Associate Professor
Dr. Simon Fung specializes in cataracts and corneal diseases in children and adults. His research focuses on complex corneal diseases, advanced diagnostics, and innovative treatments.
Cataract, Cornea, Pediatric, Anterior segment
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Assistant Professor
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.
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/neel.pasricha
Cornea, Dry Eye, Electrophysiology
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Associate Professor
Dr. Julie Schallhorn is an ophthalmologist who treats cataracts and diseases of the cornea. Schallhorn's research focuses on the study of anterior segment disease and refractive surgery. She is especially interested in refractive surgery outcomes and the role of corneal imaging for screening refractive surgery patients.
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/julie.schallhorn
Cataract, Cornea
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Professor
Seitzman's research focuses on infectious eye diseases and dry eye conditions. In particular, she is interested in how modern DNA sequencing techniques and advanced imaging methods can improve the diagnosis and treatment of potentially blinding corneal infections.
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/gerami.seitzman
Cornea, Dry Eye, Infectious Diseases
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Professor
A native of Illinois, USA, David G. Hwang, MD, FACS, joined the full-time faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is currently Professor and Vice Chair and holds the Pearl T. Kimura and Samuel J. Kimura MD Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology. He serves as Director of the Cornea Service, Director of the Refractive Surgery Service, and Associate of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology at UCSF. Clinical research interests: development of new surgical techniques in corneal, refractive, and cataract surgery; clinical trials in cornea and ocular infectious disease. Scientific research interests: cellular transplantation and gene therapy for corneal endothelial disease; ocular infectious disease, including epidemiology and mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in ophthalmology
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/david.hwang
Cornea, Gene Therapy, Infectious Diseases
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Associate Professor
Dr. Chan, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, is a cornea clinician-scientist interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying corneal injury, inflammation, and repair. Dr. Chan’s R01 is focused on the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in modulating various aspects of corneal repair after injury including inflammation, neovascularization, and fibrosis. She is also studying the epigenetic and genetic alterations underlying Fuch’s endothelial cell dystrophy (FECD), specifically the role of DNA methylation as a mechanism for silencing genes during disease pathogenesis. In collaboration with Jason Gestwicki (UCSF), her group is using high throughput screening to identify compounds for the treatment of FECD. Dr. Chan has mentored undergraduates, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, residents, and clinical fellows. The Chan lab would provide opportunities for Scholars interested in the role of extracellular matrix in ocular disease, epigenetics, and translational vision science.
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/matilda.chan
Cornea, Matrix Metalloproteinases, Infectious Diseases
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Professor
Dr. Porco, Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Ophthalmology, is a mathematical epidemiologist and biostatistician who has contributed to projects involving trachoma, Ebola virus disease, measles, and other communicable diseases. He has been the biostatistician for numerous NEI RCTs, including MUTT I and II, SCUT II, TANA I and II, SWIFT, FAST, ADJUST, and KETFO, and multiple BMGF trials including PRET-Niger, MORDOR I and II, NAITRE, CHAT, and CHATON. He is multiple PI on the NEI Trachoma Forecasting grant, and PI on an NIH EBOLA forecasting grant. He has been co-Investigator on NIH and other grants using search, social media, mobile health, deep learning, digital surveillance, and large clinical registry datasets to remotely study infectious, inflammatory, pediatric, and age-related eye conditions. His team has found significant correlations of social media data (Twitter, Google Search, Wikipedia) with clinically validated seasonality of eye disease and with detection of worldwide ocular epidemics. They have studied the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global eye health and on other communicable disease, using search and social media. They have begun using LLMs of social media text to validate reported disease. They also have recently begun use of targeted social media campaigns to identify and recruit study subjects for interactive components of their digital surveillance studies. Dr. Porco has considerable experience in mentoring residents and research fellows in study design, having a hand in most of the resident and fellow research projects over the last ten years. Scholars interested in mathematical modeling and biostatistics may identify Dr. Porco as a Mentor.
https://profiles.ucsf.edu/travis.porco
Infectious Diseases, Cornea, Epidemiology
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