Transforming Vision Care: Sonali Bloom, 20/20 Onsite CEO

Sonali Bloom is a vision care revolutionary. In her own words, “From routine annual eye exams to complex research studies, we are revolutionizing the patient experience and improving access to care.”

As CEO of 20/20 Onsite, Sonali leads an enthusiastic and dedicated team that expands access to care by bringing primary eye care directly to patients and transforming clinical trials with a unique fleet of point-of-need vision clinics. 20/20 Onsite is the leading provider of onsite eye assessments for clinical research, reducing patient friction, accelerating timelines, and enhancing data quality by bringing expert eye care directly to the point of need.

Sonali is an entrepreneur who is passionate about innovation in healthcare and aspires to build products that improve people's lives. Sonali holds a BS in Physics from Yale University and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

As a woman of color, Sonali has championed diversity within the 20/20 Onsite team: 50% of the Board of Directors are women, 50% of company leadership positions are held by women, and 38% of the team identify as BIPOC. Due to their unique model of bringing care to the point of need for patients, 20/20 Onsite serves a significantly more diverse patient population in the communities they serve.

In her 6-year tenure at 20/20 Onsite, Sonali’s career has advanced along with the healthcare start-up from a summer internship, to business unit leader, to now implementing the mission of “vision care for all” since being named CEO in 2022. During the tumultuous time of COVID-19, Sonali launched telehealth, e-commerce, and residential care programs, culminating in the company’s major pivot to supporting clinical trials nationwide. As a mother to a young child, improving children’s access to vision care is a cause near and dear to her heart. Sonali spearheaded the pro bono Vision for Boston schools program in partnership with the Boston Public Schools, New England College of Optometry, and Warby Parker.

The Vision for Boston partnership program was featured in January 2023 on CBS News. The news coverage showed the “eye-opening” signature yellow 20/20 Onsite mobile vision clinics as they provided free eye care and eyewear to Boston Public School students who had previously failed routine eye screenings. Since its inception, Vision for Boston has provided thousands of eye exams and free glasses to Boston Public School children.

Under Sonali’s leadership, 20/20 Onsite was also awarded The Massachusetts Innovation Network Eddies Award for Healthy Living & Well-Being in November 2023 and the BostInno’s Fire Award in 2022.

In her first two years as CEO, Sonali more than doubled the revenue of 20/20 Onsite. In that time, the team supported 18 clinical trials across the USA, saw over 35,600 patients, and served at 214 community events (schools and underserved neighborhoods).

The groundbreaking work of 20/20 Onsite with Sonali Bloom at its helm is transforming the vision care industry. 20/20 Onsite offers mobile eye assessment solutions, bringing advanced equipment and highly trained clinicians directly to patients, whether at homes and schools, in local communities or on-site at the workplaces of busy, hardworking employees. The mission of 20/20 Onsite to improve eye care access also branches into improving patient accessibility to clinical trials.

The work of 20/20 Onsite has been a game changer in the clinical trial industry because mobile vision clinics are a solution for the primary obstacle in ophthalmic trials: geographical access to patients. Individuals with specific eye conditions may be spread across various regions, complicating efforts to recruit sufficient numbers for statistically significant results. Traditional trial designs often require patient travel to centralized clinics equipped with specialized equipment and trained personnel. This travel burden can result in high dropout rates (estimated as high as 30%), delayed timelines, and increased costs.

The 20/20 Onsite mobile vision clinics optimize patient reach by:

Reducing Patient Burden: Eliminating travel minimizes inconvenience, enabling greater participation from individuals with mobility issues or those in remote areas.

Improving Recruitment and Retention: With 80% of US clinical trials failing to meet enrollment timelines, convenient access enhances trial participation, leading to faster enrollment and higher retention rates.

Expanding Geographical Reach: Mobile vision clinics can reach underserved populations and diverse communities, improving data quality and generalizability.