Our Doctors

When Dr. Jennifer Kungle was a child, she suffered from lazy eye. She tried glasses and contact lenses to remedy the issue, but neither worked. During this time, she became interested in learning more about all of the alternate treatments that expanded beyond the typical vision specialist. Eventually, Dr. Kungle’s vision would improve, and she was eager to get into the field of optometry to help others improve their vision issues. Today, not only is Dr. Kungle an optometrist, she’s also the proud owner of The Center for Vision Development!

Dr. Kungle was born and raised in Wakaw, Saskatchewan. Her educational journey would formally begin at University of Saskatchewan, where she would earned a Bachelor of Science degree, Magnis Cum Honoribis, in Physiology. She then ventured to Memphis, TN, to attend Southern College of Optometry and graduate Magna Cum Laude with a Doctor of Optometry degree. This was followed by several years of additional post-graduate training in the areas of visual development and vision rehabilitation, including vision therapy. Vision therapy is a little-known area of optometry that helped Dr. Kungle’s vision improve. So this was the perfect chance to share her knowledge with patients!

Complex patient cases might intimidate some people, but Dr. Kungle relishes the opportunity to help patients with their various eye-related issues. In fact, she finds it rewarding. For example, she has been working with an older patient who has been battling dizziness. It turns out that the patient’s issues are related to spatial processing in her brain, which Dr. Kungle solved by blocking portions of her patient’s visual field. Her patient was feeling so well that she went on vacation to Hawaii and even rode a bike for the first time in years!

As much as Dr. Kungle is passionate about helping people with their vision issues, she is just as passionate about giving back to others. She has taken several humanitarian mission trips around the world, with her latest being to Brasov, Romania. She was accompanied by other doctors, student doctors and volunteers to provide humanitarian vision care. The mission trip was a massive success – they ended up providing over 3500 vision exams for the Romanian people.

Despite a hectic schedule, Dr. Kungle makes it her duty to remain active and involved in a variety of state and local optometry associations. She is currently a valued member of the following organizations: 

• American Optometric Association
• Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association 
• Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity
• College of Optometrists in Vision Development
• College of Syntonic Optometry
• Optometric Extension Program Foundation

For the past 12 years, Dr. Kungle served as the secretary/treasurer of the Maryland Optometric State Association. To top it all off, she is a volunteer vision care provider for the InfantSEE program, a program that provides free evaluations to infants who are 6-12 months of age. It’s safe to say that the world of optometry plays a major role in Dr. Kungle’s life!

When she’s not busy helping people with their vision issues, Dr. Kungle likes to relax in a variety of ways. She enjoys gardening, camping and hiking, along with spending time with her husband and two children. She is a lifelong fan of curling and even competed at Mixed Nationals on multiple occasions; she earned a silver medal on her first attempt!

When a person picks a profession, they enter a field where they can leave a lasting positive impact on people’s lives. After Dr. Emily O’Meara joined The Center for Vision Development in 2011, she found herself in the perfect position to do precisely this. Through the realm of vision therapy, she has been able to help people improve their work, school, career and athletic endeavors. It’s safe to say that she has indeed been able to leave a positive impression on people’s lives! 

Born and raised in southern Maine, Dr. O’Meara now finds herself living in and loving Annapolis. The journey to get there was quite eventful. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia, earning a Bachelor of Science degree Magna Cum Laude in Biology, in 2004. She then proceeded to attend the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), where she earned her Doctor of Optometry degree, with honors, in 2008. 

While in optometry school, Dr. O’Meara was able to earn honors during her rotations in ocular disease, vision therapy and pediatrics. She has undergone extensive post-graduate training in the areas of visual development and vision therapy. She has special interests in the areas of concussion management and vision problems that interfere with reading and learning. She is licensed to practice full scope optometry in the state of Maryland. 

Dr. O’Meara’s favorite part of the job is getting the chance to bond with patients over the course of her duties as an optometrist. She finds witnessing them learn new skills, and build their confidence to be an extremely rewarding experience!

Dr. O’Meara is a board-certified member of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and Optometric Extension Program Foundation. She also participates in the national non-profit InfantSEE program, which provides no-cost vision assessments to infants from 6-12 months of age.

As much as Dr. O’Meara enjoys her career and helping improve the lives of others, she also loves spending time with her family. In her free time she enjoys traveling with her husband and their three children. She values the simple things in life, like being a soccer mom, enjoying a relaxing boat ride on Chesapeake Bay, or just curling up on a couch and reading a good book!

When Dr. Ronald Berger met Dr. Kungle over two decades ago, she was a student in optometry school who sought an externship. He hired her to work at his practice. Fast forward 25 years later, and the two doctors reunited. Except this time, it was Dr. Kungle who was inviting Dr. Berger to come and help out at her vision practice, The Center for Vision Development. Dr. Berger happily accepted the offer and today, he’s still there!

How exactly did Dr. Berger find himself in the world of optometry? Well, after he completed his undergraduate degree, he was searching for a profession in the healthcare field. He didn’t want to perform surgery, and wasn’t a fan of mouths, so that took dentistry out of the equation. He began doing research on optometry and decided it was a great choice. It would give him the opportunity to help people accomplish something big, which would be fixing their vision. It involved very little risk to cause people harm, which was also a plus. What sealed the deal was a conversation he had with his uncle, who was also into the optometry field. That reassured him that he was making the right decision.

As a youngster, excelling in school and academics came easy for Dr. Berger. He was able to breeze by high school and college with relatively little effort. When he got to Penn College of Optometry, he started a note-taking service. He did this to not only make money, but also to help students who took poor notes have a fighting chance at succeeding in graduate school. Dr. Berger would eventually graduate from optometry school, and thus embark on a quest to change people’s lives when it came to their vision!

Over the years, Dr. Berger has worked to help children with their vision problems. He has found that there is a visuo-cognitive relationship between how they learn and process information, which can affect their academic success. He has also worked with plenty of adults, including professional athletes. He has been a sports vision consultant for: 

• Eight teams in the National Football League
• Washington Capitals hockey team of the National Hockey League
• Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball League

Dr. Berger has likely helped your favorite athletes see the football field, hockey rink and basketball court better, allowing them to perform at a high level. That’s amazing in itself!

Throughout his professional career, Dr. Berger has remained active and associated in the world of optometry. He is currently an active board certified member of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and Optometric Extension Program Foundation. In his free time, he enjoys hitting the links to play a few holes of golf. He has also been flying small planes for nearly 40 years.