Penn Health Tech Grant Received
The OPTIC Lab—led by Dr. Lama Al-Aswad, Dr. Almiqdad Saeed, and Rina Nagatani—has been selected for the prestigious Penn Health Tech Bootcamp and Accelerator Program. After months immersed in early-stage medical device development, the team delivered a standout pitch and successfully secured a major grant to advance their work. With support from Penn Health Tech, they now move into prototyping and testing, as Dr. Saeed leads the charge into the next phase of clinical innovation.
Almiqdad Saeed was the opening speaker at the 152nd Scheie Annual Meeting this past weekend. He presented on the utilization of AI in glaucoma care, discussing our research on visual fields and glaucoma severity classification.
Dr. Lama Al-Aswad was a speaker at the University of Pennsylvania Vision Science Symposium 2025. She discussed the use of AI in healthcare, and how it may aid the future of eye care. As the new chair of the Collaborative Community on Ophthalmic Imaging-Glaucoma Imaging Group, Dr. Al-Aswad may be able to leverage her knowledge on AI in the ophthalmic imaging space. 
Almiqdad Saeed, Vivian Lin, and Wenwen Si had a poster at the Vision Science Symposium, presenting on visual field progression prediction using diffusion models and conformal risk control.
Dr. Al-Aswad and the OPTIC Lab was involved in numerous posters at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2025 conference. Highlighted in the picture, Xin Yang from the PRECISE Center, our major collaborator, presents on continuous monitoring of blink dynamics using smart glasses.