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
 
Learn more about UCSF Ophthalmology faculty research.

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Nisha Acharya, M.D., M.S.

Professor

 

Ocular Inflammatory Diseases and Uveitis

Dr. Acharya is the Elizabeth C. Proctor Distinguished Professor at the F.I. Proctor Foundation and Departments of Ophthalmology, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF and the Director of the Uveitis and Ocular Inflammatory Disease Service. Dr. Acharya is a clinician-scientist with fellowship training in cornea and uveitis, with a clinical focus of ocular inflammatory diseases and uveitis. Her research focuses on clinical trials and epidemiological studies in ocular inflammation. She was co-PI of the U10 Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trial and PI of the NEI-funded U10 grant First-line Antimetabolites for Steroid-Sparing Treatment (FAST) Uveitis Trial, a multicenter trial that compared methotrexate to mycophenolate for the treatment of non-infectious intermediate, posterior, and panuveitis. She is the PI of the U10 ADJUST (Adalimumab in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-associated Uveitis Stopping Trial). She is also protocol co-chair of a macular edema trial through the Multicenter Uveitis Steroid Treatment Trial group. Dr Acharya’s research group is experienced in working with large electronic medical record datasets. She is the PI of an R01 using large datasets to study the impact of the herpes zoster vaccination on herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/nisha.acharya


 

Research Areas:

Inflammatory Eye Disease, Uveitis, Infectious Diseases
 
Learn more about UCSF Ophthalmology faculty research.

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