People
OPTIC Team
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Read More about Lama Al-Aswad, MD, MPH
Lama Al-Aswad, MD, MPH
Professor of Ophthalmology
lama.al-aswad@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Physician Profile
Lama Al-Aswad is a Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interest is in blindness prevention, tele-ophthalmology, artificial intelligence, and innovations. Notably, she has implemented large-scale glaucoma screening in New York City involving more than 8500 high-risk individuals in mobile and fixed sites. In 2017, she launched a tele-ophthalmology project with a mobile unit for the detection of 4 leading causes of blindness. In 2020 due to the changes during the pandemic, she built a vision app integrating with Epic Electronic Medical Records. She has also embarked on research on the role of artificial intelligence in ophthalmology. Currently her focus is on building an ophthalmology data core for machine learning as tool for blindness prevention.
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Read More about Almiqdad Saeed, MDAlmiqdad Saeed, MD
Ophthalmology Innovation Fellow (Class of 2026)
Email Almiqdad Saeed, MD
Researcher Profile
Almiqdad Saeed, MD
Ophthalmology Innovation Fellow (Class of 2026)
almiqdad.saeed@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Researcher Profile
Almiqdad Saeed is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ophthalmology. He is also an ophthalmology resident at the St John Eye Hospital-Jerusalem. Concurrently with his innovation research fellowship, he is pursuing a Master's degree in Bioinformatics at the Perelman School of Medicine to advance his specialization in ophthalmology. In addition to his academic and clinical work, Almiqdad is the co-founder of a leading optical solutions company, where he applies his entrepreneurial skills to drive innovation in eye care. His work focuses on advancing research in ophthalmology, contributing to the understanding and treatment of eye diseases.
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Read More about Ceyhun Elgin, PhD
Ceyhun Elgin, PhD
Professor of Economics
Personal Website
Ceyhun Elgin is a Professor of Economics at Bogazici University in Turkey. He got his BA in economics from Bogazici University and then subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Minnesota in 2010. His research interests are in applied macroeconomics, economic growth, development economics, and political economics with a particular emphasis on the economics of the informal sector. Previously, Dr. Elgin also had positions at the Columbia University, IMF, WB, and Boston University.
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Rina Nagatani, BA
Lab Manager / Clinical Research Coordinator
Email Rina Nagatani, BA
215-770-3337
LinkedIn
Rina Nagatani, BA
Lab Manager / Clinical Research Coordinator
rina.nagatani@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-770-3337
LinkedIn
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Read More about Andrew WronkaAndrew Wronka
Data Engineer
Andrew Wronka
Data Engineer
Andrew Wronka is a Data Engineer in the Department of Ophthalmology. He also has a long history in clinical imaging including application management as well as a background in product management, including in the area of PACS, Picture Archiving and Communications Systems. A graduate from Rutgers University College of Engineering, Andrew's career spans a diverse set of roles, usually in positions that challenged the conventions whether it be in the clinical IT innovations from digital imaging to the latest in datahubs and opportunities for AI, often working across diverse teams and outside entities.
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Read More about Wenwen Si
Wenwen Si
Research Assistant
Personal Website
Wenwen Si a fifth-year PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on developing trustworthy machine learning systems through uncertainty quantification and robust optimization, primarily from a statistical, distribution-free perspective. Previously, Wenwen received her Bachelor of Engineering in Automation from the Institute of Information Science at Tsinghua University in 2018, and my Master of Science in Computer Vision from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in 2019.
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Dalal Ahmidouch
Research Assistant
Dalal Ahmidouch
Research Assistant
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Read More about Jason (Ruizhe) Dai
Jason (Ruizhe) Dai
Statistical Machine Learning Research Assistant
LinkedIn
Jason is a current graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania pursuing an MSE in Data Science, with a focus on machine learning, natural language processing, statistical analysis, and big data analytics. He earned dual degrees in Data Science and Economics from UC San Diego, graduating summa cum laude, where he built a rigorous foundation that bridges quantitative modeling, algorithmic reasoning, and data systems. His experience spans AI research, financial modeling, and large-scale anomaly detection in enterprise networks, bringing together research insight and practical engineering to design intelligent data-driven systems.
