Clinical Facilities and Organization

Facilities
The Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services are located on the first floor of the Mass. Eye and Ear’s Boston campus. The current facility is fully equipped with examination lanes, procedure rooms, and state of the art laser vision diagnostic technologies. Two in vivo confocal microscopes (Confoscan 4 and HRT3) have recently been added.

Faculty

One of the major strengths of our fellowship is the size and diversity of its faculty. All full-time and part-time faculty members hold joint appointments with Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The following full-time and part-time faculty participates in the corneal fellowship training:

Click on the links below to learn more about our faculty:

James Chodosh, M.D., M.P.H.
Kathryn Colby, M.D., Ph.D.
Reza Dana, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc.
Claes H. Dohlman, M.D., Ph.D.
Pedram Hamrah, M.D.
Deborah Jacobs, M.D.
Ula Jurkunas, M.D.
Samir Melki, M.D., Ph.D.
Deborah Pavan-Langston, M.D.
Roberto Pineda II, M.D.

In addition to expertise in corneal transplantation and the medical management of corneal disorders, the faculty members, listed alphabetically, have subspecialty interests as described below:

James Chodosh, M.D., M.P.H.
James Chodosh, M.D., M.P.H., received his M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine and his M.P.H .degree from Oklahoma University. After residency training at the Cullen Eye Institute, he performed his Cornea and External Disease training at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and his Molecular Virology and Infectious Disease training at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. His primary research focus examines the interactions between virus particles, and cells of the cornea and the mucosal immune system. He joined the full-time Cornea faculty at MEEI in 2008 from his position as the M.G. McCool Chair of Ophthalmology at the University of Oklahoma. His main clinical interests include ocular surface and corneal infections, ocular surface tumors, corneal transplantation and keratoprosthesis for the hopelessly corneal blind.

Kathryn Colby, M.D., Ph.D.
Kathryn Colby, M.D., Ph.D., completed her ophthalmology residency, chief residency and corneal fellowship at Mass. Eye and Ear. She is the Director of the Cornea Fellowship and Medical Education in Cornea. Her specific clinical and research interests include Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy, and ocular surface tumors. Dr. Colby is Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

Reza Dana, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc.
Reza Dana, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., is Director of the Cornea, Refractive Surgery and External Disease Services at Mass. Eye and Ear and oversees the educational, operational, and administrative dimensions of the Service. He received his undergraduate, M.P.H. and M.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins, and his M.Sc. degree from Harvard. After residency training at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, he performed his Cornea and External Disease training at the Wills Eye Hospital, his Uveitis training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and his Ocular and Transplantation Immunology training at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Dana directs the Corneal Immunology Lab and is a Senior Scientist and Clement Stone Scholar at the Schepens Eye Research Institute. He also directs the NIH-supported K12 Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program. He is the Claes Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Dana has published over 170 scientific papers, chapters, and reviews. His main areas of interest include corneal transplant immunology, and ocular surface disease and reconstruction.

Claes H. Dohlman, M.D., Ph.D.
Claes H. Dohlman, M.D., Ph.D., is the founder of the Mass. Eye and Ear Cornea Service and the Cornea Fellowship. His accomplishments are too numerous to list. He was Chief and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology from 1974-89. Since 1989, he has focused on the Boston Keratoprosthesis, which offers hope for the many patients for whom a standard corneal transplant is not a viable option. He is Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

Pedram Hamrah, M.D.
Pedram Hamrah. M.D., performed his residency and chief residency at the University of Louisville. He has completed a fellowship in Corneal and Transplantation Immunology at the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard, and a fellowship in ocular immunology at the University of Louisville. He performed his two-year clinical fellowship in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at the MEEI, after which he joined the full-time Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services faculty as part of the Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program. He is Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and teaches at the Immune Disease Institute at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on live imaging and its use to elucidate molecular and cellular mechanisms in corneal immunology, neuro-immunology, and inflammation. His main clinical interests include corneal transplantation, corneal imaging, corneal infections, dry eyes, and refractive surgery.

Deborah Jacobs, M.D.
Deborah Jacobs, M.D., earned her undergraduate A.B. degree from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges. She earned her Masters of Science degree in physiological sciences from Oxford University in England and then returned to complete her M.D. degree at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jacobs performed her residency, and corneal and external disease fellowship at Mass. Eye and Ear. She a part-time member of  the MEE Cornea Service and Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Her main clinical interests include the application of the Boston Scleral Lens.

Ula Jurkunas, M.D.
Ula Jurkunas, M.D., completed her residency training at Boston University. She performed her two-year Cornea and Refractive Surgery fellowship at Mass. Eye and Ear, after which she joined the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services as part of the Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program. As part of this program, she conducts her research as a Clinical Scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Ilene Gipson at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, studying the pathogenesis of Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy. Dr. Jurkunas is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Her clinical interests include ocular surface reconstruction and refractive surgery.

Samir Melki, M.D., Ph.D.
Samir Melki, M.D., Ph.D., received his M.D. degree and Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University. After performing his residency at Georgetown University, he completed his two-year fellowship training in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at Mass. Eye and Ear. He is a part-time faculty member of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services and Clinical Instructor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. He has authored several refractive surgery textbooks. His clinical practice encompasses refractive surgery, as well as corneal and complex cataract surgery

Deborah Pavan-Langston, M.D., F.A.C.S
Deborah Pavan Langston, M.D., has been an Attending on the Cornea Service since the 1970s and is Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. She is the director of the Virology Service.  Her primary clinical interest is infectious disease of the anterior segment with particular emphasis on viral infections, in particular Herpes Simplex and Zoster. She has published more than 200 original reports and chapters, and many books.

Roberto Pineda II, M.D.
Roberto Pineda II, M.D., former resident, Chief Resident and Cornea Fellow at the Mass. Eye and Ear, is the Director of the Refractive Surgery Service. His primary interest is in refractive surgery, anterior segment reconstruction, and complex cataract extractions. He regularly participates in ORBIS International and has authored several ophthalmology textbooks. He is Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
 

Page updated March 26, 2010 

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