Issuu

Department of

Ophthalmology

CONTENTS 4 Message From the Department Leadership 6 Real-Time Biometry Transforms Glaucoma Surgery 10 Preserving Sight, Restoring Hope: How Complex Surgery Saved a Police Officer’s Eye 14 Crafting Novel Stem Cell Technology Into a Powerful Therapeutic Tool for Patients 18 A Hidden Specialty, a Lasting Legacy: Inside NYEE’s Orthoptics Program • Meeting the Challenge of Rising Pediatric Myopia 22 From Eye to Heart: Doppler Technology Opens New Frontiers in Disease Detection 25 New Link Between AMD and Vascular Disease 26 Decoding Glaucoma With ‘Multi-Omics’ • Driven by Curiosity, Guided by Mentorship 30 A New Cellular Pathway to Treating Corneal Disease 32 Restoring Sight Against the Odds 35 New Retinal Imaging Captures Immune Cells in Action 36 Department of Ophthalmology at a Glance 37 Department News 38 Faculty Awards and Honors 39 Residents, Fellows, and Faculty Listing

Message From the

Department Leadership Advances in artificial intelligence, precision medicine, regenerative therapies, and imaging are redefining how we treat, predict, and prevent eye disease. At New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), we are helping shape that future while remaining steadfast in our commitment to exceptional patient care, groundbreaking research, and the education of tomorrow’s ophthalmologists. The stories in this report reflect our department’s breadth of discovery and shared mission: scientific advances into meaningful improvements in patient care while expanding our understanding of diseases that threaten sight. Among our most exciting accomplishments is our continued leadership in glaucoma care. NYEE investigators are pioneering an intraoperative biometric guidance system known as miDOC, which provides surgeons with real-time information during glaucoma surgery, reducing much of the uncertainty that has traditionally characterized these procedures. Developed by our faculty and now being evaluated in clinical trials, this technology could improve surgical precision and outcomes for patients living with this sight-threatening disease. Our glaucoma researchers are also reshaping how the disease itself is understood. Rather than relying solely on structural changes or elevated intraocular pressure, investigators are advancing a multi-omics approach that integrates genetics, metabolomics, proteomics, epigenetics, and other biological data to identify the molecular signatures associated with glaucoma. By looking beyond conventional clinical measurements, this work is laying the foundation for earlier diagnosis, more accurate risk prediction, and increasingly personalized therapies—bringing us closer to preventing vision loss before irreversible damage occurs. Beyond glaucoma, our retina program continues to advance the frontiers of regenerative medicine. NYEE remains one of the world’s leading centers for retinal stem cell replacement therapy for dry age-related macular degeneration. In 2026, publication of an important multicenter study established a road map for future human research and supported an ongoing phase 1/2a clinical trial that may bring regenerative therapies closer to patients affected by this debilitating condition.

Complementing these therapeutic advances, our nationally recognized expertise in ophthalmic imaging is expanding how we detect and understand disease. NYEE investigators have further enhanced Doppler holography imaging by integrating retinal blood flow measurements with electrocardiography, creating new ways to study cardiovascular health through the eye. These advances may ultimately improve our ability to detect, monitor, and better understand both ocular and systemic disease. Preparing the next generation of ophthalmologists remains central to our mission. Through mentorship, hands-on training, and translational research, our faculty prepares medical students, residents, and fellows to become the next generation of innovators, educators, and leaders in eye care. Advancing ophthalmology also means expanding access to exceptional care. This fall, NYEE broadened its ophthalmology presence with a new ambulatory surgery center to support our Carle Place practice, bringing our nationally recognized medical and surgical expertise closer to patients throughout Nassau County and surrounding communities on New York’s Long Island. NYEE’s long-standing reputation for outstanding patient outcomes has also made it a regional referral center for the most complex ophthalmic injuries, when highly specialized surgical expertise and seamless multidisciplinary collaboration are essential. The cases highlighted in this report demonstrate how that depth of experience can restore not only vision but also quality of life—even in the most challenging circumstances. For more than two centuries, NYEE has helped define the future of ophthalmology through innovation, education, and compassionate patient care. The achievements highlighted in this report reflect our department’s talent and shared purpose. As we look ahead, we remain committed to advancing discovery, educating future leaders, expanding access to exceptional care, and translating innovation into better outcomes for every patient.

James C. Tsai, MD, MBA President New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Chair, Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Health System

Paul A. Sidoti, MD Chair Department of Ophthalmology New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai

Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO Chair Department of Ophthalmology The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens

Real-Time Biometry Transforms Glaucoma Surgery

A playful look inside the miDOC “innovation lab.” Alongside Drs. Tsontcho Ianchulev and Gautam Kamthan, product development engineers Neil Sawhney and Andrew Harvey helped bring the technology from concept to clinical study.

Microinterventional port and manipulator: The sterile, single-use miDOC assembly integrates precision sensors and a microinterventional port to provide real-time measurements of intraocular pressure and fluid dynamics during surgery.

Glaucoma surgery has evolved significantly, from traditional trabeculectomy to advanced minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS). Yet despite growing emphasis on personalized medicine across health care, glaucoma procedures remain largely one-sizefits-all. Significant differences in disease severity and aqueous outflow resistance exist among patients, but surgeons have lacked the ability to measure and adjust treatment based on each eye’s physiologic response during surgery. Without biometric guidance to measure the critical variables of ocular flow and pressure intraoperatively, surgeons have had no real way to gauge the success of their interventions—and possibly make corrections—until the patient’s follow-up visit.

Over the past year, miDOC has been successfully used on more than 30 patients as part of the ongoing process of first-in-human feasibility study and validation, leading up to future potential clinical implementation.

That may soon change thanks to breakthrough technology from the InnoVision Lab of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE).

When Dr. Ianchulev unveiled miDOC during the prestigious Charles D. Kelman, MD, Innovator’s Lecture at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting in Washington, D.C., he focused on what he sees as one of ophthalmology’s most persistent shortcomings. While many modern surgical procedures are guided by real-time biometric measurements, glaucoma surgery has long lacked the ability to objectively assess physiologic response during the operation itself. As a result, the field continues to experience higher failure rates, greater outcome

Researchers have developed a novel system called miDOC (micro-interventional Dynamic Outflow Curve), the first technology designed to provide continuous, realtime physiologic outflow data during glaucoma surgery. By allowing surgeons to measure the eye’s fluid dynamics as a procedure unfolds, the platform offers the potential to personalize treatment and improve outcomes. 8

“This is not just a new device—it’s a new era in glaucoma care and a more hopeful future for people living with the disease,” declares Tsontcho A. Ianchulev, MD, MPH, Professor of Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director of Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology at the Mount Sinai Health System, and co-inventor of the technology. “It’s a major step toward a future where glaucoma procedures are guided by real data, not educated guesswork.”

miDOC box: Highspeed data acquisition identifies fast surgical changes (suture, ligation, stent), and detects subtle physiologic changes during surgery, like pulsatile ocular blood volume, while distinguishing meaningful signals from artifact.

miDOC computer display: During surgery, miDOC continuously measures intraocular pressure, outflow capacity, and other key physiologic metrics. The system quantifies how the eye responds to surgical interventions, providing real-time guidance and insight into potential postoperative pressure outcomes.

variability, and more complications than surgeons and patients have come to expect in the era of precision medicine—burdening both patients and the health care system. Dr. Ianchulev is uniquely positioned to tackle that challenge. He previously developed one of the first systems for intraoperative refractive biometry in cataract surgery, technology that helped transform cataract procedures into one of medicine’s safest and most predictable interventions. He believes glaucoma surgery is poised for a similar evolution. “We believe real-time outflow biometry can do for glaucoma surgery what refractive biometry did for cataract surgery—bringing the same level of precision, personalization, and predictability that surgeons and patients now expect from modern phacoemulsification,” he says.

“For the first time, miDOC allows surgeons to see and measure the eye’s fluid drainage during the procedure, and make any adjustments in real time,” explains Gautam Kamthan, MD, Assistant Director of Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology at NYEE, co-inventor of miDOC, and Principal Investigator of the study. “It’s like having a GPS during eye surgery—not just showing where you are, but continuously recalculating the best route as conditions change.” The system consists of a tiny probe inserted through the existing surgical incision. Integrated sensors continuously measure intraocular fluid dynamics, while proprietary software analyzes the data and displays real-time results in the operating room. Surgeons can immediately evaluate the functional effect of a surgical maneuver and determine whether additional intervention is needed to achieve the desired therapeutic target. Although initially developed for glaucoma surgery, the creators believe miDOC may have broader applications. The technology could help identify cataract patients at risk for postoperative pressure spikes, improve understanding of retinal and choroidal blood flow that supplies blood to some of the eye’s most critical structures, including the retina and optic nerve, and potentially provide insights into cerebrovascular, cardiac, and lymphatic diseases.

Supporting the research around miDOC are grants from the New York Eye and Ear Research Foundation and Mount Sinai Innovation Partners. “We’re excited about the potential of this technology to establish a new standard of care across a wide range of ophthalmic procedures,” says Dr. Ianchulev. “Our early studies suggest a clear pathway toward more precise and cost-effective surgical interventions, which could in turn lead to significant improvements in patient outcomes.”

Dr. Tsontcho Ianchulev and Dr. Gautam Kamthan are named co-inventors of the technology known as micro-interventional Dynamic Outflow Curve (miDOC). A patent for this technology was filed through Mount Sinai and the technology is currently unlicensed. Mount Sinai and the co-inventors (Dr. Ianchulev and Dr. Kamthan) would benefit financially if miDOC becomes commercially available.

Preserving Sight, Restoring Hope:

How Complex Surgery Saved A Police Officer’s Eye Bill Preuss knew he had reached the turning point in his beloved career as a police officer when a physician gave him the dreaded news: he was in danger of permanently losing his entire left eye after a young assailant brutally beat him in the face in a parking lot. “That was the worst feeling ever, being told not only that you’re going to lose all your sight in one eye but that it would need to be replaced with a prosthesis,” recalls Officer Preuss, who was beaten in September 2022 while on duty in the Village of Canastota, located in upstate New York. “At that point, I knew my career was over if we continued down that road.” Fortunately for Officer Preuss, now 52, there was another pathway. It began when a special support unit in the New York State Police referred him to the Manhattan office of Richard B. Rosen, MD, Chief of the Retina Service at the Mount Sinai Health System. An ultrasound examination by Dr. Rosen during Officer Preuss’s first visit, nearly four months after the assault, showed a ruptured globe, which had been partially repaired at a hospital in Syracuse following the attack. The imaging showed a detached retina, which appeared to have become incarcerated within the wall of the eye during the initial repair effort, along with a rupture of the choroid, just under the macula, caused by the rapid and violent compression of the eye during the assault. “Making this an even more complicated case was the fact it was old trauma,” notes Dr. Rosen, who is also Vice Chair of Ophthalmic Research at New York Left: Mr. Preuss

Top: Mr. Preuss being treated in the Emergency Department at SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital in Syracuse, NY, after his attack. Left: Mr. Preuss at NYEE for his monthly appointment with Dr. Rosen for anti-VEGF injection.

Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE). “By the time I saw him, blood vessels were growing under the retina, creating a mass of scar tissue. There was also a large accumulation of blood that I knew would make surgery perilous because of the difficulty distinguishing between retinal tissue and fibrotic clots and scar tissue. It would require making some crucial decisions in terms of what we could remove and what we couldn’t.” With the patient still without vision in the injured eye, Dr. Rosen accelerated the process of getting him into

the operating room. The surgery took place in late January 2023 and lasted nearly seven hours. Teamed with a vitreoretinal surgical fellow, Dr. Rosen began meticulously peeling scar tissue from both surfaces of the retina, releasing the incarcerated retina from the original rupture site and cleaning out the old blood and tractional fibrosis suspending the retina above its normal bed of retinal pigment epithelium. Finally, silicone oil was used to fill the globe to hold the retina internally while an encircling scleral buckle was sewn to the outside of the eye to ensure that the retina would heal in place.

The Proposal at Yankee Stadium

While the procedure went well, Dr. Rosen became aware of a complicating factor. “Because the patient had sustained a crescent-shaped crack in the choroid, new blood vessels had grown through that weren’t removable without inciting new bleeding,” he explains. “It was firmly fibrosed, and when it started to bleed during the surgery, I decided to just leave it alone.” Even so, the results were quite encouraging for Mr. Preuss. He could start discerning shapes and objects for the first time from the damaged eye. But in his opinion, the more important revelation was the assurance from Dr. Rosen that he would be able to salvage the eye. “I realized that even with limited vision, keeping the eye was a huge win for me,” he says with a heavy sigh. “I was extremely grateful.” Out of an abundance of caution, Dr. Rosen decided to wait to undertake the final surgical procedure to replace the patient’s ruined lens with an intraocular implant. “There’s always the risk that the scar tissue could start to grow again and redetach the retina,” he says. “I wanted to ensure the eye was completely stable before proceeding.” With that hurdle finally cleared, Dr. Rosen returned with his patient to the operating room in October 2024. Because the injury had eliminated the normal anterior and posterior capsular support mechanism for intraocular lens implantation, Dr. Rosen sutured the soft lens to the sclera at four points to ensure its stability and reduce the need for reoperation.

The improvement in vision was soon noticeable to Mr. Preuss, who no longer needed to depend solely on his unaffected right eye. An office visit in June 2026 showed 20/150 vision from the surgically repaired eye, good enough to see the larger letters on the eye chart and help him function in crowds. “I know my vision will never be back to normal,” he concedes, “but I’m still ecstatic with the results.” After returning to light office duty in 2025 with the Canastota Police Department, Mr. Preuss took medical retirement in January 2026—reluctantly, he says. But if he was leaving behind a 14-year career in law enforcement that gave him great pride and purpose, he had ample time for familiar outdoor pursuits like hunting, now possible with even partially restored vision, and “marking off” as many professional baseball stadiums as he can across the country with his fiancée, Bernadette (at last count, nearly a dozen). Mr. Preuss’s already-full calendar includes regular trips down the New York State Thruway to Manhattan to see Dr. Rosen for anti-VEGF shots to shrink the abnormal submacular blood vessels. Those visits have something of a reunion vibe to them, with the former Officer Preuss continuing to be warmly greeted by Dr. Rosen and his staff. “Everyone there knows me and is so accommodating,” he says. “What’s really impressive, though, is how physicians like Dr. Rosen listen to their patients. They want to make sure we get the best care.”

On August 3, Mr. Preuss proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Bernadette, a 911 dispatcher who was on duty when news of his assault came in. She remained by his side throughout his recovery and regularly joins him on visits to Dr. Rosen.

Crafting Novel

Stem Cell Technology Into a Powerful Therapeutic Tool For Patients As a vision scientist, Timothy Blenkinsop, PhD, relishes the chance to think big—to push evolving technology from the realm of hypothetical to the reality of helping patients. Two new studies from Dr. Blenkinsop’s lab make novel and imaginative use of human pluripotent stem cells. In one study, the researchers created lifelike models of the eye that can hopefully lead to therapeutic solutions for genetic disease; in the other, retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells were implanted in the eyes of people with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), promising to become the first effective therapy for a disease that threatens the vision of more than 10 million Americans.

A Real-Life Model of the Iris Offers Unprecedented Insights Dr. Blenkinsop’s innate curiosity has bred a fascination with creating models in his lab of the human eye, replete with organoids, tissues, and intricate sublayers, from which medical researchers like himself can discern the complex biology of ocular disease—and even more importantly, learn how to halt its progression. The extent to which Dr. Blenkinsop is making good on that dream is encapsulated in a paper published in the November 2025 issue of Nature Communications. From

the basic building blocks of human pluripotent stem cells and adult tissue from eye banks, he has created a closeto-life replica of the iris of the human eye and its smooth muscle cells, providing unprecedented insights on mutations and malformations involving muscle genes that are known to seed a range of disease pathologies. “Developing a model that most closely resembles human eye development has always been a top-level goal of mine,” affirms Dr. Blenkinsop, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior author of the study. “Here, we established a unique stem cell prototype to study smooth muscle cell identity as well as the physiology and diseases of those smooth muscles, including isolated aniridia disorder and the broader WAGR (Wilms tumor, Aniridia, Genitourinary abnormalities, and Range of developmental delays) syndrome. On a much broader scale, we believe we’ve developed an approach that can expand research into a much wider range of ocular, neurological, and vascular diseases.” For now, the iris seems a perfect canvas for Dr. Blenkinsop’s exploration. This anterior ocular tissue, consisting of three cellular layers, is more than just the

Left: Dr. Blenkinsop building an in vitro iris muscle model.

colored part of the eye; it’s a dynamic system of muscles that contract and dilate to control the size of the pupil. And that, in turn, regulates the amount of light entering the eye, much like a camera aperture. Little is known, however, about how these muscles work in response to changes in light intensity to protect the retina from excess light. Significant gaps also exist in our knowledge of the pathophysiology of iris-related disease, including the coexpression of PAX6 and ACTA2, a transcription factor and a cytoskeletal protein, respectively, which are essential to eye development and structural integrity. A mutation in either one, however, can result in muscle cell disease and dysfunction. Aniridia, for example, is a rare genetic disorder characterized by the partial or complete absence of the iris, leading to vision impairment and other ocular complications. WAGR syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that significantly increases the risk of developing certain cancers in affected infants. While the coexpression of PAX6 and ACTA2 has been previously described by researchers in mouse models, Dr. Blenkinsop was surprised to learn that the same phenomenon had never been demonstrated in humans. He was determined to see if they expressed PAX6/ACTA2 in the same manner, and was confident that his new in vitro iris model could help to scientifically make that determination. To better appreciate human iris complexity and cellspecific gene expression of the iris muscle, his lab used a single-cell RNA sequencing approach—a method that reveals which genes are active in individual cells. The team then compared PAX6 and ACTA2 expression in irises isolated from human donor globes and mouse eyes. “This comparison enabled us to confirm for the first time the same coexpression of PAX6 and ACTA2 in adult human iris tissue as previously reported in animal models,” notes Dr. Blenkinsop. “These findings provide unique insights into the iris’s smooth muscle cell identity and development and the associated mechanisms of disease. Equally important, they greatly expand the model-based approaches scientists can deploy to make findings like these possible.” One of these approaches is creating individual avatars of the eye for patients known to have certain genetic mutations. These mini-models would be created by reprogramming pluripotent stem cells from the patient’s blood to vividly model their disease phenotype—essentially, a “disease in a dish.” Government approval and funding are now being sought to begin this groundbreaking work. 16

Encouraging Signs for Retinal Stem Cell Replacement Therapy There are few more urgent unmet medical needs today than sight-saving therapy for the legions of people with dry age-related macular degeneration, a disease that slowly robs them of the central core of their vision through the loss of RPE cells. Stem cell replacement therapy shows tremendous hope of filling the huge treatment vacuum that exists, and no one is working harder than Dr. Blenkinsop to make it happen. In 2012, he discovered a method for culturing adult human RPE cells while maintaining their native physiology. He then confirmed, in collaboration with Boris Stanzel, MD, at the University of Cologne, that those cells could survive for a month in vivo in a rabbit model. With his mentor, Sally Temple, PhD, he conducted Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies in additional animal models, which provided the data that led to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designating this study as a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy. A human clinical trial was then initiated. His latest study, published in the April 2026 issue of Cell Reports Medicine, provides a vital roadmap for translating laboratory discovery into a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant protocol that’s suitable for conducting further clinical studies. Specifically, in a phase 1/2a trial with the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, the study evaluated the safety and tolerability of transplanting four-week cultured RPE stem cells into patients with dry AMD. “We needed to establish the purity, potency, and reproducibility of our GMP-grade operating procedures, which could open the door to FDA-acceptable clinical studies in humans,” says Dr. Blenkinsop. “We met those parameters, including providing evidence that we could obtain more than a thousand cells from a single donor, and then expand them a thousand-fold for additional transplantations.” Just as encouraging to researchers was the strong efficacy of their cell replacement protocol. In the admittedly small cohort of six humans transplanted with 50,000 cells underneath the retina, each experienced improvement in their vision, “far better than what we could have hoped for,” according to Dr. Blenkinsop. Those findings have since enabled researchers to start writing the latest chapter in science’s decade-old drive to bring RPE stem cell replacement therapy to patients who

Adult RPE stem cell-driven RPE

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need it most. A phase 1/2a clinical trial is now underway with the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group (Beverly Hills, California), and the Mary M. and Sash A. Spencer Center for Vision Research at Stanford University. “Stem cell replacement therapy is still in its very early days, but we are seeing real glimmers of hope for people with dry age-related macular degeneration,” asserts Dr. Blenkinsop. “This work could be a huge advance for the field of medicine, and our lab is more committed than ever to developing and optimizing the underlying technology.”

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Graphical abstract illustrating the translational pathway to manufacturing readiness and phase 1/2a clinical testing of an investigational adult stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell replacement therapy for AMD.

A Hidden Specialty, a Lasting Legacy:

Inside NYEE’s Orthoptics Program

For most patients—and even many ophthalmologists— the specialized field of orthoptics remains largely out of view. Yet at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), the Orthoptics Service continues to deliver an outsized impact, providing highly specialized nonsurgical care for children and adults with eye movement and alignment disorders such as strabismus, amblyopia, and nystagmus. Now in its 94th year, the service at NYEE is a rare and vital resource, offering expertise that is increasingly difficult to find. Although orthoptics has been practiced for more than a century, the profession remains one of the smallest allied health specialties in the United States. There are currently only 17 accredited training programs nationwide, each training just one orthoptist at a time through a two-year apprenticeship-style curriculum. Because orthoptists develop highly specialized diagnostic and therapeutic skills through intensive, hands-on clinical training under experienced mentors, workforce development cannot be scaled through large classroom instruction or online learning alone. The result is a persistent shortage of providers at a time when demand for specialized eye alignment and binocular vision care continues to grow. “Unlike many health professions, orthoptics depends on intensive one-on-one clinical mentorship,” says Douglas R. Fredrick, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Pediatrics, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus for the Mount Sinai Health System. “Training programs are small by necessity, which limits the number of new orthoptists entering the workforce each year. At the same time, awareness of the profession remains relatively low, so many talented 18

students never consider it as a career path. The demand for services is there—the challenge is building the pipeline. We’re working to change that by raising awareness among prospective trainees. Given the demand, they can expect strong career opportunities.” NYEE has long played a leadership role in developing that workforce. In 1935, it established the nation’s first School of Orthoptics, just three years after launching one of the country’s earliest orthoptics clinics. By the late 1960s, the service had become the largest in the United States, treating approximately 25,000 patients annually. Although the service is smaller than during its peak decades, NYEE is planning for growth—including reviving its training program, which was discontinued in 2006. The addition of adult patients has already expanded the service’s reach. NYEE now operates one of the region’s busiest adult strabismus clinics, serving as a referral center for complex cases. Pediatric ophthalmologists across Mount Sinai and the broader region refer complex cases to the team for evaluation and treatment. “The reach of our Orthoptics Service within the city and the region is what makes it perhaps the only one of its kind in the country,” says Dr. Fredrick. “We’re ecumenical— patients don’t have to originate within Mount Sinai—and despite being smaller than in the past, the program remains a highly specialized resource that few institutions can offer.” At the center of the program today is Margarita Mendy, CO, who has spent the past two decades helping sustain and evolve orthoptics at NYEE. She trained under Sara Shippman, CO—a nationally recognized leader who

Sophia undergoing a vision exam with a trial frame.

-4D (diopters)

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played a key role in advancing the discipline—and now helps train ophthalmology residents rotating through pediatric ophthalmology alongside fellow orthoptist Dianna Moya, CO. “Orthoptists bring a different lens to patient care,” says Ms. Mendy. “We focus on understanding and treating eye alignment disorders without surgery— through approaches like eye exercises, patching, or prism glasses. Our evaluations are detailed and collaborative, often involving time with both patients and their families, and they play a critical role in helping ophthalmologists determine the best course of treatment.” That work is especially important in pediatric care, where both the clinical and emotional challenges can be significant. “Examining pediatric patients can be difficult— they’re often very young, scared, or upset,” adds Ms. Moya. “We spend a lot of time guiding residents through the evaluation process so they feel confident. Many of these conditions are not just about one eye, but how the eyes and brain work together. It takes patience and experience to fully understand what’s happening.” At the same time, innovation is beginning to reshape the field. In amblyopia treatment, for example, new technologies are offering alternatives to traditional methods like patching. A virtual reality headset approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in young children employs binocular therapy to encourage the brain to engage the weaker eye. Other at-home digital therapies combine interactive exercises and clinical tools to support visual development in both children and adults. “Orthoptics is an established discipline, but innovation is making treatments more effective and more acceptable for patients,” says Dr. Fredrick. “It’s a clear sign of where the field is headed—and we’re taking steps to ensure NYEE remains at the forefront of that evolution.”

A playful moment between Sophia and her sister Emma during their pediatric eye checkup.

Meeting the Challenge of Rising Pediatric Myopia The explosion of myopia in youngsters in the United States and globally has presented both opportunity and challenge for the Orthoptics Service at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE). The clinic is working diligently to meet the rising tide of children with nearsightedness through new technologies and techniques that go well beyond its traditional management of alignment disorders. “We now know that heredity is not necessarily destiny when it comes to myopia, and that starting intervention in kids as young as four, five, and six rather than waiting until they’re in their teens can make a big difference in how well they see,” says Douglas R. Fredrick, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Pediatrics, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and a recognized expert in child myopia. That message resonated loud and clear with Kristina Alejandro, a mother of three daughters with varying degrees of nearsightedness who faithfully ensures that each is monitored by specialists at NYEE’s Orthoptics Service for

myopia as well as general eye health. That commitment has been particularly important for her three-year-old, Sophia, whose refractive error at 10 months of age was found to be -4D (diopters), progressing to -7D at just two years. “My husband and I are both myopic, but it was still shocking to learn our youngest daughter’s condition was so severe at such a young age,” she acknowledges. “While myopia can’t be reversed, we realized the importance of bringing her to a clinic like NYEE, which has the resources to slow her progression that we can’t find elsewhere.”

Dr. Fredrick performing an ocular tracking evaluation on Sophia.

Sophia responding to a near point of convergence test performed by Dianna Moya, CO.

Emma undergoing a trial frame refraction exam with Margarita Mendy, CO.

After a thorough examination and assessment, the Orthoptics team prescribed eyeglasses and low-dose atropine eye drops (0.01% to 0.05%) for Sophia. That nightly treatment has been shown in multiple studies to reduce myopia progression by 40 to 60 percent over several years (though the response may vary by ethnicity). The reason is that atropine slows the axial elongation of the eyeball, the structural cause of worsening nearsightedness, by 50 to 77 percent in young patients with minimal side effects. Because of its safety and potential for moderating rapidly advancing myopia, atropine has become a widely used option at the Orthoptics Service for children like Sophia. Contact lenses to correct astigmatism could lie down the road for the young patient. Also entering the orthoptist’s toolkit are the first eyeglass lenses specifically designed to slow the progression of pediatric myopia. These lenses, recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, have a clear 9mm diameter area in the center, with the periphery of the spectacle lens designed to focus light precisely on the periphery of the retina. One study using the novel spectacles showed a 71 percent reduction in the progression of myopia within 24 months, while another showed a 53 percent reduction in eye elongation at 24 months. Aware of the potential for improvement, Mrs. Alejandro continues to bring her young daughter for regular visits to the Orthoptics Service. Here, she observes, the atmosphere is warm and friendly, and the emphasis is on highly skilled hands-on care to ensure Sophia has the best possible vision over the long term. “I’m very comfortable that she’s getting top-notch care from a clinic attached to an eye hospital,” Mrs. Alejandro says, “and I’ve recommended the service repeatedly to other members of our family.”

From Eye To Heart: Doppler Technology Opens New Frontiers in Disease Detection 22

Using the retina as a microcosm for gauging the health of the entire human body, from the eye to the heart—an approach known as oculomics—is proving more and more intriguing to physicians. No institution is working harder to advance the science and technology of oculomics and, ultimately, integrate it into clinical practice than New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE). This has meant bringing a sophisticated Doppler holography imaging system to the United States from its European originator and using it to measure variations in the flow of

blood into and out of the optic nerve to ferret out clues about a wide range of pathologies. Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO, Vice Chair of Ophthalmic Research at NYEE, was among the first to recognize this approach’s enormous potential and formed an ongoing partnership with physicist and laser Doppler holography (LDH) developer Michael Atlan, PhD, at the Institut Langevin – Ondes et Images in Paris. Helping to propel the work is a grant from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary Research Foundation. 23

Unlike optical coherence tomography angiography, which visualizes vascular architecture, LDH enables high-temporal-resolution assessment of dynamic blood-flow changes across the retinal circulation, creating opportunities to study vascular physiology in ways previously unavailable. “The eye holds an advantage over almost every other human organ because it allows us to observe what’s happening elsewhere in the body without having to open someone up,” says Dr. Rosen. “And laser Doppler holography is the enabling vehicle for that—the way we can view the vasculature of the entire body—since, when people have reductions in elasticity within the walls of blood vessels, it tends to be reflected everywhere: in the heart, the kidneys, the brain, as well as the eyes.” The technology’s abilities are already evolving under Dr. Rosen and Alon Harris, MS, PhD, FARVO, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, and Interim Director of the Barry Family Center for Ophthalmic Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Together they are developing novel methods for researchers at NYEE and Mount Sinai to explore how retinal blood flow—and eventually choroidal perfusion of the outer retina—can provide advance warning of glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), thyroid eye disease, papilledema, and many others.

A Breakthrough: Synchronizing Eye and Heart Signals to Reveal Hidden Disease Risk Among the earliest success stories to emerge from this groundbreaking work is a new study by Dr. Harris, which for the first time links LDH with a conventional electrocardiogram (ECG) to capture how blood flow to the retina responds to each heartbeat with millisecond precision. The idea of synchronizing cardiac and retinal signals was developed by Dr. Harris and stems from earlier work where he linked color Doppler imaging of the eye’s retrobulbar blood vessels with ECG and echocardiogram data. Those efforts provide a novel way to measure perfusion deficits that are characteristic of ocular conditions like glaucoma and AMD, as well as systemic abnormalities that offer potential signs of heart disease, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and Alzheimer’s disease. “We’re establishing a new measurement framework 24

that connects cardiac activity directly to retinal microvasculature, opening the door to future studies that can explore how cardiac function and vascular health are reflected in real-time retinal blood flow,” says Dr. Harris, a principal investigator and lead author of the study, published in the May 2026 issue of Nature. “From this first-ever system, we will be able to build prediction models that could integrate AI with LDH and ECG to ensure the greatest possible accuracy and repeatability.” Dr. Atlan developed the LDH system’s ECG interface with a team of programmers who worked closely with Keren Wood, MD, and graduate student Luis Muncharaz Duran from the laboratories of Drs. Harris and Rosen. Dr. Wood and Alice Verticchio, MD, PhD, performed prospective study visits, and Yash Lahoti, MSE, and graduate student Nicholas Schnorbus helped develop the software. Beyond its technical achievement, the work reported in Nature advances the emerging platform of oculomics. “We’re opening up a whole new era of oculomics, in which the eye and its blood supply can serve as a window into the body and allow us to look at a range of disorders beyond the eye, including cardiac disease and contractility of the heart, peripheral vascular disease, and even kidney function,” explains Dr. Harris, who has spent a good portion of his career examining how vascular and cardiovascular risk factors impact the development and progression of glaucoma, AMD, diabetes, and others. “The back of the eye is one of the most information-rich windows in medicine; the three important elements are ocular imaging, large data sets, and predictive screening models.” Looking further down the road, Dr. Rosen, who is also the Belinda Bingham Pierce and Gerald G. Pierce, MD, Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine, envisions a time when technology coupling LDH with ECG could become as practical and standard as taking one’s blood pressure. In this scenario, retinal imaging could expand beyond the research lab into physicians’ offices, and even pharmacies and drug stores that have blood pressure machines. “The ultimate goal is to use the LDH-ECG system, equipped with AI, to make people aware in advance of health problems,” says Dr. Rosen. “Instead of waiting for a disabling event like a stroke or heart attack to occur, they would be encouraged to proactively see a physician or specialist. That could potentially help change health care in this country.”

New Link Between AMD and Vascular Disease Throughout his distinguished career, R. Theodore Smith, MD, PhD, has worked tirelessly to prove the connective link between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and vascular disease, recognizing the vast potential it holds for ophthalmologists and cardiologists to associate major health issues in patients. Two new studies from the lab of Dr. Smith, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Neuroscience, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, underscore how his research continues to unearth intriguing new findings with implications for the legions of people with heart and eye disease. Among those populations are Blacks and Hispanics, who are known to be at high risk for cardiovascular disease. For the first time, Dr. Smith has shown, in a study published in the July 2025 issue of International Journal of Retina and Vitreous, that subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs), along with cuticular and calcified drusen, are present in some Black and Hispanic patients and can serve as high-risk markers for both progression to AMD and for systemic vascular disease. The latter includes myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, cardiac valvular disease, and stroke. “Somehow, the presence of these SDDs has never been noticed or identified before in minority populations, though they’ve been extensively analyzed in Caucasian patients,” says Dr. Smith. “This is a hugely missed opportunity for medicine and science, since SDDs are a hallmark of serious cardiovascular disease, which is known to inordinately affect Black and Hispanic populations. Recognition of SDDs in these groups could significantly improve the care they receive for life-threatening disorders.” As the study reports, Black and Hispanic populations are known to have a lower prevalence of AMD, 3.62 and 3.81 percent, respectively, compared to Caucasians, 5.40 percent. But, as Dr. Smith notes, “These are still substantial numbers and reinforce the need to include these groups in clinical studies.” Dr. Smith also stresses the importance of examining these patients for both ophthalmic and vascular warning signs. “The message for heart doctors is that if their patient has serious cardiovascular disease, they should send them to an ophthalmologist to be examined for potential SDDs and AMD,” advises Dr. Smith. “For ophthalmologists, the message is

equally as clear. If an OCT scan identifies an SDD lesion, they should refer the patient for a cardiovascular evaluation, given the heightened cardiac risk. It cuts both ways, and with the appropriate diligence, physicians can pick up on some of our most common diseases when they can still be effectively treated.”

HDL as a Risk Factor The cross-pollination of AMD and cardiovascular disease was also center stage in Dr. Smith’s second study. Researchers focused on high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good cholesterol,” and its relationship to AMD risk. Based on a trial of 5,028 eye-healthy participants and 2,328 with AMD from the All of Us Research Program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NYEE researchers explained a unique U-shaped relationship between HDL and AMD risk. That is, high and low HDL cholesterol were both tightly associated with greater risk of AMD in study participants. Moreover, the NIH study, published in the December 2025 issue of Ophthalmology, found that high and low HDLs were associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms, the most common types of genetic variations that predispose people to certain diseases. Thus, findings from the study highlight an exciting application of the trove of clinical and genetic data in the All of Us data set to illustrate novel associations with the retinal disease pathophysiology of AMD. “We now understand for the first time that both high and low HDL are risks for AMD,” observes Dr. Smith. “More specifically, we learned that high HDL is a risk factor for the soft drusen form, which lies beneath the retinal pigment epithelium, while low HDL is a risk factor for subretinal drusenoid deposits above the retinal pigment epithelium. Each represents a completely independent mechanism and disease process.” And each, in the mind of Dr. Smith, could be a valuable opportunity in the hands of health care providers for disease detection. “People walking around with low HDL could unknowingly be at high risk for serious cardiovascular events, as well as for SDDs in the macula that suggest AMD,” he explains. “For that reason, they represent another significant group of patients who need to have their retinas checked by an ophthalmologist.” 25

Decoding Glaucoma With

‘Multi-Omics’ For Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO, Deputy Chair for Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, unlocking the biological mystery around glaucoma will mean looking well beyond the simple structural and functional data that have circumscribed—and limited—progress in the past. Instead, he envisions a not-too-distant era of glaucoma breakthroughs for the millions of people with the progressive disease that will require a more holistic, “multi-omics” approach built on an emerging molecular landscape straddling the fields of genetics, metabolomics, proteomics, epigenetics, and the microbiome. “Glaucoma is a disease undergoing a paradigm shift from a damage-based framework to a probabilistic framework as a result of the many multi-omics studies underway in both the lab and the clinic,” says Dr. Pasquale, who is also Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens. “Pretty soon it will be passé for us to say we don’t understand glaucoma. By incorporating multimodal data streams that transcend the classic visual field, optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging, and eye pressure measurements from the clinic, we’ll have new insights on the biological mechanism of the disease that will enable us to do a vastly better job of forecasting and treating it.” Dr. Pasquale’s lab is helping to move that needle with the July 2026 publication of a review paper in the journal Progress in Retinal and Eye Research that surveys the current multi-omics landscape of glaucoma, and evaluates the strengths and limitations of each of its modalities. These include genomics, which is considered furthest along scientifically, with hundreds of genetic variants for primary open-angle glaucoma having been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAs); metabolomics, the study of small molecules known as metabolites that might be associated with glaucoma, a field only slightly behind genomics; and proteomics, the study of the functional molecules in glaucoma cells, which scientists are still getting a handle on.

As the researchers point out in their study, the glaucomatous process likely reflects interactions across genetic, epigenetic, proteomic, metabolic, and environmental domains, all compounded by the chronological age of the patient. Multi-omics approaches, as the study makes clear, offer a powerful way to identify convergent mechanisms underlying glaucoma, as well as biomarkers of the disease, with greater predictive power than any single modality could possibly deliver. Lead author of the multi-omics study Keva Li, MD, a firstyear resident at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), took the science around biomarkers to a new level by creating a metabolic risk score for glaucoma by mining the UK Biobank. A frequent resource for NYEE scientists with its rich trove of genetic and metabolic data across 500,000 participants, the UK Biobank enabled Dr. Li to deploy her biostatistical skills through an algorithm that assigned a genetic risk score for glaucoma to all participants. She then applied the biobank’s existing data set to determine if those with the highest scores exhibited metabolic variations. “We were interested in seeing if there was a metabolomic signature unique to glaucoma patients and, more specifically, what metabolites are common to people who have not developed glaucoma yet have a high genetic risk score,” she explains. “And one of the unique metabolites we uncovered was pyruvate, which we found was elevated in people without glaucoma who might have a genetic predisposition for the disease.” Working with scientists from Columbia University, Dr. Li was able to validate pyruvate, which plays a key role in cellular energy metabolism and mitochondrial function, as a potentially strong biomarker for glaucoma. Upcoming studies from Dr. Pasquale’s lab will attempt to identify other biomarkers thought to factor in the glaucomatous process, such as damaged retinal ganglion cells, which might reveal how active (or inactive) the disease is in humans. “There could be 10 metabolites in the blood of a patient, which are critical to driving the risk of glaucoma,” he notes, “and the best part is that we might be able to identify them through a quick and fairly inexpensive blood sample collected in the clinic.”

Understanding the Integrated Molecular Landscape of Glaucoma Multi-Omics Layers

Pathways and Cellular Networks Driving Glaucoma

Genetics

DNA variants, risk loci, gene-gene interactions Me

Neuroinﬂammation and immune response

Epigenetics DNA methylation, histone modiﬁcations, non-coding RNAs

Extracellular matrix and tissue remodeling

Proteomics

RGC survival, axon injury and death

Protein abundance, posttranslational modiﬁcations, protein interactions

Metabolomics Metabolite signatures, pathways, energy and redox balance Mitochondria dysfunction and oxidative stress

Microbiome

Microbial composition, diversity, functional pathways, host-microbe interactions

Microbiome-host interactions

Glaucoma Phenotype Structural, functional, and clinical outcomes

IOP

Visual Field

OCT/RNFL

Optic Nerve Head/NRR

Intraocular pressure

Functional loss

Retinal nerve fiber layer thinning

Damage

A Path to Precision Medicine

Disease Mechanisms

Biomarkers

Molecular Subtypes

Therapeutic Targets

Precision Medicine

Deeper understanding of glaucoma heterogeneity and pathogenesis

Early detection, prognosis, and monitoring

Stratification for risk and treatment response

Pathway-based drug discovery and repurposing

Personalized care for better outcomes

Integrating multi-omics layers illuminates the complex molecular landscape of glaucoma to enable precision prevention, diagnosis, and therapy to preserve vision.

Abbreviations: RNFL, retinal nerve fiber layer; NRR, neuroretinal rim.

Driven by Curiosity, Guided by Mentorship For Keva Li, MD, a research opportunity became a defining career experience. Working in the lab of Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO, she took on an ambitious project that placed her at the center of an international collaboration exploring new ways to understand glaucoma. While still a medical student, she emerged as lead author of a major review paper, coordinating contributions from glaucoma experts around the world.

to benefit from the rich mix of opportunities, support, and mentorship offered through one of the country’s largest ophthalmology training programs. “What’s stood out for me is how personalized the mentorship is,” she says. “Faculty take the time to genuinely get to know you and understand your goals, and they’ll hop on a phone call to offer advice or help you think through an important career decision.”

Impressed by her biostatistical acumen and desire to make an impact, Dr. Pasquale, Deputy Chair for Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, entrusted Dr. Li with helping advance a groundbreaking “multi-omics” approach to understanding and treating glaucoma. She also developed the study methodology and analyzed data from one of the world’s premier biomedical repositories, the UK Biobank, to identify potential metabolic signatures unique to glaucoma patients.

No one exemplifies that commitment more than Dr. Pasquale. Knowing Dr. Li was leaning toward ophthalmology, he tailored her research and mentoring experience to support that career path. “We have a really great support network for Mount Sinai medical students who want to go into ophthalmology,” says Dr. Pasquale. “That includes not just offering encouragement and guidance but working closely with mentees on research projects, even advising them on how to optimize their applications so they can match into NYEE’s highly competitive residency program. Not too many medical schools go to those lengths.”

“Through this research, I learned how to critically analyze data and develop a computational skill set that I hope to apply to future projects,” says Dr. Li, who decided during her second year of medical school at Mount Sinai that she wanted to pursue ophthalmology. “The experience has strongly supported my goal of becoming a physician who bridges research and clinical practice to improve patient outcomes.” Now a first-year resident at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), Dr. Li continues

Those genetic-driven inquiries will require GWASscale platforms that use giant databases like the UK Biobank, the National Institutes of Health All of Us Biobank, and the Mount Sinai Million Health Discoveries Program, whose ambitious goal is to enroll and genotype one million patients. As his next step, Dr. Pasquale is seeking National Institutes of Health funding for a study to investigate rare genetic variants associated with glaucoma by leveraging genomic 28

The one-on-one mentorship clearly left its mark. “Aside from being an incredible scientist, he has really instilled in me the mindset that research isn’t just about getting the answer you want; it’s about understanding what the data are trying to tell you,” Dr. Li says. “Perhaps the biggest lessons Dr. Pasquale has taught me are to stay curious, embrace unexpected findings, and let the science guide your research.”

data from Mount Sinai’s growing biomedical repository. This work will be done in conjunction with Dr. Pasquale’s long-term collaborator, Janey L. Wiggs, MD, PhD, from Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, with additional support from The Glaucoma Foundation in NYC. Another key partner in that unfolding effort is Ron Do, PhD, Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Mount Sinai and a member of the Health System’s Windreich Department

She put that advice into practice over the past year by seeking clinical experiences abroad. At Peking University Hospital in China, she participated in a specialty retina clinic. At Keio University Hospital in Japan, she attended grand rounds and observed ophthalmic surgeries firsthand. Those experiences gave her an even deeper

appreciation for her training back home. “At NYEE, you’re surrounded by leaders who are shaping the future of ophthalmology, but who are also remarkably approachable and invested in the people they train,” Dr. Li says. “It creates an environment where you feel that people are always rooting for your success.”

of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health. Dr. Do has in fact already identified, through past work with Dr. Pasquale’s team, a large number of people with rare genetic variants from Mount Sinai’s 54,000-participant BioMe® BioBank—variants that scientists see as “potential ticking time bombs” for glaucoma. That collaboration has enabled the NYEE vision scientists to call in consenting patients for comprehensive eye exams and consultation.

“As our work underscores, a multi-omics approach is poised in the years ahead to transform our understanding of glaucoma and accelerate the development of targeted, individualized treatments to preserve vision and improve outcomes for our patients,” says Dr. Pasquale. “At the same time, it will greatly enhance the ability of ophthalmologists to forecast the disease, instead of giving patients evasive answers, which is too often the case today.” 29

A New Cellular Pathway To Treating

Corneal 34 30

Disease

Increasingly, medical science is focused on the phenomenon known as “crosstalk” and how it can perturb intricate signaling pathways at the intracellular level, setting the stage for a wide swath of pathology, from neurodegenerative to oncologic to ocular disease. For the first time, a team of researchers from the Eye and Vision Research Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has described how crosstalk and the accompanying stress triggered in different organelles within the cell play a crucial role in corneal disease, particularly Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), the leading cause of corneal transplantation worldwide. In a finding with significant implications, the team learned that the transcription factor ATF4 plays a prominent role in mediating crosstalk between the mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) components of the cell that are active in the development of FECD. This dynamic makes ATF4 an intriguing target for drugs that could potentially alleviate the disruptive crosstalk and promote the survival of stressed-out cells. “In the case of FECD, it’s important to identify causative stress factors early in the disease so we can take steps to halt their progression and avoid the need for corneal transplantation,” says Varun Kumar, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, and Pharmacological Sciences, at the Icahn School of Medicine and senior author of the study, published in the January 2026 issue of Scientific Reports. “That’s why our lab has been so focused on understanding not just one but multiple stress responses that occur at the cellular or molecular level in ocular disease. In addition to FECD, these disorders include glaucoma, cataracts, optic neuropathy, and others where we know that crosstalk is a contributing factor.”

swelling, clouding, and visual impairment. It affects approximately 4 percent of the U.S. population over 40, with no pharmacological treatment available. Past work by the Kumar Lab has demonstrated that ER stress leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, where the mitochondria (the powerhouses of cells) fail to generate sufficient energy for cellular function. ER stress is also known to contribute to the death of corneal endothelial cells (CEnC), the pathogenic hallmark of FECD. In their latest study, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) vision researchers have taken the complex science to a new level. More specifically, they have highlighted the important role of ATF4—a protein and transcription factor that regulates a wide range of cellular processes—as a modulator in ER-mitochondrial crosstalk and CEnC apoptosis (cell death) that occur in FECD. Driving this discovery are cutting-edge cellular and molecular tools and techniques the lab employs, such as single-cell genomics, RNA sequencing, and large data sets. “ATF4 has been widely studied in disease, including glaucoma and metabolic and lung disorders, but we have uniquely shown that it is upregulated in response to crosstalk between the ER and mitochondria in corneal disease,” explains Dr. Kumar, whose lab sits at the intersection of ophthalmology and pharmacological sciences at Mount Sinai. “The reason this is important is because we can now target ER and mitochondrial stress proteins for drug screening and possible therapeutic intervention in ocular diseases like FECD.”

Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy has been the object of much of their investigative work. FECD is a genetic degenerative disorder of the corneal endothelium, the innermost layer of the cornea, causing

That process is in fact well underway. Working with the highly specialized drug screening team at the University of California, San Francisco, NYEE researchers have screened more than 500 compounds to date against ER-mitochondrial stress targets and identified some promising drug leads. Several in vitro studies have been launched around these compounds, with some progressing to the in vivo stage—the ultimate goal of scientists being clinical trials.

Pictorial representation of Endoplasmic ReticulumMitochondrial crosstalk via ATF4: Under continued stress during daily life activities, the endoplasmic reticulum (male figure on the left) and the mitochondrion (female figure on the right) cannot seem to get along, and even their conversations require mediation by ATF4 (center star). As a result, a physical distance between the two is being created, similar to the increased contact distance between the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria inside the cell.

“That process takes time, of course, but we are encouraged by the results we’ve seen so far,” asserts Dr. Kumar. “By modulating ATF4, we’ve demonstrated that ER and mitochondrial stress can be alleviated, resulting in enhanced cell survival in the corneal endothelium. This important finding could open the therapeutic door to diseases of the eye beyond FECD—diseases where it’s becoming increasingly clear that crosstalk is a contributing factor.” 31

Mendel Schwimmer had battled serious corneal disease for decades, undergoing multiple corneal transplants over the years due to a diagnosis of keratoconus at an early age. But his greatest challenge came in April 2025, when a severe fall at home caused facial trauma that ruptured his right eye, leaving him without an intraocular lens (IOL) and nearly blind in the affected eye. “I couldn’t drive, and I was nervous about going out,” he recalls. “It was not an easy time for me.” By the time the 76-year-old Mr. Schwimmer arrived at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) for his first appointment with Anita Gupta, MD, on September 10, 2025, his case had already been deemed too complex by several outside clinicians. Wary of the complexities and unknowns around a case that would doubtless demand a multispecialty, cross-functional approach, they offered little hope for a successful surgical outcome. “The patient presented with a history of bilateral repeat penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). His traumatic globe rupture, although repaired, left him with a corneal decompensation, aphakia, and inadequate capsular support for secondary IOL implantation, creating a challenging anterior and posterior segment reconstruction scenario,” says Anita Gupta, MD, Director of the Cornea Service at NYEE. Dr. Gupta joined forces with Gennady Landa, MD, Director of the Retina Service at NYEE, who confirmed that despite the damage to the eye, the patient’s retina remained intact. The two surgeons were cautiously optimistic. “We couldn’t make any promises to the patient about improving his condition,” Dr. Landa acknowledges. “But Mr. Schwimmer expressed his full confidence in us and was really motivated to have this challenging surgery, and while it was a complex case, it wasn’t unlike what we do all the time in the operating room.”

Dr. Gupta performing a corneal transplant.

Cornea transplant surgery in progress.

That the surgery went remarkably well is a testament to clockwork precision and teamwork, which Dr. Landa and Dr. Gupta have mastered from working together repeatedly. “We knew we had to do both parts of this surgery very quickly, precisely, and in a highly coordinated fashion after the initial incision in the eye to reduce complications and maximize the patient’s visual potential afterwards,” says Dr. Landa. Once the cornea is removed, the contents of the eye become exposed; this stage of the surgery is known as “open sky.” It leaves an extremely short window to complete the procedure before blood vessels run the risk of hemorrhaging and causing permanent damage to the eye. Dr. Gupta led the operation on December 9, 2025, by performing a PKP, a full-thickness corneal transplant. At first, she used a trephine blade to

Dr. Landa , who performed secondary intraocular lens implantation using the Yamane technique.

Left: Mr. Schwimmer

Once the IOL was centered and secured in its place, Dr. Gupta took over again and completed suturing the cornea graft. “This is where preoperative planning and intraoperative coordination are key,” asserts Dr. Gupta. “You want to minimize the amount of time the eye remains open and vulnerable.”

Mr. Schwimmer at NYEE for his monthly check-up with Dr. Gupta and Dr. Landa.

create a circular incision in the cornea and removed the damaged corneal tissue. Then Dr. Landa took over and completed his portion of the surgery, implanting an intraocular lens. But here, Dr. Gupta and Dr. Landa departed from standard protocol—the IOL was implanted in the eye before securing a new corneal graft in place. The main challenge was that, due to the extensive trauma to the cornea and sclera from the patient’s fall eight months earlier, there was not adequate capsular support to implant the IOL in a standard fashion. Given the absence of this support, and concerns regarding conjunctival preservation and long-term suture-related complications, Dr. Landa elected to perform sutureless intrascleral fixation using the Yamane technique. “The procedure called for using the haptics, or supporting arms, of a foldable three-piece IOL to secure the lens to the wall of the eye,” explains Dr. Landa. As part of the insertion process, high-temperature cautery was applied to the ends of the plastic haptics to create mushroom-shaped tips designed to prevent the haptics from slipping back into the eye. “Precise anatomical placement of the lens was critical,” Dr. Landa points out, “and the minimally invasive Yamane technique allowed for stable positioning of the IOL by closely mimicking its normal location within the eye.” 34

The choice to go with the Yamane technique meant Dr. Landa needed maximum access to the anterior chamber for a safer surgical manipulation of the anterior segment before the cornea was permanently sealed. “Our goal was to minimize the risks of IOL-induced endothelial trauma and lens dislocation,” agrees Dr. Landa. “Plus, the structural integrity (globe seal) is restored, protecting the newly implanted lens from dislocating.” “The surgery went remarkably well, better than we expected,” sums up Dr. Gupta. In the months following the procedure, she selectively removed the 16 stitches from the transplant to restore the cornea to its natural dome shape. The success of the surgical procedure set the stage for another member of the NYEE team to get directly involved. Optometrist Evan Kaplan, OD, fitted both of the patient’s eyes with scleral contact lenses—gas-permeable hard lenses that rest on the sclera, covering the entire cornea and contoured to the shape of the eye. Mr. Schwimmer and his doctors were all delighted with the outcome when he returned in March 2026 for a followup examination. The new graft remained clear, the IOL well centered, and the vision out of his repaired right eye had improved markedly, from counting fingers before surgery to 20/50, enhanced by the fact that his left eye vision had remained steady at 20/40. “Drs. Gupta and Landa were very truthful with me before the surgery about what they could achieve,” acknowledges Mr. Schwimmer, director of a children’s academy near his home in Monroe, New York. “But they managed to restore vision in my eye, and while I still have a way to go, I’m very grateful and humbled that I had such a great team working with me.”

New Retinal Imaging Captures Immune Cells in Action

“The device employs a wavefront sensor to detect optical aberrations due to refractive error, tear film irregularities, and imperfections in the cornea and lens of the eye,” explains Toco Y. P. Chui, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Neuroscience, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and lead author of the study. “Correcting these imperfections allows us to view the photoreceptors and blood vessels in the living human retina at a resolution of around two to four microns—the smallest photoreceptor being about two microns in diameter. That level of visualization has left

➤

“This will allow us to use leukocytes as quantitative biomarkers for disease progression and treatment response, and gain insights on the immunopathogenesis of various diseases,” says Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO, Vice Chair of Ophthalmic Research at NYEE, and co-author of the study published in the September issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. NYEE is one of a few sites in the country with AOSLO. Developed by U.S. government scientists some 30 years ago to correct optical distortions in astronomical telescopes, the technology now enables NYEE researchers to image the retina at the cellular level.

➤

Scientists at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) recently completed a first-time proof-of-concept study in the living human eye of white blood cells known as leukocytes moving through the retinal vasculature. This offers a valuable window on the immune system’s response to inflammation, infections, and eye injury. Significantly, the researchers used a commercially available desktop version of AOSLO, an easier and less costly way for clinicians to view leukocyte dynamics than the custom-made laboratory instruments that have driven research in the past.

➤

A novel desktop version of advanced retinal imaging known as the adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) enables clinicians to visualize diseases of the eye at the microscopic level, with potential applications for chronic disorders like uveitis, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.

Leukocyte crawling along the inner wall of a venule in the living human retina for more than two minutes. Figures 1-3: Sequential AOSLO phase-contrast images showing leukocyte crawling (red arrows) in the inner wall of a venule with blood flow direction from the top to the bottom. Scalebars = 20 microns

us very excited about our ability to now move beyond studies of leukocyte dynamics in mouse models to studies in the natural human environment.” At the heart of the latest inquiry is the use of AOSLO to noninvasively examine leukocytes crawling along the inner walls of retinal blood vessels of both healthy participants and patients with systemic diseases (diabetes, sickle cell, and syphilis). Leukocyte crawling occurs when white blood cells slow at sites of inflammation, infection, or injury and ”crawl” along vessel walls before entering surrounding tissue. “Clinical imaging of leukocyte crawling shows promise for revealing a more detailed picture of immune surveillance in retinal inflammatory disorders,” says Dr. Chui, “including many systemic conditions that affect retinal vasculature.” Additionally, Dr. Rosen says AOSLO could help scientists better understand other cellular processes in retinal disease, including photoreceptor disorders, glaucoma, and microvascular remodeling. Being able to base therapy on cellular responses as opposed to clinical signs could improve accuracy of monitoring and potentially shorten courses of therapy in chronic disease. “AOSLO improves our diagnostic reach by revealing subclinical features of disease,” notes Dr. Rosen. “We are exploring the technology in our clinic to better visualize changes in patients with uveitis, diabetes, and sickle cell to see if we can detect when disease is stabilizing or look for earlier signs of increasing activity. This desktop version is equivalent to examining the patient with a high-powered microscope, but in a form factor practical for clinical testing.” 35

Department of Ophthalmology

AT A GLANCE New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) and The Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH)/Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Residency Positions

One of the largest ophthalmology graduate medical education programs in the country

151,460+ Outpatient Visits*

Fellowship Positions

Surgical Volume*

Industry clinical trials and federally funded clinical research projects

* C ombined 2025 numbers for

16,400+

NYEE and MSH.

Locations

Affiliated Clinical Sites

1. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai 310 East 14th Street New York, NY 10003

7. Mount Sinai-Urgent Care East 14th Street 310 East 14th Street New York, NY 10003

2. NYEE-East 102nd Street 17 East 102nd Street New York, NY 10029

8. Mount Sinai-Union Square 10 Union Square East New York, NY 10003

The Bronx

3. NYEE-East 85th Street 234 East 85th Street New York, NY 10028

3 10

Manhattan

4. N YEE-Tribeca 77 Worth Street New York, NY 10013

13 Queens

Brooklyn

5 Staten Island

6 11

10. Mount Sinai Queens 25-10 30th Avenue Long Island City, NY 11102

5. N YEE-Midwood 1630 East 15th Street Brooklyn, NY 11229 6. NYEE-Carle Place 393 Old Country Road Carle Place, NY 11514

9 8 1 7

9. Peakpoint Flatiron Surgery Center 16 West 25th Street New York, NY 10010

11. P eakpoint Central Nassau Surgery Center 371 Old Country Road Carle Place, NY 11514

Affiliated Teaching Institutions 12. James J. Peters VA Medical Center 130 West Kingsbridge Road Bronx, NY 10468 13. NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst 79-01 Broadway Queens, NY 11373

DEPARTMENT NEWS

In Memoriam Seymour Fradin, MD (1926–2026) Richard B. Rosen, MD, and pioneered one of the first digital simulators for teaching indirect ophthalmoscopy—an innovative educational resource that later became part of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s ONE® Network.

New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) honors the life and legacy of Seymour Fradin, MD, whose remarkable career as a retinal surgeon, educator, innovator, and mentor spanned more than six decades. Dr. Fradin passed away on July 15, 2026, at the age of 100, leaving an indelible legacy that continues to shape the future of ophthalmology. After joining NYEE as one of the earliest fellows on the Retina Service in 1959, Dr. Fradin became Associate Director of the service and established himself as a respected retinal surgeon and gifted teacher. Even after retiring from clinical practice, he remained deeply committed to education, becoming the longest-serving voluntary teaching faculty member in NYEE history. A passionate advocate for lifelong learning, Dr. Fradin devoted his retirement to advancing ophthalmic education. He authored The Essential Guide to Binocular-Indirect Fundoscopy with

Expanding Ophthalmic Care on Long Island

A World War II veteran, engineer, aviator, accomplished medical artist, and physician, Dr. Fradin brought uncommon creativity and intellectual curiosity to every endeavor. His greatest gift, however, was his dedication to mentoring generations of ophthalmologists, instilling not only technical excellence but also a lifelong commitment to compassionate patient care. Dr. Fradin’s influence lives on in the physicians he trained, the educational innovations he championed, and the countless patients who have benefited from his extraordinary commitment to advancing ophthalmology. We are profoundly grateful for his lifetime of service and will remember him with great admiration and appreciation. His legacy remains an enduring part of the NYEE community.

NYEE continues to grow its clinical enterprise by bringing world-leading ophthalmic care closer to where patients live. This fall, NYEE will expand its team of ophthalmologists and portfolio of services at the Mount Sinai Health System’s multispecialty Carle Place location in Nassau County, Long Island, supported by the opening of the new Peakpoint Central Nassau Surgery Center. The state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery center enhances access to advanced outpatient eye surgery, making it easier for patients across Long Island to receive expert care without traveling into Manhattan. “Our vision for growth is centered on meeting patients where they are,” says James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, President, NYEE. “The opening of the Peakpoint Central Nassau Surgery Center allows us to bring the expertise of our ophthalmologists directly to the communities we serve, expanding access to high-quality surgical care closer to home while maintaining the exceptional standards for which our eye specialty hospital is known.” 37

FACULTY AWARDS AND HONORS

Sumayya Ahmad, MD, Associate Director, Ophthalmology Residency Program, received the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Achievement Award in October 2026 in New Orleans. The award recognizes AAO members for their cumulative contributions to the academy and the field of ophthalmology. Nisha Chadha, MD, Director of Medical Student Education in the Department of Ophthalmology, was recognized with the 2025 Excellence in Medical Student Education Award in February 2026 in San Diego. Given by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology, the award celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to medical education and medical student training. Toco Y. P. Chui, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, and Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO, the Belinda Bingham Pierce and Gerald G. Pierce, MD, Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology, received the 2025 best paper prize from Biomedical Optics Express. The paper was selected for its groundbreaking achievement in noninvasively visualizing and tracking vitreous cortex hyalocytes in living human eyes. Alon Harris, MS, PhD, FARVO, Interim Director of the Barry Family Center for Ophthalmic Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, was honored with the 2026 Gold Fellow Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in May 2026 in Denver. The prestigious Gold Fellow distinction honors members for their outstanding leadership, accomplishments, and contributions to the eye and vision research community.

Dr. Pasquale was a keynote speaker at the John R. Lynn, MD, Lectureship in Ophthalmology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in December 2025 in Dallas; the American Glaucoma Society Annual Meeting in February 2026 in Rancho Mirage, California; the Joseph Markoff, PhD, MD, Endowed Lecture at the Wills Eye Hospital in March 2026 in Philadelphia; and the Lorand Johnson, MD, Lecture at Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in April 2026 in Cleveland. Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO, the Belinda Bingham Pierce and Gerald G. Pierce, MD, Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology, gave the keynote presentation at the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in October 2025 in New York. From 2025-2026, he served as Secretary-Treasurer for the New York Ophthalmological Society. Founded in 1864, it is one of the oldest continuously functioning specialist medical societies in the United States dedicated to the scientific advancement of ophthalmology. Dr. Rosen was a guest speaker at Retina China 2026 and the 27th International Retina Forum in May 2026 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The meeting advances the field of retinal disease through international academic exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration in diagnosis and treatment, and the development of specialized medical talent. Dr. Rosen also became 2026-2027 President of the International Ocular Circulation Society, continuing its mission to promote research in ocular circulation, foster the global exchange of scientific knowledge, and encourage interdisciplinary teamwork.

Tsontcho A. Ianchulev, MD, MPH, Director of Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology, was honored with the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’s 2026 Charles D. Kelman, MD, Innovator’s Lecture and Medal in April 2026 in Washington, D.C. The award honors the work of individuals whose creativity and leadership have benefited ophthalmologists and their patients.

James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, became president of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) on April 1, 2026. As president of AUPO, Dr. Tsai will continue the organization’s legacy of championing excellence in ophthalmic education, professional development, research, and clinical care.

Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO, Chair, Department of Ophthalmology at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens, delivered a keynote address during the 36th Japan Glaucoma Society (JGS) Meeting in September 2025 in Kobe, Japan. Organized by Congress Inc., JGS promotes glaucoma research to enhance the quality of vision in patients with glaucoma.

Dr. Tsai was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) in June 2026 at the World Ophthalmology Congress in Prague. The ICO’s mission is to enhance ophthalmic education, improve access to the highestquality eye care, and preserve and restore vision for the people of the world.

RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS |

FACULTY LISTING

NYEE RESIDENTS

NYEE FELLOWS

PGY-4

Artificial Intelligence

Medical Retina

David Drucker, MD

Yash Shah, MD

Aileen Arevalo, MD Xiaoyu Cai, MD Emily Duffner, MD Jeff Huang, MD Angela Kim, MD Eliott Kim, MD Sophia Lam, MD Marissa Patel, MD Jose Quiroz, MD, PhD Dominic Williams, MD

PGY-3 Evan Bilsbury, MD Spandana Jarmale, MD Grace Lee, MD Andy Medina, MD Nicholas Moehringer, MD David Qi, MD Joshua Reyes, MD Sagar Shah, MD Liang Wang, MD Stephanie Ying, MD

PGY-2 Samuel Goldstein, MD Jason Greenfield, MD Paul Connor Lentz, MD Anagha Lokhande, MD Simran Ohri, MD Oreofeoluwa Oladapo, MD Lukas Ritzer, MD Ramin Talebi, MD Caleb Tan, MD Anushi Wijayagunaratne, MD

PGY-1 Sinan Akosman, MD Iden Amiri, MD Yuria Haraguchi, MD William Herskowitz, MD Lauren Isserow, MD Troy Karanfilian, MD Keva Li, MD Michael Najac, MD Asha Parvathaneni, MD Sudheshna Vemula, MD

Cornea Michael Seleski, MD

Surgical Retina Aaron Brown, MD Kevin Dahlan, MD Jade Moon, MD Joyce Tang, MD

ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI DEPARTMENTAL LEADERSHIP James C. Tsai, MD, MBA President, NYEE Chair, Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine and MSHS Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO Chair, Department of Ophthalmology MSH and MSQ Deputy Chair for Research Director, Mount Sinai/NYEE Eye and Vision Research Institute Co-Director, BFCOAIHH Icahn School of Medicine Paul A. Sidoti, MD Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, NYEE Deputy Chair for Education Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine Chief, Glaucoma Service, MSHS Valerie I. Elmalem, MD Interim Chief, Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, MSHS Director, Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, NYEE Douglas R. Fredrick, MD Chief, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus Service, MSHS Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Associate Designated Institutional Official Icahn School of Medicine Tamiesha Frempong, MD, MPH Vice Chair, Faculty Engagement Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine Anita Gupta, MD Vice Chair, Professional Development Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine Director, Cornea Service, NYEE

Alon Harris, MS, PhD, FARVO Interim Director, BFCOAIHH Director, Ophthalmic Vascular Diagnostic and Research Program, MSH Vice Chair, International Research and Academic Affairs Chair, Promotion and Tenure Committee Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine Tsontcho A. Ianchulev, MD, MPH Director, Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology, MSHS Gareth M. C. Lema, MD, PhD Vice Chair, Quality, Safety, and Experience Department of Ophthalmology, MSHS Gennady Landa, MD Vice Chair, Clinical Integration of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine and MSHS Director, Retina Service, NYEE Salvatore Loiacono Jr., MPA Deputy Chair, Finance and Administration, MSHS Vice President, Ophthalmology Services, NYEE Sandra K. Masur, PhD Vice Chair, Academic Development and Mentoring, Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO Vice Chair, Ophthalmic Research, NYEE Chief, Retina Service, MSHS Tak Yee Tania Tai, MD Vice Chair, Clinical Operations Department of Ophthalmology, NYEE Clinical Advisory Director, BFCOAIHH Icahn School of Medicine Director, Glaucoma Clinic, NYEE

FACULTY LISTING

EDUCATION LEADERSHIP

CLINICAL DIVISIONS

Residency

Fellowships

Cataract Surgery

Harsha S. Reddy, MD Director, Ophthalmology Residency Program, NYEE/ISMMS

Avnish Deobhakta, MD Director, Medical Retina Fellowship Program Associate Director, Vitreo-Retinal Fellowship Program NYEE/ISMMS

Richard Koplin, MD Co-Director, Cataract Service NYEE

Sumayya Ahmad, MD Associate Director, Ophthalmology Residency Program, NYEE/ISMMS Masako Chen, MD Associate Director, Ophthalmology Residency Program NYEE/ISMMS Tamiesha Frempong, MD, MPH Assistant Director, Ophthalmology Residency Program NYEE/ISMMS Meenakashi Gupta, MD Director, Resident and Fellow Wellness, Department of Ophthalmology, NYEE/ISMMS Gautam Kamthan, MD Assistant Director, Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology, NYEE Associate Director, Cataract Surgical Training NYEE/ISMMS

Alon Harris, MS, PhD, FARVO Co-Director, Ophthalmic AI Clinical and Research Fellowship NYEE/ISMMS Gennady Landa, MD Associate Director, Vitreo-Retinal Fellowship Program NYEE/ISMMS Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO Co-Director, Ophthalmic AI Clinical and Research Fellowship NYEE/ISMMS Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO Director, Vitreo-Retinal Fellowship Program NYEE/ISMMS Tak Yee Tania Tai, MD Co-Director, Ophthalmic AI Clinical and Research Fellowship NYEE/ISMMS

Tak Yee Tania Tai, MD Director, Microsurgical Education NYEE/ISMMS

Kateki Vinod, MD Director, Glaucoma Fellowship Program, NYEE/ISMMS

Medical Students

Angie E. Wen, MD Director, Cornea and External Diseases Fellowship Program NYEE/ISMMS

Nisha Chadha, MD Director, Medical Student Education Department of Ophthalmology Icahn School of Medicine

Kira Manusis, MD Director, Center for Refractive Solutions Co-Director, Cataract Service NYEE Sumayya Ahmad, MD Yandong Bian, MD Phillip Braun, MD Nisha Chadha, MD Masako Chen, MD Anita Gupta, MD Tsontcho A. Ianchulev, MD, MPH Gautam Kamthan, MD Gennady Landa, MD Tak Yee Tania Tai, MD Angie E. Wen, MD

Cornea, External Diseases, and Refractive Surgery Anita Gupta, MD Director, Cornea Service, NYEE Angie E. Wen, MD Director, Keratorefractive Surgery Division, NYEE Sumayya Ahmad, MD Yandong Bian, MD Masako Chen, MD Kira Manusis, MD

Eye Trauma Ronald C. Gentile, MD Co-Director, Posterior Segment Trauma Service, NYEE Harsha S. Reddy, MD Director, Oculoplastic Trauma Service NYEE Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO Co-Director, Posterior Segment Trauma Service, NYEE

FACULTY LISTING

Sumayya Ahmad, MD Masako Chen, MD Mary-Abigail Craven, MD Avnish Deobhakta, MD Alberto G. Distefano, MD Valerie I. Elmalem, MD Robin N. Ginsburg, MD Anita Gupta, MD Meenakashi Gupta, MD Gennady Landa, MD Gareth M. C. Lema, MD, PhD Kira Manusis, MD Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO Angie E. Wen, MD

Ocular Oncology

Glaucoma

Codrin E. Iacob, MD, FCAP

Paul A. Sidoti, MD Chief, Glaucoma Service, MSHS

Oculoplastic, Orbital, and Reconstructive Surgery

Tak Yee Tania Tai, MD Director, Glaucoma Clinic NYEE

Alberto G. Distefano, MD Director, Oculoplastic, Orbital, and Reconstructive Surgery, MSH

Nazanin Barzideh, MD Avnish Deobhakta, MD Meenakashi Gupta, MD Gareth M. C. Lema, MD, PhD R. Theodore Smith, MD, PhD

Nisha Chadha, MD Donna Gagliuso, MD Tsontcho A. Ianchulev, MD, MPH Nehali Nanti, MD Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO James C. Tsai, MD, MBA Kateki Vinod, MD

Harsha S. Reddy, MD Director, Oculoplastic, Orbital, and Reconstructive Surgery, NYEE

Uveitis and Ocular Immunology

Neuro-Ophthalmology Valerie I. Elmalem, MD Interim Chief, NeuroOphthalmology Service, MSHS Director, Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, NYEE Mary-Abigail Craven, MD Alberto G. Distefano, MD Rita Okumu, MD Kevin Y. Yan, MD

Paul T. Finger, MD Director, Ocular Oncology Service NYEE Ekaterina Semenova, MD Director, Pediatric Ocular Oncology, NYEE/MSH

Ophthalmic Pathology Jodi Sassoon, MD Chair, Pathology, NYEE

Vivien Boniuk, MD Phillip Braun, MD Kristina Creadore, OD Lisa Kingsly, OD Jiani S. Lin, OD Anne Marie Mc Veigh, MD Niki Mizraei, OD

Retina Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO Chief, Retina Service, MSHS Robin N. Ginsburg, MD Director, Retina Service, MSH Gennady Landa, MD Director, Retina Service, NYEE

Varun K. Pawar, MD Mary-Abigail Craven, MD Valerie I. Elmalem, MD

Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Douglas R. Fredrick, MD Chief, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus Service, MSHS Tamiesha Frempong, MD, MPH Thomas J. Quehl, MD Edward Raab, MD

Comprehensive Ophthalmology/Optometry Masako Chen, MD Director, Comprehensive Ophthalmology Service, NYEE

Basic Science/Translational Research Faculty Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO Director, Mount Sinai/NYEE Eye and Vision Research Institute Co-Director, BFCOAIHH Icahn School of Medicine Richard B. Rosen, MD, FARVO Vice Chair, Ophthalmic Research, NYEE Timothy A. Blenkinsop, PhD Yuen Ping Toco Chui, PhD Alon Harris, MS, PhD, FARVO Varun Kumar, PhD Jun Lin, MD, PhD Sandra Masur, PhD R. Theodore Smith, MD, PhD

FACULTY LISTING

Adjunct Professors

Voluntary Teaching Faculty

Marc Joseph De Smet, PhD Giovanna Guidoboni, PhD Stephen D. Klyce, PhD

NYEE

MSH

Ahmed Abdelhady, MD Steven Agemy, MD Rudrani Banik, MD Alexander Barash, MD Alessandra Bertolucci, MD Brett Bielory, MD Douglas F. Buxton, MD Gaurav Chandra, MD Alan Dayan, MD Jonathan Ellant, MD Julia Fallon, MD Elizabeth Fang, MD Paul T. Finger, MD John Flanagan, MD Donald Fox, MD Ronald C. Gentile, MD Robyn Horowitz, MD Jimmy Hu, MD Lawrence Jacobson, MD Steven Kane, MD Yogita Kashyap, MD Stephen Kronenberg, MD Kaushal Kulkarni, MD Jessica Lee, MD Paul S. Lee, MD Marc Lustig, MD Palak Majmudar, MD Kerline Marcelin, MD Sarah McCord, MD Richard Najac, MD Jeffrey Nightingale, MD Joseph F. Panarelli, MD Jai Parekh, MD Deep Parikh, MD Alexander Pinhas, MD Aryeh Pollack, MD Alexander Rabinovich, MD Allen Rubin, MD Edwin Schottenstein, MD Jonathan Shapiro, MD Ahmed Sheikh, MD Alan Sheyman, MD Glenn Silbert, MD Luis Silva, MD Marc Sirota, MD Theresa Tretter, MD Cynthia Tung, MD Eugene Weise, MD Rebecca Weiss, MD David Witzel, MD Sze Wong, MD

Ahmed Abdelhady, MD Alexander Barash, MD Ben Cohen, MD Peter Condax, MD Stella Douros, MD Donald Fox, MD Edward Marcus, MD Joseph Podhorzer, MD Ravi Radhakrishnan, MD Edwin Schottenstein, MD Ahmed Sheikh, MD Alan Sheyman, MD

Affiliated Leadership Douglas F. Buxton, MD President, Jorge N. Buxton, MD, and Douglas F. Buxton, MD, Microsurgical Education Foundation Paul S. Lee, MD Chief, Department of Ophthalmology James J. Peters VA Medical Center President, NYEE/MSH Department of Ophthalmology Alumni Association Theodore Lyu, MD Director, Department of Ophthalmology Elmhurst Hospital Center Michelle K. Rhee, MD Associate Director Department of Ophthalmology Elmhurst Hospital Center

BFCOAIHH Barry Family Center for Ophthalmic Artificial Intelligence and Human Health Icahn School of Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai MSHS Mount Sinai Health System MSH The Mount Sinai Hospital MSM Mount Sinai Morningside MSQ Mount Sinai Queens MSW Mount Sinai West NYEE New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai

VA Medical Center Isaac Ezon, MD Hope Garner, MD Chandak Ghosh, MD, MPH Doris Herzfeld, MD Paul S. Lee, MD Theodore Lyu, MD Jonathan Schulhof, MD Steven Teich, MD

Elmhurst Hospital Center Laiyin Ma, MD Richard Most, MD Alexander Pinhas, MD Andrew Schwartz, MD Steven Teich, MD Kevin Wu, MD

Specialty Report Fall 2026 www.nyee.edu