Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award

12th Annual Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award Recipient:
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine

Governor DeWine was nominated for the award in recognition of his leadership in creating a unique and sustainable system of eyecare for children throughout the state of Ohio, and his support of a $25 million allocation to support it. In 2024, he led the formation of the Children’s Vision Strike Force to ensure that students who did not pass certified vision screenings received follow-up eye exams and necessary glasses. DeWine then developed the OhioSEE Program with the goal of improving the comprehensive system of care for vision and eye health in Ohio’s children.

In the initial year of OhioSEE, 1,900 children received a comprehensive eye exam, and 1,200 children received a free pair of eyeglasses. Currently, the program is supporting mobile vision vans and temporary clinics, bringing access to comprehensive eye exams directly to schools within 15 counties, including Allen, Butler, Clark, Clermont, Cuyahoga, Erie, Franklin, Guernsey, Huron, Jackson, Lorain, Mahoning, Marion, Montgomery, and Ross. Notably, Governor DeWine has allocated the $25 million of support through the Rural Health Transformation Fund to expand the program statewide and to include additional pathways of delivering eye exams to children in need.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine

About the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award

The Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award recognizes significant efforts by an individual or group of individuals to improve public health approaches for children’s vision and eye health at the state or national level in the United States. The award was established in 2014 by the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health Advisory Committee to commemorate Dr. Bonnie Strickland and her groundbreaking work to establish a comprehensive system for children’s vision in the United States.  Strickland served as Director of the Division of Services for Children with Special Health Needs, Maternal and Child Health Bureau before her retirement in 2014.

Nominees

Nominees for the award may be individuals or groups comprised of diverse stakeholders, including families/caregivers, community leaders, public health professionals, healthcare and eyecare providers, educators, and others, who are implementing changes to improve children’s vision and reduce disparities in children’s vision and eye health in the United States. Nominees should demonstrate significant impact in one or more areas of a population health system supporting children’s vision:

  • Key stakeholder engagement or collaboration, including representation from families and from diverse racial, ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic backgrounds
  • Training and education
  • Public awareness
  • Provision of resources and/or services
  • Surveillance and accountability
  • Reduction of health inequities
  • Vision and eye health infrastructure development at the local, state, or national level
  • Connecting vision to overall health, early childhood development, and learning
Watch Past Award Presentations

Past Recipients

2025: Eye Thrive. The mission of Eye Thrive is to give low-income children throughout the St. Louis, Mo. metropolitan region the ability to thrive through access to essential vision care. Eye Thrive has built partnerships with over 100 high-need schools and community centers throughout the St. Louis metro region. Eye Thrive served 17,747 children in low-income communities during the 2024-2025 school year, providing free screenings, nearly 4,800 comprehensive eye exams, just under 6,000 pairs of prescription glasses, and 168 medical referrals.

2024: The Alcon Children’s Vision Center (ACVC), a partnership between the Alcon Foundation and the Fort Worth Independent School District (ISD), provides essential vision and eye health services to Fort Worth ISD students. The ACVC provides eye health education for students and families, professional development for school nurses around children’s vision, vision screenings, and no-cost eye care services, including an on-site comprehensive eye exam, and if necessary, free prescription glasses..

2023: Danielle Crull, ABOM, author, business owner of A Child’s Eyes, organizer of The Pumpkin Patch Project, and founder of the Truffles the Kitty Organization (TKO) for her efforts to raise awareness of vision disorders in children, promoting early detection and treatment, supporting children in their patching treatment for amblyopia (lazy eye) and eyeglasses-wearing, and engaging families and the public in efforts to reduce stigma around vision disorders.

2022: Donny W. Suh, MD, FAAP, MBA, FACS, Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, and Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine.  Dr. Suh serves as medical director of the UC Irvine Mobile Eye Clinic which has provided vision screenings for more than 20,000 preschoolers in Orange County, Calif. Dr. Suh was also recognized for training pediatric ophthalmologists and his leadership within the American Academy of Pediatrics to improve communications between pediatrics and ophthalmology, and for developing vision screening guidelines.

2021: Ms. Shavette L. Turner, Vice President, Children’s Vision Services at Prevent Blindness Georgia (PBGA). Ms. Turner implemented a unique approach to helping disadvantaged and underserved youth across Georgia access vision and eye care, with emphasis in Hall County where there is a significantly large Latino population who experience barriers to eye care. Ms. Turner recruited more than 200 community volunteers, resulting in screening thousands of students and providing 300 pairs of eyeglasses.

2020: Logan Newman, NBCT, ABO, MS Ed, Program Developer and NYS Certified Science teacher and Career in Technical Experience Teacher at the East High School Vision Care Program.

2019: Anne L. Coleman, M.D., MPH, UCLA Stein Eye Institute.  Dr. Coleman is the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation Professor of Ophthalmology at Stein Eye Institute of the David Geffen School of Medicine; Vice Chair, Academic Affairs, UCLA Department of Ophthalmology; Professor of Epidemiology in the UCLA Jonathon and Karin Fielding School of Public Health; Director of the Stein Eye Institute Center for Community Outreach and for her leadership of the UCLA Mobile Vision Clinic.

2017: Sean P. Donahue, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University.  Dr. Donahue was selected by the volunteer Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award Committee for his efforts to improve children’s vision through stakeholder engagement, volunteer coordination, and advancement of vision screening technology.

2016: The Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) at Princeton Vision Clinic based at the Illinois College of Optometry.  The IEI at Princeton was selected by the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award Committee for its consistent and on-going commitment to addressing the unmet visual needs of Chicago Public School students.

2016 Honorable Mention: Vivian James, PhD, North Carolina Preschool Exceptional Children Coordinator for the Office of Early Learning – State Board of Education, Department of Public Instruction.  Dr. James was recognized for her exceptional work in North Carolina to improve vision screening systems as they relate to public health professional training as well as special education eligibility determinations.

2015: The Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s (PPOC) based at the Boston Children’s Hospital in Brookline, Massachusetts.  The PPOC was selected by the Award Committee for its consistent and on-going commitment to introducing proven and innovative new approaches to pediatric vision screening and care to providers and patients in the medical home setting.