Join Dr. Deborah Zelinsky for a fascinating exploration of how rapidly evolving discoveries in retinal science and neuro-optometry are reshaping our understanding of vision—and positioning optometry as a key profession in future healthcare.

This lecture begins with a clear, accessible overview of retinal structure, highlighting classic cell types while spotlighting major breakthroughs since 2020. Dr. Zelinsky will discuss how these new findings expand our understanding of the retina as a complex filtering system, deeply integrated with such systems as perception, cognition, balance, circadian rhythms, and emotional regulation.

Participants will then explore the optic nerve’s multiple pathways—both the traditional image-forming channel and the lesser-known, non-image-forming routes that influence the body and mind through sleep, posture, alertness, mood, emotion and autonomic functions. Dr. Zelinsky will explain how lenses and prisms can strategically modify retinal input and consequently shift signaling through these pathways, offering powerful tools for therapeutic intervention.

Building on this foundation, the session introduces three types of eyesight, each operating at distinct processing speeds:

• Two forms of peripheral processing
• Central image-forming processing

This framework helps clinicians better understand patient behaviors, performance variability, and why certain visual interventions produce profound, whole-body effects.

If time permits, Dr. Zelinsky will also provide a different viewpoint of how vergence and accommodative ranges interact with phorias and AC/A ratios. Who should attend:
Optometrists, vision therapists, educators, students, and any professional interested in the expanding frontier of neuro-optometric care.

Expect to leave with a refreshed appreciation of the retina as a neural gateway, along with practical concepts you can apply immediately in clinical reasoning and patient care.