TGF RBP FELLOWS FOR 2022 2023 : simplebooklet.com

The TGF (sponsored by Patricia Hill) – RPB Glaucoma Fellowship2023 William Plum, MDDepartment of Ophthalmology, Columbia University Department Chair: Dr. George Cioffi, MDEdward S. Harkness Chairman and Ophthalmologist-in-Chief of the Department of Ophthalmology NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical CenterPreceptor: Aakriti Garg Shukla, M.D.Leonard A. Lauder Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Glaucoma DivisionDept. of Ophthalmology, Harkness Eye Institute / Columbia UniversityDr. William Plum was born in a small town in Brazil. His mother was a homemaker and his father worked in a factory. The family moved to the U.S. when William was nine, and began a difficult and arduous process to gain permanent residency.Of necessity, their only access to healthcare was through community screening and free clinics. William’s experiences motivated him to investigate the effectiveness of community-based interventions. He is now working with a large dataset from a CDC-funded randomized clinical trial, The Manhattan Vision Screening and Follow-up Study, aimed at improving the detection and management of glaucoma and other eye diseases in vulnerable populations. Funding from the Glaucoma Foundation will allow him to study a question-based risk assessment at primary care offices as a form of screening for the detection of glaucoma in the community. The grant will fund the study analysis, which will be performed by biostatisticians and health economists at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He plans to submit its main findings to the American Glaucoma Society Meeting, and a cost-effectiveness analysis to the meeting of American Academy of Ophthalmology. The grant will also cover memberships, registration, and travel costs for these annual meetings. Post-fellowship, he plans to continue these efforts to ensure those in need, locally and globally, have the necessary care they deserve.

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The TGF (sponsored by Patricia Hill) – RPB Glaucoma Fellowship2023 Clara M. Colón García-Moliner, MDDepartment of Ophthalmology, Wayne State UniversityDepartment Chair: Mark Juzych, M.D., M.H.S.A.Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences Department Director of the Kresge Eye InstitutePreceptor: Faisal Ridha Al-timimi, MDMedical Director Kresge Eye Institute Midtown campus Assistant Professor, Department of OphthalmologyWayne State University School of Medicine, Kresge Eye InstituteDr. Clara M. Colón García-Moliner was born and raised in Puerto Rico in town that has no dedicated glaucoma service. She was drawn to the field of glaucoma during her residency - intrigued by the variety of patients, pathology, and severity. Impressed by the different types of surgery and surgical techniques available to help patients control their glaucoma, she investigated surgical outcomes in MIGS (minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries), specifically looking into the Xen Gel Stent. In the community at Kresge Eye institute, it was found that the success rate for Xen Gel stents in a predominantly African American population was less than 50%. Recently at Kresge, a Cypass shunt had to be explanted and was sent for further histopathological examination. After evaluation if was found that a fribroblast rich ingrowth observed in and occluding the lumen. Funds from this grant will be used to do the same examination with explanted Xen Gel stents over the course of the next year, to further evaluate the mechanism of failure in this type of stent.The goal is to provide solutions and possible better techniques to better manage glaucoma, while still using a minimally invasive approach. A minimally invasive procedure that could potentially require less follow up, for a population that already has difficulty accessing healthcare, could prove to be vision saving. Dr. Colón García-Moliner hopes to present the study’s findings at a major professional meeting of ARVO, AGS and/or AAO.

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The TGF (sponsored by Patricia Hill) – RPB Glaucoma Fellowship2023 Jose Quiroz, MD, PhD - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiDepartment Chair: Professor James Tsai, MDIcahn School of MedicinePresident, New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, Mount SinaiPreceptor: Avnish Deobhakta, MD - Assistant Professor, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount SinaiDr. Jose Quiroz is a first-generation Mexican American from Arizona. As a child, his father worked in construction and his mother made and sold tamales to provide a better life for their children. This year, Jose was accepted into a fully NIH funded Medical Scientist Training Program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and received both an MD and PhD in biomedical sciences. The focus of his thesis work was antibody engineering in which he established and developed a viable human antibody treatment for Chikungunya Virus that was derived from human convalescent patients in the Bronx Dominican communities. His previous work directly impacted antibody treatments for viral diseases in Hispanic cultures most susceptible to Chikungunya disease. He shares a patent with his research advisor on 108 unique antibody sequences against the disease. His goal now is to use the techniques he helped develop to better understand the immune response that leads to uveitic glaucoma and demonstrate a proof-of-concept approach to developing a targeted antibody for uveitic glaucoma pathologies. If successful, this research would impact sectors of the community which are underrepresented populations.10% of patients with uveitis will go on to develop uveitic glaucoma. This complication is particularly problematic as the treatment for uveitis is typically systemic or local steroids which themselves can cause glaucoma. Thus, a local steroid sparing agent in these situations would be incredibly helpful as a non-glaucoma inducing treatment option for uveitis, something which currently does not exist. Dr. Quiroz will use the fellowship funds to purchase equipment (specifically, a micro-plate centrifuge for high-throughput screening of anti-inflammatory compounds) and for lab supplies directly related to understanding the specific inflammatory pathway in vivo in a rabbit model.

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Carlos Alberto Parra, PhD - NYU Langone Department Chair: Kathryn Colby, MD, PhD Elisabeth J. Cohen, M.D. Professor of Ophthalmology, Department of Ophthalmology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine Chair, Department of OphthalmologyPreceptor: Kevin C. Chan, Director of the Neuroimaging and Visual Science Laboratory NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Health, New York University. Dr. Carlos Parra is a postdoctoral fellow in brain mapping at the Department of Ophthalmology of New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. His thesis is on the “Design of Digital Signal Processing Laboratory Practices Based on the TMS320C50 Processor.” His current research is on the neurodegenerative effects of glaucoma on visual pathway structures. With the support of the TGF-RPB Glaucoma Fellowship, he will continue his research on the detection and quantification of the effects of glaucoma on the microstructure of the visual pathways, both in humans and in animal models. Previous results of his research suggest that diffusion MRI models are sensitive enough to detect microstructural damage in visual areas, even in early stages of the disease. The next step in this study is to characterize detected damage in terms of bioimaging markers for white matter structures, in particular for the integrity of axonal and glial environments. This approach will provide insights contributing to a better understanding of the glaucoma progression mechanisms and will play a key role in the evaluation of the effects of experimental neurotherapeutics in our preclinical research. The funds will also be used to partially support participation in 2022 scientific conferences. Dr. Parra has specifically targeted the annual meetings of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the American Glaucoma Society, and the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. The TGF (sponsored by Patricia Hill) – RPB Glaucoma Fellowship 2022

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Joah F. Aliancy, MD - University of Michigan, Kellogg Eye Center Department Chair: Paul P. Lee, M.D., J.D. - F. Bruce Fralick Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Director, W.K. Kellogg Eye Center Preceptor: Paula Anne Newman-Casey, MD, MS - Interim Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Michigan and the Principal Investigator for the MI-SIGHT Program. Dr. Joah F. Aliancy moved from the U.S. from the Caribbean as a child. As a resident at Columbia University’s Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute (2018-2021), he spent considerable time working with patients of Dominican and West African descent, where he witnessed the most notable progressive glaucoma. This inspired him to pursue a career that provides the best glaucoma care for patients regardless of socioeconomic class and culture. Dr. Alaincy is currently a visiting lecturer and curriculum developer for the department of ophthalmology at the Hopital de l’Universite d'Etat d’Haiti. In the summer of 2022, he will be helping with education and surgical training for the hospital’s first glaucoma/anterior segment fellowship. Dr. Alaincy is presently concluding a research project aiming to determine how a novel cataract surgery grading system at a single U.S. teaching institution may predict intraoperative complications and post-operative outcomes. He plans to continue to research international medical training and health disparity, both within the national and international context. The University of Michigan’s Department of Public Health is a world leader in global engagement; after his fellowship training, he plans to enroll in the Master of Public Health program to further his understanding of public health and equity among local and global populations. He will be participating in the CDC-funded Michigan Intervention for Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and Eye Health Through Telemedicine (MI-SIGHT) study. At this time, 700 participants are enrolled in the MI-SIGHT program, and the screening program will continue to enroll participants throughout 2024. He will analyze the data from the first 800 enrollees to assess whether different levels of social determinants of health confer varied risks for screening positive for glaucoma. The grant funds will be used to support biostatistical analysis, computer and travel expenses to present the data at the AAO, ASCRS, and AGS national meetings. The TGF (sponsored by Patricia Hill) – RPB Glaucoma Fellowship 2022

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Ndidi-Amaka Onyekaba, MD - Vision, Imaging, and Performance (VIP) Lab, Department of Ophthalmology, Duke University Department Chair: Edward G. Buckley, MD - Vice Dean for Education, Duke School of Medicine Chair, Department of Ophthalmology; Vice Chancellor of Duke-National University Singapore Affairs James P. and Joy Gills School of Professor of Ophthalmology; Professor of Pediatrics Preceptor: Felipe A. Medeiros, MD, PhD Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology Vice-Chair for Technology, Department of Ophthalmology Director, Clinical Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology The TGF (sponsored by Patricia Hill) – RPB Glaucoma Fellowship 2022 Before medical school, Dr. Ndidi-Amaka Onyekaba worked as a medical assistant in Decatur, GA, an historically Black community located 10 miles outside of Atlanta. She witnessed the impact of limited healthcare access on the health outcomes of poor Black people, and also saw how physicians could turn those outcomes around. It was one of the primary reasons that she wanted to be a doctor.As a medical student, she developed a community project to improve HIV screening rates and spent a considerable amount of time volunteering to screen blood pressures. She also created a project, now being replicated, that was successful in improving minority matriculation.Dr. Onyekaba wants to make a global impact in ophthalmology, especially in her country of origin, Nigeria. She has always been interested in that which disproportionately affects those of African descent. She is presently involved in several projects in the VIP Lab. Her primary research focuses on examining healthcare disparities in the field of ophthalmology. She hopes to collaborate with researchers in the Lab to develop machine learning algorithms to help identify those at risk of glaucoma and blindness.The fellowship grant will go towards travel and registration costs for presenting at upcoming meetings at ARVO, NMA Ophthalmology, and AAO over the next year. She also hopes to join the renowned ophthalmologists at Duke on at least one overseas trip to experience how they deliver care abroad.

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1Our MissionThe Glaucoma Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of people with glaucoma. The Foundation works to encourage and support basic and applied research in glaucoma with the goal of preserving and restoring vision. Through education and outreach, we strive to be an important resource for patients, their families, and at-risk individuals.THE GLAUCOMA FOUNDATION80 Maiden Lane, Suite 700 | New York, NY 10038 Tel: 212.285.0080 | Fax: 212.651.1888 info@glaucomafoundation.org www.glaucomafoundation.org

TGF RBP FELLOWS FOR 2022 2023