Jonathan Li, M.D.

Assistant Professor

 

Prevention and Treatment of Myopia and its Complications

Dr. Jonathan Li is a comprehensive ophthalmologist subspecializing in the field of myopia, focusing on childhood myopia control as well as refractive and cataract surgery. He is the first international ophthalmologist who has completed the Myopia fellowship at Singapore National Eye Centre, which is located in the current global epicenter of myopia. 
 
His research focuses on clinical risk stratification and imaging to identify myopes most at risk of progression and/or myopic complications, evaluation of novel treatments for myopia in children, and validating myopia research and AI algorithms in a heterogenous North American population. 

 

To Learn More:

 

Research Areas:

Myopia
 
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Seth Blumberg, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

 

Mathematical models of trachoma, healthcare associated infections, and antimicrobial resistance

My research focuses on developing and applying data-driven computational models of infectious diseases that exhibit the potential of elimination (i.e. R < 1). A key goal has been to elucidate risk factors that tip the balance between disease quiescence and emergence. This involves quantification of the impact of patient-specific or population-wide control interventions. Applications include enhancing trachoma elimination programs, mitigating the impact of SARS-CoV-2 in congregate settings, characterizing the transmission dynamics of healthcare associated infections and identifying factors responsible for the emergence of antibiotic resistance. My involvement in direct patient care provides a practical perspective of the investigations and metrics that have an immediate impact on clinical guidelines and public health.
 

I am fortunate to be based within the Francis I. Proctor Foundation. The Foundation’s interdisciplinary approach toward alleviating the global burden of infectious disease is innovative, impactful, and intellectually engaging.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/seth.blumberg
https://mindscape.team/

 

Research Areas:

Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma, Mathematical modeling, Computation, Clinical informatics
 
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Jing (Meghan) Shan, M.D., Ph.D

Assistant Professor

 

AI tools for glaucoma diagnosis and management

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Early diagnosis and intervention is key to preserving vision. Population wide screening of glaucoma is currently unattainable due to limited glaucoma care resources. The Shan lab thus aims to develop biomimetic AI architectures to empower accurate and scalable disease screening methods. The Shan lab is also interested in extracting information from medical images beyond what human experts may be able to recognize and using that information to improve glaucoma management.

Awards:

Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute – 2024 – UCSF Chen Scholar

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jing.shan


 

Research Areas:

Deep Learning / AI, Glaucoma
 
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Manvi Prakash Maker, MD, MS

Associate Professor

 

Diabetic Eye Care & Medical Retinal Specialist and Cataract Surgeon

Dr. Manvi P Maker is a medical retinal specialist, with specialized training from Harvard's Joslin Diabetes Institute, Beetham Eye Institute. She is an investigator for the collaborative group called the Diabetic Retiinopathy Clinical Research Network, which performs "high quality, collaborative clinical research that improves vision and quality of life for people with retinal diseases". Dr. Maker sees all patients with medical retina issues and also performs cataract surgery. Her research interest expand to include education, primarily at the ophthalmology resident level.  She has been asked to present her education research on numerous occasions, including in Tokyo at the World Ophthalmology Congress.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/manvi.maker
 

Research Areas:

Cataract, Diabetic Retinopathy, Retina or Retinal Diseases, Medical Retina
 
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Neel Pasricha, MD

Assistant Professor

 

Ocular Surface Electrophysiology

Dry eye disease is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface characterized by impaired tear film homeostasis accompanied by ocular symptoms that affects approximately 6.8% of adults in the USA, with a global prevalence as high as 50%. Despite this significant disease burden, there are currently just four FDA-approved therapies for dry eye disease, each targeting only the inflammatory pathway and having limited efficacy. Dr. Pasricha's research will advance novel dry eye disease therapeutics that promote tear fluid secretion by targeting ion transport proteins on epithelial cells lining the ocular surface.

This research utilizes a novel ocular surface potential difference (OSPD) method introduced in animal studies and advanced for use in humans during Dr. Pasricha's residency at UCSF. OSPD measures the electrical potential difference generated across epithelia from apical and basal membrane ion transporters.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/neel.pasricha
 

Research Areas:

Cornea, Dry Eye, Electrophysiology
 
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Frank Brodie, MD, MBA

Assistant Professor

 

Technology for Peripheral Retinal Imaging

I have been collaborating extensively with Duke Bioengineering in developing novel technologies to obtain far peripheral OCT imaging of the retina in an effort to detect retinal breaks early and without the challenging and uncomfortable scleral depressed exam. Additionally we have used intraoperative peripheral OCT to visualize subtle pathologic changes not previously noted on clinical exam.

 
 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/frank.brodie

Research Areas:

Mobile Health, Retina or Retinal Diseases, OCT, Optical Coherenece Tomography, Peripheral Retina Imaging
 
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Benjamin Arnold, Ph.D., MPH

Assistant Professor

 

Epidemiologic methods for disease elimination with a focus on trachoma

Dr. Arnold is an Assistant Professor in the F.I. Proctor Foundation. He is an infectious disease epidemiologist and biostatistican by training, and his research focuses on clinical trial methodology, causal inference, and serologic surveillance. Dr. Arnold leads the Proctor Foundation's Data Coordinating Center, which supports over 10 clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Arnold's research group uses the tools of epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science to make advances at the interface between field studies, laboratory science and computational methods to understand infectious disease dynamics. A particular focus of their resesarch is elimination of trachoma and other neglected tropical diseases in low-resource settings. Additional areas of emphasis include enteric pathogens, child growth failure, interventions to reduce environmentally mediated pathogen transmission, and open/reproducible research.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/benjamin.arnold

https://proctor.ucsf.edu/faculty/benjamin-arnold-phd
 

Research Areas:

Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma, Biostatistics, Machine learning
 
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