Dena Davidson, O.D.

Optometrist

Dr. Davidson joined Dr. Miller 10 years ago, changing the very face of how we practice eye care in Yolo County.  She is a graduate of U.C. Davis (’91) and U.C. Berkeley School of Optometry (’95). After practicing in the Greater Sacramento area for over 15 years, she was happy to move her practice closer to home. With her professional and warm "chair-side manner", she quickly became integrated into our team, and into the hearts of her patients.

While originally seeing patients along with Dr. Miller, she has built an impressive independent optometric practice as well. She is in charge of our Contact Lens practice, which has become a wonderful resource for those patients who are not candidates for laser surgery. She has served on the Board of the Sacramento Valley Optometric Society, and remains active in professional organizations

When not in the office, Dr. Davidson enjoys volleyball and racquetball, and yet still seems to find time for fine dining with good friends.  Her latest challenge was to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa as a part of fund raising effort for “Climb for Sight”. Truly, she’s an exceptional member of our team!

Rochelle Franco-Richards, B.S.

Practice Administrator

Rochelle originally came from the Philippines, and spent time in Hong Kong, fine-tuning her extraordinary customer service skills. Now with over a decade in the healthcare field, we are very fortunate to have her on our team.

Having completed her B.S. in Physio-therapy while in Hong Kong, she has continued her education and is working to attain her Certified Ophthalmic Executive (COE) certificate. She was the practice administrator for a large, multi-physician integrative medicine group in Southern California before moving to Davis to help AVEA step into our new world of professionalism.

Rochelle oversees the daily operations of Advanced Valley Eye Associates, dealing with the details of human resources, finances, marketing, and everything to make the business run smoothly. With the regulations and hoops that our Government requires, . . . it’s a never finished job.

When she is able to get time for herself, she tries to stay physically fit and make time for her wonderful husband, a local flight instructor. If you wish to see the person who really runs our Practice, come in and shake Rochelle's hand!

Elizabeth (“Liz”) Hernandez

Lead Ophthalmic Assisitant
Cataract Surgery Coordinator

Moving to Woodland 16 years ago, Liz has been in the medical world for over 9 years.  She joined our team 7 years ago, much to our delight.  Due to her extensive experience with Women's Health in Davis, Liz has a wonderful comforting manner to ensure the best care for our patients. 

You'll meet Liz on most visits with Dr. Miller, as she will be the first team player to begin your examination, checking your vision, your previous glasses, and many of the technical aspects of your eye health. She also keeps track of our contact lens practice, and is frequently the voice on the phone calling to let you know that shipments have arrived. Liz is working toward her COA/COT certification, and ultimately, may be working towards her RN degree. (We’ll do our best to keep her here with us!).  She is an integral part of our practice!

When not in the office, Liz stays active with her softball team and she and her husband are the proud parents of two beautiful daughters. At age 6, Valeria is enjoying school, and Cassandra is turning 5, having worn her glasses since 6 months old!! Liz is also a wonderful cook, and delights in preparing treats that tempt us all.

Meg Knox

Refractive Surgery Coordinator
Ophthalmic Assistant

Meg is always trying something new and making it better. She was brought into our family as a front-office receptionist, but quickly showed her acumen for more “hands-on” ophthalmology and is now one of our ophthalmology assistants. Meg’s strong point is her intelligence and rapid absorbtion of new material. Always asking questions and challenging the answers, many of our patients ask her if she’s studying to be an eye doctor, herself! One never knows…

Having grown up in Sacramento, she finished high school in Arizona, then returned to take her undergraduate studies in Sacramento again. She worked at UCDMC in obstetrics and gynecology for 3 years before branching into ophthalmology in 2008. Within a year, Meg moved back to have more direct medical interaction with our patients, who universally love her for her up-beat, clear spoken, and caring manner.

Meg loves her time parenting her sweet daughter, Mia. If you want to see a face light up, ask her about it!

Ryan Broleman, R.D.O.

Manager: Optical Services
Dispensing Optician

Ryan has been supervising optical shops and optical laboratories for over 15 years! He’s worked in the field as a sales representative for optical labs as well as high-end frame manufacturers, and understands what goes on “behind the scene” in our suppliers and partners in bringing our patients the very best in eye-wear. He is in charge of our ordering and coordination with outside specialty labs, such as Maui Jim. Since opening our new office in Davis, we’ve performed our own edging, mounting, and tinting of lenses “in house”! This has shortened the turn-around time, and keeps great quality. AVEA has become the only finishing laboratory in town!

Ryan’s sense of fashion and communication abilities provides a wonderful experience in our optical center. He works directly with our patients for frame selection, repair, adjustments, and ordering, while educating them on new lens technologies that are applicable to their needs. He is certified as a Registered Dispensing Optician, which gives our patients an advantage over having an untrained sales-person choose their glasses styles. Sometimes, it’s those little things that can make all the difference!

When we let him out of the office, Ryan is on the go! Married just two years ago, and in their first home, he’s glowing with excitement about the new arrival coming soon! We know he'll be missing his love of playing baseball (Go Giants!), but Fatherhood calls! Still, it's just a matter of time until the little one will join him skiing, boarding, surfing at the Coast or just cooling off, fishing in the River. Come in and meet him!

Jana Campbell, R.D.O.

Dispensing Optician

Born in Sonoma County, Jana was originally interested in a career in Law Enforcement, but found a special niche in Optical services while working for an optometrist in Santa Rosa. She has a wonderful ability to understand our patients non-verbal cues, and seems to know what her customers are looking for. She adds a "woman's touch" to our Optical Department, and rounds out our services.

She describes herself as an "avid animal lover", which is probably why she can put up with her fellow optician. Newly married, she's enjoying her time painting and doing home improvement projects. It's a good thing, because they're expecting their first baby this coming Summer!

Jana loves working with optical because she finds there's always something new and exciting, offering her a challenge to keep up with the changing information. We're happy to have her, helping our patients find just what they want!

Courtney Baca

Receptionist / Registration
Ophthalmic Assistant

Courtney is the first face you’ll see when you check in for your appointment.  She is newly on our team and her friendly smile and positive attitude make her a welcomed addition to our team.  Courtney will be happy to assist you with booking an upcoming appointment and forwarding any questions you may have for our doctors.

Courtney is originally from Bakersfield, California and attended college at the University of California in Santa Barbara.  She earned her bachelor degree in Biology and plans to pursue an RN degree in the future.  When Courtney is not working or studying she enjoys playing croquet in the park and cooking with friends.

She's the incredible upbeat voice you'll hear on the phone when you call AVEA. Call us and you'll know what we mean!

Aura Navichoque

Receptionist / Registration

Born in Guatemala, Aura has called California home since 1994. Between high school in Berkeley and college here at UC Davis, she traveled to Guatemala where she worked as a Social worker for 2 years. Aura is proud of her B.A. in Psychology, but is working on an advanced degree in Applied Behavioral Psychology!

During her free time (when we let her get away), she has played for a recreational softball league, and LOVES watching baseball... (GO, Oakland A’s!).   Aura enjoys watching films (especially old silent movies!) and dining out with friends.

Aura feels the world is cruel, having presented her with so many wonderful books, and too little time to read them all! You'll enjoy meeting this very special woman at our front desk!

Yharely Iniguez

Receptionist / Registration

Our newest face at our front desk, Yharely has been a joy from the first day at our front desk! Yharely moved to Davis to attend UC Davis, but has previous experience with clinical environments such as USC General Hospital in Los Angeles as well as working with our local Communicare clinics with an underserved population. She brings her training from Partnership Health Plan to our team, which helps us to give good care to our patients. Her bilingual skills help our patients be comforted in an often stressful situation.

She enjoys the outdoors in Tahoe, taking road trips to L.A. for family trips, and has recently taken up golf, doing well in her first tournament!

Yharely has told us that AVEA has welcomed her "like a loving family", Dr. Miller is a wonderfully caring person, and she feels happy to be part of "the perfect example of teamwork". We're so happy to have her with us!