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Travis Porco, PhD, MPH

Professor

 

Trachoma, Ebola Virus Disease, Measles, and Other Communicable Diseases, Infodemiology Using Social Media

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.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/travis.porco

 

Research Areas:

Infectious Diseases, Cornea, Epidemiology
 
Learn more about UCSF Ophthalmology faculty research.

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Thomas Lietman, MD

Professor

 

Trachoma, Childhood Mortality, and Corneal Ulcer Treatment and Prevention

Dr. Lietman is the Ruth Lee and Phillips Thygeson Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, and the Director of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation. His research group has considerable experience with individual and community-randomized trials of trachoma, childhood mortality, and corneal ulcer treatment and prevention. He has served as the PI on a number of NIH-funded clinical trials: the Steroids for Corneal Ulcer Trial, the two Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trials, the two Trachoma Amelioration in Northern Amhara studies, and the Village Integrated Eye Worker trial (in Nepal). He is multiple PI on the Ethiopian trachoma trial KETFO and on the ongoing SCUT II corneal ulcer trial. In addition, he was the overall PI on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded MORDOR I study and for the MORDOR II studies (Niger and Burkina Faso), as well as the AVENIR planning grant (Niger). He ran the Niger arm of the BMGF-funded PRET trachoma study, and has worked on the BMGF-funded Neglected Tropical Disease modeling consortium. Recently, he has explored big data for infectious disease, including two NEI projects: the Digital Disease Detection grant and the Forecasting Trachoma grant.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/thomas.lietman

 

Research Areas:

Trachoma, Cornea, Infectious Diseases
 
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Catherine Oldenburg, ScD, MPH

Assistant Professor

 

Infectious Disease and Strategies for Trachoma Elimination

Dr. Oldenburg, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, is an infectious disease epidemiologist who uses randomized controlled trial designs to evaluate antibiotic-based interventions to prevent childhood morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Her expertise includes infectious disease epidemiology, causal inference, and global health. Current projects include evaluation of core-group based targeting strategies for trachoma elimination in Ethiopia and administration of azithromycin to young infants and neonates for the prevention of child mortality in Burkina Faso. Dr. Oldenburg serves as a mentor on the Resident Research Committee in the Department of Ophthalmology (approximately ten resident projects per year). She also serves as a research mentor for epidemiology graduate students, medical students, and undergraduate students interested in clinical research and public health. Dr. Oldenburg may be identified as Mentor for those Scholars interested in RCT design, infectious disease epidemiology, and global health.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/cate.oldenburg

 

Research Areas:

Cornea, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma
 
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Jeremy Keenan, MD, MPH

Professor

 

Reducing the Global Burden of Blindness

Dr. Keenan, H. Bruce Ostler Professor of Ophthalmology and the Director of International Programs at the Proctor Foundation, is an epidemiologist and ophthalmologist with clinical specialties of cornea and uveitis. His research focuses on strategies to reduce the global burden of blindness, with an emphasis on developing countries. Dr. Keenan is currently the PI of two UG1 grants from the NEI: SWIFT (Sanitation, Water, and Instruction in Face-washing for Trachoma), a cluster-randomized trial that seeks to determine whether improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene are effective for infectious trachoma in Africa, and VIEW II (Village-integrated Eye Worker Trial II), a cluster-randomized trial that seeks to determine the effectiveness of community-based screening for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration in Nepal. Dr. Keenan is also a co-investigator on several trials funded by the Gates Foundation to determine the effectiveness of mass azithromycin distributions for childhood mortality. In addition, he has strong ties to Aravind Eye Hospital in South India, where he is conducting a pilot trial comparing different treatments for acanthamoeba keratitis, and with Chiang Mai University in Thailand, where he has performed diagnostic accuracy studies for cytomegalovirus retinitis, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jeremy.keenan

 

Research Areas:

Cornea, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma
 
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Stephen D. McLeod, MD

Professor

 

McLeod Research

 

Dr. McLeod’s research interests include the study of improved strategies for diagnosis and management of eye infections both in the U.S. and in the developing world, as well as the development of advanced cataract and refractive surgery technology.

 

 

To Learn More:

https://researcherprofiles.org/profile/196003

 

Research Areas:

Cataract, Cornea

Learn more about UCSF Ophthalmology faculty research.

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