Advisory Board

Dr. Alicia Feis is dean of the Arizona College of Optometry, Midwestern University. She also serves as a clinical associate professor at the Midwestern University Eye Institute in the pediatrics clinic.

Dr. Feis earned a Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology at the University of California Santa Barbara and a Doctor of Optometry from Southern California College of Optometry. She completed her postdoctoral residency in pediatrics and binocular vision at Illinois College of Optometry.

Dr. Feis was in private practice in Fort Collins, Colorado prior to joining Midwestern University Arizona College of Optometry in 2011. She became the dean of the Arizona College of Optometry in 2019, previously serving as the assistant director of clinical rotations, assistant dean, and associate dean of academic affairs.

Dr. Feis is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) and also serves as a clinical director for the Special Olympics Opening Eyes program.

Ashley serves as the school nursing services and health coordinator at the Arizona Department of Education, where she leads statewide efforts to strengthen school nursing practices. In this role, she provides expert guidance on school health policies, nursing standards, and public health initiatives that support the well-being of students, families, and school communities across Arizona.

Ashley is a dedicated leader in school health, bringing a strong background in both clinical practice and community health initiatives. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees—a Bachelor of Health Science in Health Education and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing—and is currently advancing her expertise by pursuing a Master of Nursing with a focus in Public Health.

Morgan Scadden has been an advocate for children with sensory impairments in Arizona since 2017. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Idaho State University and a Master’s degree in Deaf Education with an emphasis in spoken language acquisition from Utah State University.

In her role as the sensory screening program manager at the Arizona Department of Health Services, Morgan collaborates with children’s hearing and vision stakeholders statewide to strengthen screening policy and advocacy programs. She guides the implementation of hearing and vision screening training, collects data from screenings in schools across Arizona, and develops reports and recommendations based on the information. She also oversees an equipment loan program with more than 100 pieces of hearing and vision screening equipment that is available for use by schools statewide.

Donna Harris is board president of the Arizona Lions Vision and Hearing Foundation, a volunteer organization dedicated to transforming lives through restored vision and hearing for those in need. The Foundation works with a team of highly-skilled and experienced optometrists, ophthalmologists, and hearing specialists to provide comprehensive care and treatment for a wide range of eye and ear conditions. 

Donna also coordinates the Foundation’s mobile vision care program, which visits Arizona public schools and serves thousands of children from low-income families with eye exams and glasses, free of charge.

Kyrstyn Paulat is the director of early learning and education at Children’s Action Alliance. She has worked at the intersection of health and education for the overall well-being of students in Arizona for over a decade. Access to healthcare is a challenge that many students face, and Kyrstyn has worked on efforts that are directed towards promoting policies and programs that increase access to health services in the school-setting and that optimize Medicaid revenue for school-based services.

Marcela serves as the family representative on the Eyes On Learning Advisory Board. As mother to a deaf/blind child, she provides invaluable perspective on the needs and struggles of parents whose children have a visual impairment. She is an advocate for her daughter and other families facing the many, significant challenges of finding information and resources to support their children’s health and learning.

“As an accountant for over 25 years, I had not been involved with any advocacy programs until six years ago, when we got our amazing daughter, and were thrust into the world of IEPs and medical specialties. Finding resources has become a part-time job. Joining Eyes On Learning gives me hope that more parents will find a source of information that will help their children succeed.”

Peggy Stemmler is director of the FrameShift Group, a consultancy focused on quality improvement and change management in health systems. She has spent the majority of her career working in health policy and quality improvement practice, both as a consultant and with professional associations.

In addition to serving on the advisory board of Eyes On Learning, Peggy has served on leadership teams for the National Improvement Partnership Network and the Arizona State Medicaid Advisory Committee, among others.

Her past work as a pediatrician in primary care practice has brought insight and real-life experience that informs her work on health systems change. She completed her medical training at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She also holds a Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

Christine Mahoney has served as a department specialist for Mesa Public Schools for more than a decade, supporting school health offices in providing care for students that meets licensing standards, follows best practices, and aligns with district policies and guidelines. She also has experience as a school nurse at both junior high and elementary school levels.

Christine served for nine years as board secretary for the School Nurses Organization of Arizona, supporting and advocating for school nurses throughout the state, and has has been an academic and clinical CNA instructor at East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT).

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and a master’s degree in Nursing Education.

Nadine is the Director of Health Services/Audiology for Mesa Public Schools, the largest school district in Arizona, serving 83 schools and 60,000 students. She has been in school nursing since 1991.

Nadine is a past president of the School Nurses Organization of Arizona and is a member of the National Association of School Nurses. 

She is a graduate of Arizona State University and Nova Southeastern University.

Terri Clark was appointed Arizona Literacy Director in June 2012. In this role, she leads Read On Arizona, our state’s early literacy initiative.

Working in coordination with the Read On Arizona Advisory Board, she guides the statewide collaboration to advance the strategies, policies, and investments needed for all our children to learn to read at grade level and be successful in school. She drives alignment and coordination of efforts, provides literacy expertise and technical assistance to partners, and builds capacity to scale and sustain what works. She also leads collaborations with other states to identify and implement effective literacy policies and strategies.

Eyes On Learning is closely aligned with Read On Arizona, as children’s vision health is key to helping advance literacy and reading proficiency. Both initiatives are headquartered at Piper Trust, and Terri has served on the Eyes On Learning Advisory Board since its inception.

Dr. Harvey is an experimental psychologist with expertise in visual perception and development of vision in infants and children. Her research focuses on the study of normal and abnormal visual development in infants, toddlers, and school-age children, epidemiological studies on prevalence of refractive errors in children, and clinical studies on treatment of amblyopia. 

As senior program officer at Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, Emily Mead manages responsive and Trust-initiated grantmaking, programs, projects, and Trust Initiatives. She has a lead role in the ongoing design and implementation of Piper Academy, the Trust’s signature learning opportunity, and other organizational enhancement investments.

Prior to joining Piper Trust in 2020, Emily worked in nonprofit program management, fund development, and government affairs, serving in leadership roles at Institute for Sustainable Communities and Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC).

In addition to her role on on the Eyes On Learning Advisory Board, she currently serves as chair of the joint-fund Arizona Together For Impact and is a member of the Maricopa Family Support Alliance Steering Committee. 

Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Public Administration from Arizona State University. She is an alumnus of Valley Leadership, Class 38.

Dr. O’Neil is a Board-certified pediatric ophthalmologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where he treats a broad spectrum of pediatric ophthalmology disorders. He has performed more than 12,000 surgeries in 30+ years of practice and was the second ophthalmologist in the United States to perform remote retinopathy of prematurity screenings to prevent blindness in premature infants. Dr. O’Neil has numerous publications in scientific medical journals and has developed patented vision assessment software applications currently in use throughout the world. 

In 2003, he co-founded VisionQuest 20/20, a 501c(3) non-profit, to address the public health issue of unrecognized and untreated vision disorders in children. Working through VisionQuest 20/20, Dr. 0 Neil has facilitated charitable distribution of computerized vision screening software he designed to schools, helping to provide over 3,000,000 vision screenings.

In addition to his role on the Eyes On Learning Advisory Board, Dr. O’Neil also serves on the vision screening committee of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) and the vision and hearing committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics – Arizona Chapter (AzAAP).

Roy Pringle is chief operating officer of Vitalyst Health Foundation, which works to help communities be healthier and live well. He oversees the foundation’s accounting, portfolio management, and administrative functions.

Programmatically, he leads the foundation’s vision-related policy and advocacy work to improve children’s vision health in Arizona.

As part of the Technical Assistance Partnership of Arizona (TAPAZ), Roy serves as the lead executive for growing the fiscal sponsorship program to help build the financial capacity of the nonprofit sector in Arizona.

Jennifer L. Miller is a Nursing Supervisor with Yavapai County Education Service Agency, where she supervises, manages, and delivers nursing services to support schools and student achievement. 

She is also a trainer of hearing and vision screening through the Arizona Department of Health. 

Jennifer has worked as a school nurse since graduating from Yavapai College in 2007. She has also worked in private practice pediatric nursing, fueling her passion for student health. She continued her education as a lifelong learner by earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Grand Canyon University in 2020 and National Certified School Nurse (NCSN) certification in 2022. 

She completed the School Nurse Leadership cohort with Northeastern University in 2024 and is a member of the National Association of School Nurses and School Nurse Association of Arizona.