Meet the Research Team

Alcides Fernandes Filho, MD,  Associate Program Director, Clinical Trials
Dr. Alcides Fernandes Filho holds an associate faculty appointment in the Emory School of Medicine and, is the longtime program director for the Eye Center's Clinical Trials program. He earned his medical degree from Brazil's Federal University of Pernambuco, his ophthalmic residency at Instituto Hilton Rocha, and his fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology at Emory University. His research interests include  amblyopia, congenital cataracts, the mechanisms of ocular development and growth, in particular myopia development in primate and mouse models. He has coordinated numerous retina, neuro-ophthalmology, and pediatric ophthalmology clinical trials and has authored or co-authored 52 peer-reviewed scientific papers, two book chapters, and innumerous abstracts. He has presented his research findings and been invited to speak at many professional meetings and conferences, including ARVO, AAPOS, and AAO. 

Lindreth (Lindy) DuBois, MEd, MMSc, Clinical Trials Coordinator
Lindy DuBois, an ophthalmic technologist and orthoptist, has held several positions in the Emory Eye Center since joining us in 1992. As a research coordinator, she has managed studies in the cornea, retina, pediatric, and neuro-ophthalmology sections and was the National Coordinator for the NIH multi-center, landmark Infant Aphakia Treatment Study, which spanned 18 years. Lindy earned a MEd in health occupations at the U of Florida and a MMSc in ophthalmic technology from the Emory School of Medicine.  She holds an academic appointment as a senior associate faculty member and was the interim director and an instructor in Emory’s MMSc Program. She has authored or co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles,  AAO monographs, ophthalmic skills books, book chapters, AAO technician training videos, and professional presentations.

Donna Leef,  MMSc, COMT, Sr. Supervisor, Research Project Coordination
Donna Leef earned her master’s degree in medical science in ophthalmic technology at the Emory University School of Medicine where she also holds an academic appointment as an associate faculty member. She is an author or co-author on more than 60 journal articles and professional presentations, and has served as a commissioner in several capacities on the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology, the national certifying agency for ophthalmic medical personnel, as well as on the board of directors for the Association of Technical Personnel in Ophthalmology. Her research activities include glaucoma, macular telangectasia (MacTel) and geographic atrophy.

Ying Li, MD, PhD, Clinical Trials Coordinator
Ying Li worked for seven years as a researcher in the Boatright and Geisert labs at Emory Eye Center prior to joining the clinical trials program in 2022.  Her research focused primarily on the neurodegeneration mechanism of glaucoma and neuroprotection of nicotinamide riboside (NR) against glaucomatous damage. She was a co-PI for the BrightFocus-funded project,  A Dietary Supplement in Treatment of Glaucoma. Prior to joining Emory, Li  was a research fellow at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute where she focused on novel mutation causes of retinal degeneration. She holds a doctorate from Tianjin Medical University and was a practicing ophthalmologist at China’s Tianjin Eye Hospital.

Afif Martini, MD Clinical Research Coordinator II
Since joinng the Emory School of Medicine in 2018, Afif Martini has worked with both the Department of Cardiology and the Departnent of  Ophthalmology. He gained considerable patient care experience in cardiology, where he also co-authored 13 journal articles. His research interests include peripheral arterial disease, coronary artey disease, cardiac disease & mental stress, and macular degeneration. He received his medical degree from the University of Aleppo, Syria and has served as an Arabic language interpreter at the Cleveland Clinic. He joined the clinical trials program at the Emory Eye Center in 2022.

Olga Ostretsova, MD Clinical Research Coordinator III
Olga Ostretsova joined the staff of the clinical trials program in May of 2022. A graduate of Saint- Petersburg State Medical Academy in Russia, she completed a residency in ophthalmology before working for 12 years as a retina specialist. Her clinical focus includes (but is not limited to) AMD, diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy, RVO, and inflammatory conditions. In addition to previous research on neovascular AMD, she has worked on ROP, uveitic macular edema, MSCs for non-healing corneal epithelial disease, and ocular surface injuries.

Stephanie B. Roman, Clinical Research Regulatory Specialist II
Stephanie Roman comes to Emory University most recently from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where she served as a research regulatory specialist for oncology studies at the Aflac Cancer & Blood Disorders Center. She brings a wealth of experience in the areas of local, state and federal compliance  and in ongoing maintenance of clinical studies and modification submissions. Previously, she served as a regulator compliance specialist at Wellstar Health System and as a modifications & amendments specialist for translations at Sterling IRB. Stephanie holds a BS in chemistry. 

Judith Tribe, Clinical Research Coordinator II
Judith Tribe is a research coordinator who has worked at Emory for more than 3 years, primarily focusing on retinal disease. Some of her more recent work includes three trials for retinitis pigmentosa and one on pentosan polysulfate sodium maculopthay. Judith holds a bachelor of science in optometry from the University of Manchester in the UK. During the 20 years before she joined the clinical trials program at Emory, Judith was a practicing optometrist in the UK, focusing on a wide range of pateint care, from pediatrics to sports vision science and contact lens research.

Reece Mazade, PhD, Research Scientist, (Pardue Lab)
Reece Mazade is a research scientist in the Pardue Laboratory investigating the retinal signaling pathways that are affected in myopia as well as single-neuron electrophysiological techniques. Dr. Mazade received his doctorate in physiological sciences and neuroscience in Dr. Erika Eggers’ laboratory at the University of Arizona, where he studied retinal circuity. Mazade received an NIH NRSA Fellowship to conduct post-doctoral research on signaling pathways in visual cortex with Dr. Jose-Manuel Alonso. Dr. Mazade is also interested in understanding the signaling mechanisms that underlie visual processing.

Hua Yang, PhD, MD, Clinical Research Scientist (Grossniklaus Lab)
Dr. Yang has been a clinical research scientist in the Emory Eye Center.  Previously, she was an associate professor of ophthalmology at the First People's Hospital of Shanghai and an associate director in the Eye Institute of Shanghai. Her research interests are the control of metastatic melanoma from the eye to the liver with anti-angiogenesis and immune modulation therapies and understanding of the mechanisms of metastatic disease and exploration of targeted therapy based on biomarkers for primary and metastatic uveal melanoma. 

Yan Yutao, MD,  PhD,  Clinical Research Scientist, (Grossniklaus Lab)
Yutao Yan, MD, PhD, joined the Grossniklaus lab in 2020, where his research  has focused on the mechanisms that regulate the vacuolization during tumorigenesis and metastasis of uveal melanoma and retinoblastoma, and treatment of these tumors by synthesized novel compound. He is currently concentrating on the role of different molecules from macrophages and endothelium in vascular mimicry and analyzing the spatial omics of different molecules and their spatial molecular pattern in patient and animal samples by SAS, R and Python. He earned a medical degree from Lanzhou University and his PhD in immunology from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Katie Bales, PhD, Research Investigator (Boatright Lab)
As a co-investigator on a VA Merit Award with Drs. Jeffrey Boatright and Joe Nocera, Katie Bales is exploring the neuroprotective effects of aerobic exercise on veterans with age-related macular degeneration. Her research interests are heavily translational, performing both basic and clinical studies. She oversees the confocal and multiphoton microscopy core at the Atlanta VA and serves on the SRS Biosafety Committee. Her postdoctoral fellowship was performed at the Atlanta VA and Emory Eye Center the labs of Drs. Machelle Pardue and Jeffrey Boatright, who are her co-mentors for her CDA-2. She received her PhD in vision science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Melissa R. Bentley-Ford, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow, (Pardue Lab) 
Melissa Bentley-Ford is a postdoctoral fellow funded by the NEI T32 Vision Training Grant Program. She studies retinoscleral signaling and mechanisms of axial elongation in myopia. Before joining the Pardue lab in May of 2022, Dr. Bentley-Ford completed her PhD in cell and developmental biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received her B.S. in biochemistry from Kennesaw State University. Her interests lie in understanding cellular signaling mechanisms underlying refractive development and myopia. 

Saptarshi Chatterjee, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (Ethier Lab)
Saptarshi Chatterjee is a postdoctoral fellow in Ethier lab at Georgia Tech. His research in Ethier lab primarily focuses on the biomechanics of retinoscleral signaling in myopia. He earned his PhD at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, and went on to do post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt University. His doctoral work at Prof. Raja Paul’s lab was mainly focused on the development of mathematical models to study microtubule-driven nonequilibrium biological processes.  Saptarshi also earned a B.Sc. Honors in physics from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, West Bengal State University, India, (2013), and a M.Sc. in physics from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, India, (2015). His list of publications can be found in Google Scholar. 

Yaelan Jung, PhD,  Post-doctoral Fellow, (Dilks Lab) 
Yaelan Jung is a postdoctoral researcher in Dilks lab. She studies how the visual cortex dedicated to scene recognition and navigation develops in childhood. Prior to joining Emory, she completed her PhD at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada, studying cortical scene processing in adulthood, and after that, she was a postdoc in Baby lab at Princeton.

Rabina Kumpakha, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (Datta Lab)

Haiyan Li, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow, (Ethier Lab)

Fangyu Lin, PhD,  Post-doctoral Fellow, (Geisert Lab)
Fangyu Lin is a postdoctoral fellow who joined Dr. Geisert Lab in 2022, where her research has focused on the genetics in glaucoma and RGC survival after optic nerve crush. She has  also worked in Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a research assistant, where her research field was in regulation of aqueous humor in glaucoma. She holds a doctorate in ophthalmology from Zhejiang University. Previously, she practiced for five years as an ophthalmologist in Shanghai General Hospital and Shanghai East hospital in China.  

Linjiang Lou, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow, (Pardue Lab)
Linjiang Lou joined the Pardue Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2022. Her primary research interests involve understanding the environmental factors that influence eye growth and the mechanisms underlying the development of myopia. She received her PhD in physiological optics and vision science from the University of Houston College of Optometry, where she studied the effects of light exposure on circadian rhythms and ocular structure and function, and her BSc in Neuroscience from McGill University in Canada.

Teele Palumaa, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow, (Pardue Lab)
Teele Palumaa is a visiting fellow in the Pardue Laboratory studying the interactions between myopia and circadian rhythms. Dr Palumaa received a medical degree from the University of Tartu in Estonia before completing a doctorate at the University of Oxford in the UK, investigating the role of melanopsin in retinal circadian rhythms. She then started ophthalmology residency training in Estonia and joined the Estonian Biobank as a researcher, engaging in myopia research from clinical and epidemiological angles. Dr Palumaa joined the Pardue Lab before the final year of residency training to investigate findings from her epidemiological studies on a mechanistic level. 

Ganesh Satyanarayana, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow,  (Datta Lab)
Ganesh Satyanarayana holds a PhD in biological sciences specializing in multi-organ disease metabolomics from Georgia State University. His doctoral work focused on the dysfunctional serine-glycine metabolism in liver, lung, and pancreatic fibrosis. Since joining Emory, he has elucidated a novel metabolic mechanism for vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation in the heart. As a member of the Datta lab, he has focused on the Pink1 mediated mitochondrial dynamics in the retinal epithelial cell layer (RPE). Currently, he is studying the interplay of pink1 and serine metabolism in the RPE and facilitating the use of serine as an oral supplement to slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 

Babak Naghizadeh Safa, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow, (Ethier Lab)
Babak Naghizadeh Safa is a glaucoma researcher and BrightFocus postdoctoral fellow whose primary focus is iris biomechanics and its significance in angle-closure glaucoma. As a member of the Ethier Lab, he is studying ocular tissue biomechanics and mechanobiology in glaucoma.  His expertise spans experimental tissue mechanics, continuum mechanics modeling, finite element analysis, and microstructural imaging and analysis. Babak is dedicated to advancing glaucoma understanding through multidisciplinary research. He earned a BSc and a PhD in mechanical engineering and also clinched a bronze medal in the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiads in 2007.

(Seyed) Mohammad Siadat, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (Ethier Lab)

Teresa Anderson, Undergraduate Researcher (Pardue Lab)
Teresa Anderson is a rising sophomore at Georgia Tech, majoring in biomedical engineering. She joined the Pardue lab as an undergraduate researcher in 2022, working under her mentor, Dr. Katie Bales. She has primarily focused on the neuroprotective effects of aerobic exercise on veterans with age-related macular degeneration.

Alyssa Chen, Undergraduate Researcher (Datta Lab)

Mohammad Reza Bahrani Fard, PhD Student (Ethier Lab) 
Mohammad Reza Bahrni Fard is a graduate research assistant in Ethier lab. After exclusively studying engineering as an undergrad, he gravitated towards cell mechanobiology in his masters program. As a doctoral student, he is currently working on magnetically-steered TM cell therapy as a treatment for open angle glaucoma. His other research research interests include characterization of transient fluidic and biomechanical responses in the anterior chamber and mechanobiology of the trabecular meshwork.

Eli Chlan, PhD student, (Pardue Lab)
Eli Chlan is a neuroscience PhD candidate at Emory and joined the Pardue lab in 2021. His work prioritizes diabetic retinopathy, parsing early functional changes within the diabetic retina and the role glial cells may play within these early changes across the neurovascular unit. Before Emory, Eli obtained two bachelors degrees - in biology and psychology - from the University of Georgia. There, he researched varying topics of mild cognitive impairment and macular pigment, patient medical autonomy, and using biomarkers such as eye-tracking to redefine the spectrum of psychosis. Beyond the lab, Eli is committed to developing approachable and innovative means of science communication.

Grace Chung, PhD/MD student, (Ethier/Prausnitz Lab)
Grace Chung is a MD/PhD student at the Emory School of Medicine. She is completing in her PhD in biomedical engineering in the Prausnitz and Ethier labs and is studying hydrogel delivery to the suprachoroidal space to lower of intraocular pressure for the treatment of glaucoma. She is interested in ocular drug delivery methods.

Kevin J. Donaldson, MS, Research Specialist, Nickerson Lab
Kevin Donaldson has been a research specialist in the Nickerson Lab since 2015. While obtaining his MS in neuroscience from the University of Maryland, College Park, he investigated the neurophysiological mechanisms of auditory attention. His research primarily focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying eye diseases related to abnormalities in retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). He primarily uses in vivo and confocal imaging in combination with advanced image analysis methods. Using these tools, he has developed a novel technique to longitudinally track RPE cell morphology and death in a mouse model of AMD.

Nina Sara Fraticelli-Guzmán, MS, Graduate Research Assistant, (Feola Lab)
Since January 2022, Nina Sara Fraticelli has been PhD student in the Feola Lab. Focusing on ocular health from a women’s health perspective, Nina Sara is studying the impact menopause can have on eye biomechanics. More specifically, she focuses on menopauses impact on the trabecular meshwork’s stiffness and resistance in the eye. Nina Sara is also actively collaborating with the Ethier lab on a finite element project. Prior to joining the Feola Lab, Nina Sara completed her BS in mechanical engineering at MIT and an MS in bioengineering from Georgia Tech.

Kamisha Hill, Graduate Student, (Lieberman Lab)  

Katelyn Hall, Undergraduate Researcher,  (Pardue Lab)
Katelyn Hall is an undergraduate at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she is pursuing a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering with a premed focus. She has worked in Dr. Pardue's lab since 2022, where she researches the mechanisms underlying the development of myopia. Katelyn assists her lab members by supporting data analysis, conducting experiments with mice, and coding visual stimuli for future research projects. She is deeply grateful for the opportunity to be part of the team and hopes to continue learning and growing through ophthalmology research.

Rebecca Rennert, Graduate Student, (Dilks Lab)
Rebecca Rennert is a PhD student in the Dilks Lab. She studies how scene recognition and navigation develops throughout childhood and how these systems are represented in the visual cortex. Before arriving at Emory, she received her B.S. in Neurobiology at Georgetown University and researched the hemispheric lateralization of language in the brain throughout development.

Gabriela Sanchez Rodriguez, Biomedical Engineering PhD Student, (Feola Lab)
Gabriela is a bioengineering PhD student in Andrew Feola’s lab. Her thesis focuses on the in-vivo mechanical characterization of retinal and scleral tissue using computational mechanics and artificial intelligence to understand how glaucoma and menopause affect the mechanical environment of these tissues. Outside her main thesis, Gabriela is involved with RNA data analysis projects. Her work is currently sponsored by La-Caixa fellowship. Prior to joining the lab, Gabriela graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Hailee Scelsi, PhD Student (Lieberman Lab)
Hailee is a PhD student in Dr. Raquel Lieberman’s lab in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. Her research interests are twofold: 1) understanding the effects of mutations on the glaucoma-relevant myocilin OLF domain and 2) determining the structure of full-length myocilin and its aggregates. Hailee uses a variety of biophysical and biochemical techniques to characterize myocilin including NMR, cyro-EM, CD, DSF, and x-ray crystallography. 

Debresha (Bre) Shelton, Graduate Student (Nickerson Lab)
Bre is a graduate student in the Genetics and Molecular Biology Program at Emory University. As a member of the Nickerson Lab since 2018, she has spearheaded an investigation of the mechanistic blueprint for novel immunomodulatory functions of the RPE. Specifically, she has explored the knowledge gap around the immunomodulatory effect of PEDF and the role of Galectin-3 and IGF-1 in RPE-microglia interactions after damage. Bre earned a master’s degree from Fisk University in Nashville, TN where she studied the role of the transcription factor, Forkhead-8, in the regulation of dopaminergic circuits and behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans.  

Chris Whittington Graduate Student (Lieberman Lab) 

Cydney Wong, PhD Student (Ethier Lab)
Cydney Wong is a fourth-year biomedical engineering Ph.D. student in Ross Ethier’s lab. She completed her B.S. at MIT in biological engineering in 2020. Her current research investigates biomechanical and transcriptional differences between segmental flow regions of the trabecular meshwork in mouse models of ocular hypertension to better understand glaucoma pathogenesis. Outside of her main project, she is also interested more generally in bioinformatics research and addressing health disparities in glaucoma.

Gan Erdene Agiimaa, Senior Editor, Molecular Vision Journal

Micah Chrenek, BSc, Research Laboratory Manager
Born and raised in Canada, Micah Chrenek graduated with a BSc with honors in Molecular Genetics from the University of Alberta in 1997. He worked with yeast studying mechanisms of mutagenesis before joining Paul Wong's lab at the University of Alberta to study vision science, and then subsequently moved to Emory with Paul Wong in 2004 as a research specialist. During his time at Emory, Micah's role has evolved to being the laboratory manager for our entire basic research group. This work includes mouse colony management, research project management, molecular analyses, microscopy, histology, and onboarding and training of new staff. He has been an author on 49 publications, over 100 published meeting abstracts, and has more than 1600 citations.

Caleigh Cullinan, Clinical Coordinator (Pardue Lab)
Caleigh Cullinan is a clinical coordinator in the Pardue Lab, where she focuses on clinical studies investigating diabetic retinopathy. She earned an undergraduate degree in biology and psychology with a concentration in neuro science from the University of Georgia. Her previous research focused on goal pursuit, specifically the role of relationships in dual-smoker couples attempting smoking cessation. Prior to joining Emory University and the Atlanta VA, Caleigh worked at a retina practice in Athens, GA as an ophthalmology assistant and scribe. Her research interests include ocular disorders of the eye, particularly vitreoretinal.

Preston E. Girardot, Research Specialist  (Boatright Lab)
Preston Girardot is a research specialist who has worked in the Boatright Lab for since 2014. His involvements include investigating exercise- and drug-induced retinal neuroprotection. He is also involved in a collaboration with clinician Nieraj Jain, MD, who is characterizing pentosan polysulfate associated retinopathy in mice. Preston is a native Atlantan and received his bachelor’s of science in biology from Georgia State University.

Jessica Meredith, BS, Research Associate, (Pardue Lab)
A recent graduate from Georgia Tech, Jessica Meredith is a second-year medical student at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Georgia campus in Suwanee. Jessica began working in Dr. Pardue's lab in June of 2023, where she focuses on data analysis for a potential medication for the prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Although this is her first ophthalmology-based research project, Jessica hopes to gain valuable insight into the field as she is aspiring to become an ophthalmologist.

Risha Patel, Clinical Coordinator (Pardue Lab)
Risha Patel has worked in research for more than 12 years, primarily focusing on cardiothoracic, cardiology, and vascular research studies. She has been with the Atlanta VA since 2015 and has experience managing large clinical trials involving medical devices and drug interventions. She joined the Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation (CVRN) in the fall of 2022 and joined Dr. Pardue's team in April 2023 as a clinical coordinator.