Resident and Fellow Research Forum

David Camacho, BS
University of Pennsylvania

David Camacho is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine. His undergraduate studies were completed at Oakwood University where he majored in Biomedical Sciences. Afterward, his research interest in neuroscience was solidified as he completed an NIH internship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst studying the activation phenomenon in neural protein biochemistry. He chose to complete his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania after he was selected as a Perelman Scholar in 2019. Melding his research interests with ophthalmology, he pursued a year of research under the Jeffrey W. Berger Medical Student Research Award in gene therapy and stem cell differentiation. During this year, he turned his efforts towards the lack of curative therapies in optic neuropathies. Under the guidance of Dr. Ahmara G. Ross and Dr. Kenneth S. Shindler, he aided the development of a novel gene therapy, SIRT1, targeted towards glaucoma, optic neuritis, and traumatic optic neuropathy. He also expanded upon a newly developed differentiation protocol for generating retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to address the deficit in high-fidelity in vitro modeling of these cells. He has been able to combine these efforts to provide the first evidence of the efficacy of SIRT1 gene therapy in human cells and establish a high-throughput system for testing future gene therapies on RGCs. He is excited to continue his academic career development with ophthalmology residency training and further define his research field. 

Christie Campla, PHD
Case Western Reserve University

Christie Campla is a final-year medical student at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) at Case Western Reserve University. Christie attended the University of South Florida, where she completed a BA in Spanish and BS in Cell and Molecular Biology as a First Generation Holcombe Scholar and Goldwater Scholar. She then earned a PhD (DPhil) from the University of Oxford as part of the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. Her thesis work investigating photoreceptor differentiation and maturation bridged labs between the University of Oxford and the National Eye Institute under the supervision of Drs. Anand Swaroop, Stephanie Halford, and Sumathi Sekaran. Christie continued postdoctoral training at the NEI investigating the dark adaptive response of rod photoreceptors before obtaining competitive NIH Track-3 MSTP support to pursue an MD at CCLCM, a 5-year MD program geared towards training physician-scientists. For her research thesis at CCLCM, Christie characterized small molecules for hepatic HIF (hypoxia inducible factor) stabilization for the prevention of retinopathy of prematurity at the Cole Eye Institute with Dr. Jonathan Sears. Christie plans to pursue residency training in ophthalmology, and aspires to conduct translational research on retina function and disease while also providing patient care as a physician-scientist. 

Rami Gabriel, MD
Duke University

Rami Gabriel is a resident in the Department of Ophthalmology at Duke University. Dr. Gabriel's journey is marked by exemplary mentors and role models, inspiring him to bridge the gap between bench and bedside. His first work in translational efforts was at his medical school, UC Irvine, where his team won first place for an AI competition by creating an app focused on glaucoma detection. Kindling his desire to make impactful changes, Dr. Gabriel's latest work focuses on drug-eluting hydrogels and has patent pending applications for their use in glaucoma tubes. His interests in materials science have continued and he has new projects in simulating ocular tissue for training the next generation of ophthalmologists. Recognitions like the Machemer Research Award, Ocular Innovation Award, Medical Education and Leadership Track, and the Golden Apple Teaching Award given at Duke underscore his dedication to giving back to the profession. He has aspirations to delve deeper into academia and is driven by his sense of gratitude and a desire to work in a harmonious blend of innovation and mentorship. His hobbies include skateboarding, first-person-view drone flying, and 3D printing.    

Sean Wang, MD
Stanford University

Sean Wang is an ophthalmology resident at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford. He grew up in a combination of Memphis, Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles and attended Stanford University, where he trained with stem cell pioneer Dr. Irv Weissman. During his MD at Harvard Medical School, he was a Howard Hughes Medical Research Fellow with Dr. Connie Cepko and worked to develop new gene therapy approaches for retinal degeneration. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Howard Chang concentrating on ocular genomics and RNA therapeutics as part of the Stanford Ophthalmology Advanced Research (SOAR) residency program. 

Sean has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed papers, including in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Cell Genomics, and Science Translational Medicine, and among other honors has been named a STAT Wunderkind and to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Healthcare. He aspires to be a physician-scientist in ophthalmology who leads a research laboratory focused on creating genetic medicines for the eye. By studying the genetic basis of eye diseases and engineering improved tools for gene therapy and editing, he hopes to develop better treatments for sight-threatening conditions and ultimately improve the lives of patients.