in social and behavioral science. During that time, she developed a special interest in using cultural humility and bias awareness as tools to address eyecare disparities and inequities  to improve health outcomes in historically marginalized communities. She has been involved in several institution-specific and national initiatives to improve education, policies and practices within the eyecare profession. Additionally, she started her own consulting company, RYS Consultants LLC, to provide educational opportunities and long-term DEIB planning in academic, private and corporate settings for practitioners, student members and leaders of the optometric community.  

Dr. Shoge’s clinical interests include pediatric care, non-strabismic binocular vision disorders, vision disorders related to concussion and vision therapy. In the clinical setting, Dr. Shoge aims to provide and model clinical competence and cultural humility to her students as they care for their patients. She has served as an investigator in several federally funded research studies and has had the opportunity to present nationally and internationally about binocular vision, vision therapy, the management of concussion-related vision disorders, clinical cultural humility and bias awareness training and DEIB leadership training.
 

Activity planner
Elizabeth Albert, MD
Clinical Activity Manager
Optum Health Education

Disclosures of relevant financial relationships
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, Optum Health Education (OHE) requires all those in control of educational content to disclose their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. Ineligible companies are defined by the ACCME as companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care products used by or on patients. Individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies and regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. OHE ensures that the content is independent of commercial bias.

The activity faculty and planners have no financial relationships to disclose.