Dr. Julene Peña?

Dr. Julene Peña

Optometrist

150 Muir Road Martinez CA, 94553 Show map

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About

Julene Peña, O.D., F.A.A.O., is an accomplished optometrist specializing in low vision rehabilitation. She works with patients who are visually impaired or with traumatic brain injuries, and currently serves with distinction at the Advanced Low Vision Clinic for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Martinez, California. Dr. Peña obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington before pursuing her Doctor of Optometry degree from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She further honed her skills through the Southern California College of Optometry low vision residency program. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (F.A.A.O.), a prestigious designation that recognizes her academic achievement and honors in the field of Optometry.

Dr. Peña’s family played an important role in her career. She first became interested in vision and learning about the eyes when her brother started losing his eyesight at the age of ten. She always wanted to find ways to help him continue to do all the things kids do despite his vision loss. He became a world-champion powerlifter and has traveled the world. He inspired her to pursue a career helping blind and visually impaired people. Dr. Peña's parents encouraged her to choose a meaningful career close to her heart, too. It was also thanks to her grandfather, a veteran, that led to her decision to pursue a career with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

At the VA, Dr. Peña’s patients include low-vision elderly WWII veterans in their 90s and even 100s. The main causes of low vision are diabetes, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. She helps these patients maximize their remaining vision and regain their independence and confidence with such things as specialty glasses, telescopes, magnifiers, electronic magnifiers, and talking scanners. She also works with veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injuries from military blasts, motor vehicle accidents, and cerebral vascular accidents. These patients often have photophobia, focusing inabilities, and double vision. Dr. Peña has expertise in accommodative and vergence testing and correction with prisms, which allows her to serve the needs of these patients.

While Dr. Peña focuses on veterans in her role at the VA, throughout her career she has dedicated herself to providing exceptional care to visually impaired people of all ages. While studying at the University of Washington, she tested infants from 0–12 weeks olat the Teller Acuity Laboratory. After earning her Doctor of Optometry, Dr. Peña served a range of patients during her residency training, including 0–3 year olds with low vision or cortical vision impairment. Later, she worked at the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind in Washington, D.C., as the Director of Low Vision Services, where she served many children and young adults with low vision.

Dr. Peña’s passion for helping others and her commitment to staying at the forefront of advancements in optometry have made her an invaluable asset to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Peña's expertise in low vision rehabilitation allows her to assist patients in maximizing their visual potential and improving their quality of life. She is often told she is a patient's last hope as their other doctors have said to them that there is nothing else they can do. Dr. Peña cares deeply about finding a way to help every one of her patients. Her compassionate approach and dedication to her patients have earned her the trust and admiration of both her colleagues and the veterans she serves.

Dr. Peña has several accolades, including the William Feinbloom Low Vision Award, the Beta Sigma Kappa Research Grant, and the Minnie F. Turner Memorial Fund for Impaired Vision Research. She also received the Beta Sigma Kappa Top Grant Prize for Best Completed Student Research for “The Epidemiology for Pediatric Low Vision in the State of Oregon.”

Dr. Peña's extensive education, experience, and the hope she offers to her patients has improved lives and is an asset to the field of optometry.

Education and Training

Pacific University, College of Optometry Doctor of Optometry 2003

University of Washington Major Psychology, Bachelor of Arts 1997

University of Washington BA Psychology 0

Board Certification

California State Board of Optometry

Provider Details

Female Spanish

Areas of expertise and specialization

Low Vision Rehabilitation Traumatic Brain Injury Optometry Pediatric Low Vision

Faculty Titles & Positions

optometrist Department of Low Vision Rehabilitation in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2008 - Present

Awards

Beta Sigma Kappa Top Grant Prize for Best Completed Student Research of 2002-2003 2004
William Feinbloom Low Vision Award 2003 Pacific University
Minnie F. Turner Memorial Fund for Impaired Vision Research Award 2003
Beta Sigma Kappa Research Grant 2002

Professional Memberships

American Academy of Optometry, Fellow and Member
American Optometric Association, Member
Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO)
California State Board of Optometry

Professional Society Memberships

What do you attribute your success to?

Inspiration from brother, who is blind, as well as her grandfather.

Areas of research

Research:

Thesis paper: An Epidemiological Overview of Pediatric Visual Impairment in the State of Oregon. Thesis

Advisor: JP Lowery, O.D. 2001-2003

Infant Vision Laboratory, University of Washington, Department of Psychology, Research Advisor: Davida Teller, Ph.D. 1997/01 – 1997/06

Publications:

Poster titled “Characteristics of Children with Visual Impairment in the State of Oregon” presented at the 109th Annual AOA Congress, June 2006.

Poster titled “Low Vision Management of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia” presented at the 108th Annual AOA Congress, June 2005.

Poster titled “Low Vision Management of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Syndrome” presented at the 108th Annual AOA Congress, June 2005.

Low Vision Management of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, Continuing Education lecture for Optometrists, Southern California College of Optometry, 2005/05/22

Glaucoma, presented at the To Help Everyone (T.H.E.) Clinic in Southwest Los Angeles, 2005/03/12

Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, Block Lectures at the Southern California College of Optometry, 2005/02/09

Low Vision Rehabilitation Overview to Students from California State University of Los Angeles, Assisted Dr. Mac Donald, 2004/10/21

Diabetes and the Eye, presented at the T.H.E. Clinic in Southwest Los Angeles, 2004/10/09

Professional Discipline of Optometry, Associated Health Students Meeting, Salt Lake City Veterans Administration (VA) Health Care System. 2003/01

Learning Disabilities PowerPoint Presentation designed for teacher and parents. 2001/07

Dr. Julene Peña's Practice location

Department of Veterans Affairs

150 Muir Road -
Martinez, CA 94553

Get Direction

New patients: 925-372-2000

Mon:09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Tue:09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Wed:09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Thu:09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Fri:09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Sat:Closed
Sun:Closed

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Get to know Optometrist Dr. Julene Peña, who serves patients in Martinez, California.

Dr. Peña has been serving as an optometrist in the Department of Low Vision Rehabilitation in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs since December 2008.

Her expertise in low vision rehabilitation allows her to assist patients in maximizing their visual potential and improving their quality of life. Her compassionate approach and dedication to her patients have earned her the trust and admiration of both her colleagues and the veterans she serves.

Academically, Dr. Peña obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Washington before pursuing her Doctor of Optometry Degree from the Southern California College of Optometry in 2003. She further honed her skills and expertise through a residency program in Low Vision Rehabilitation at the said establishment from 2004 to 2005.

Throughout her extensive career, Dr. Peña has dedicated herself to providing exceptional care to veterans in need of low vision rehabilitation services. Her passion for helping others and her commitment to staying at the forefront of advancements in optometry have made her an invaluable asset to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Recognizing her contributions to the optometric community, Dr. Peña is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO), a member of the American Optometric Association, and holds certification through the California State Board of Optometry.

Optometry is a health care profession that involves examining the eyes and applicable visual systems for defects or abnormalities, as well as diagnosing and managing eye disease. Optometrists are healthcare professionals who provide primary eye care through comprehensive eye examinations to detect and treat various visual abnormalities and eye diseases. Being a regulated profession, an optometrist’s scope of practice may differ depending on the location. Thus, disorders or diseases detected outside the treatment scope of optometry (i.e. those requiring certain surgical interventions) are referred out to relevant medical professionals for proper care, more commonly to ophthalmologists who are physicians that specialize in the tertiary medical and surgical care of the eye. Optometrists typically work closely together with other eye care professionals, such as ophthalmologists and opticians, to deliver quality and efficient eye care to the general public.

Crediting her achievements to the influence of her blind brother and her grandfather, Dr. Peña has garnered several accolades. Among them are the Beta Sigma Kappa Research Grant in 2002, the William Feinbloom Low Vision Award in 2003 from Pacific University, the Minnie F. Turner Memorial Fund for Impaired Vision Research Award in 2003, and the Beta Sigma Kappa Top Grant Prize for Best Completed Student Research of 2002-2003 in 2004.