November Newsletter from the USC Roski Eye Institute

November 2020 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues, Residency Alumni, and Former Fellows,

As an alumnus of our program, I am certain that you are proud of the work you have accomplished during your time with USC Ophthalmology. Our program embraces a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to patient care and research while educating a future generation of ophthalmologists.

I am writing to remind you that voting for U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals is coming up in February 2021. While votes make up only a portion of the scoring for our ranking, it is an important factor. We are very close to ranking in the Top 10 hospitals for ophthalmology in the nation, so every vote for the USC Roski Eye Institute and LAC+USC Ophthalmology counts.

The voting is done on Doximity which, as you may know, is the leading online professional medical network with more than 80% of all U.S. physicians as verified members. If you do not have a Doximity profile, you cannot vote.

While the U.S. News “Best Hospitals” rankings do not paint a full picture of who we are, they continue to be used to measure hospital reputation and compare peer institutions. Board-certified physicians can vote for up to five hospitals in their specialty, so I hope we can count on your votes for the USC Roski Eye Institute and LAC+USC Ophthalmology.

Please help ensure our program’s great work is recognized by casting your vote for on the U.S. News ballot.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

J. Martin Heur, MD, PhD

Professor and Interim Chair

Charles C. Manger III, M.D. Chair in Corneal Laser Surgery

USC Department of Ophthalmology

Keck Medicine of USC

Alumni Spotlight

Dr. Charles Manger III graduated from our ophthalmology program in 1980. He went on to found Saddleback Eye Center and gifted us with the Charles C. Manger III Endowed Chair in Corneal Laser Surgery.

Read an interview with Dr. Manger where reflects on his experience in residency and offers advice for how to be a successful ophthalmologist.

FACULTY PROMOTION

RESIDENT HIGHLIGHT

Hossein Ameri, MD, PhD, Director of the USC Retinal Degeneration Center was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology on November 1, 2020.

Hong-Uyen Hua, MD, Co-chief Resident, was one of four residents selected from a competitive pool to present at AAO Grand Rounds: Cases and Experts from Across the World Symposium on November 15, 2020. She discussed a rare case and etiology of a hemorrhagic posterior vitreous detachment in a child. This marked her second year presenting at this session and representing USC at the podium for AAO.

Awards and Grants

Aaron Nagiel, MD, PhD, received the Edward N. & Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation Award in Age-Related Macular Degeneration Research

Project Title: Hippo pathway inhibition for the treatment of geographic atrophy

Start Date: February 1, 2021

Faculty Publications

Since November 1, 2020 our faculty have published 32 papers. Eligible publications included those that were e-published in November:

Faculty Publications:

Hossein Ameri, MD, PhD; and Sarah Hamm-Alvarez, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Reduced expression of vegf-a in human retinal pigment epithelial cells and human muller cells following crispr-cas9 ribonucleoprotein-mediated gene disruption” in Translational Vision Science & Technology.
Hossein Ameri, MD, PhD, co-authored the paper, Autofluorescence of choroidal vessels in bietti's crystalline dystrophy” in BMJ Open Ophthalmology.
Melinda Chang, MD; and Brandon Wong, MD, co-authored the paper, “Advances in the evaluation and management of cortical/cerebral visual impairment in children” in Survey of Ophthalmology.
Gloria Chiu, OD, FAAO, FSLS, co-authored the paper, “Effect of scleral lens wear on central corneal thickness and intraocular pressure in patients with ocular surface disease” in Eye & Contact Lens.
Mark Humayun, MD, PhD; and Qifa Zhou, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Layer-specific ultrasound elastography using a multi-layered shear wave dispersion model for assessing the viscoelastic properties” and Physics in Medicine and Biology.
Jonathan Kim, MD; David Cobrinik, MD, PhD; and Jesse Berry, MD, co-authored the paper, “Variability in retinoblastoma genome stability is driven by age and not heritability” in Genes, Chromosomes & Cancer.
Jonathan Kim, MD; David Cobrinik, MD, PhD; and Jesse Berry, MD, co-authored the paper, “Simultaneous identification of clinically relevant rb1 mutations and copy number alterations in aqueous humor of retinoblastoma eyes” in Ophthalmic Genetics.
Gianluca Lazzi, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Simulation-based optimization of figure-of-eight coil designs and orientations for magnetic stimulation of peripheral nerve” in IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.
Andrew Moshfeghi, MD, MBA, co-authored the paper, “Five-year patterns of diabetic retinopathy progression in us clinical practice” in Clinical Ophthalmology.
Aaron Nagiel, MD, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Focal scleral nodule: A new name for solitary idiopathic choroiditis and unifocal helioid choroiditis” in Ophthalmology.
Aaron Nagiel, MD, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Genotype phenotype correlation and variability in microcephaly associated with chorioretinopathy or familial exudative vitreoretinopathy” in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.
Paul Thompson, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Subcortical surface morphometry in substance dependence: An enigma addiction working group study” in Addiction Biology.
Paul Thompson, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Atlas55+: Brain functional atlas of resting-state networks for late adulthood” in Cerebral Cortex.
Paul Thompson, PhD, co-authored the paper, “A worldwide enigma study” in Science Advances.
Paul Thompson, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Scanner invariant representations for diffusion mri harmonization” in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
Arthur Toga, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Body mass index, time of day, and genetics affect perivascular spaces in the white matter” in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
Arthur Toga, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Body mass index, time of day, and genetics affect perivascular spaces in the white matter” in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
Arthur Toga, PhD, co-authored the paper, “The connections of the insular ven area in great apes: A histologically-guided ex vivo diffusion tractography study” in Progress in Neurobiology.
Arthur Toga, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Disruption and compensation of sulcation-based covariance networks in neonatal brain growth after perinatal injury” in Cerebral Cortex.
Arthur Toga, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Early brain biomarkers of post-traumatic seizures: Initial report of the multicentre epilepsy bioinformatics study for antiepileptogenic therapy (epibios4rx) prospective study” in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.
Arthur Toga, PhD, co-authored the paper, “The effect of body mass index on hippocampal morphology and memory performance in late childhood and adolescence” in Hippocampus.
Benjamin Xu, MD, PhD; Xuejuan Jiang, PhD; and Grace Richter, MD, MPH, co-authored the paper, “Ocular biometric determinants of anterior chamber angle width in chinese americans: The chinese american eye study” in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Benjamin Xu, MD, PhD; and Brandon Wong, MD, co-authored the paper, “A randomized controlled trial comparing subconjunctival injection to direct scleral application of mitomycin c in trabeculectomy” in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Qifa Zhou, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Ultrasound-induced wireless energy harvesting: From materials strategies to functional applications” in Nano Energy.
Qifa Zhou, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Current ultrasound technologies and instrumentation in the assessment and monitoring of covid-19 positive patients” in IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

Affiliate Faculty Publications:

Yonggang Shi, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Parallel transport tractography” in IEEE Transactions Medical Imaging.
Cheng-Ming Chuong, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Connectivity between nidopallium caudolateral and visual pathways in color perception of zebra finches” in Scientific Reports.
J. Andrew MacKay, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Live long and active: Polypeptide-mediated assembly of antibody variable fragments” in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews.
J. Andrew MacKay, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Adaptable antibody nanoworms designed for non-hodgkin lymphoma” in Biomaterials.
Shikun He, PhD, co-authored the paper, “An updated review of the epigenetic mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration” in Aging and Disease.
Yonggang Shi, PhD, co-authored the paper, “The effect of body mass index on hippocampal morphology and memory performance in late childhood and adolescence” in Hippocampus.
Yonggang Shi, PhD, co-authored the paper, “Emotional detachment, gait ataxia, and cerebellar dysconnectivity associated with compound heterozygous mutations in the spg7 gene” in Neurocase.

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