I received PhD from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health (2002). Afterward, I completed two postdoctoral fellowships: first, at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, and second, at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, here at Hopkins. Trained as an ocular geneticist, I have been involved in identifying the genetic basis of multiple inherited ocular diseases and understanding the underlying pathomechanism over the past two decades. In recent years, I have expanded the scope of my research to pluripotent stem cell-based regenerative medicine. Currently, my laboratory is validating stem cell-derived corneal endothelial cells as an alternative to donor tissue for the treatment of corneal endothelial dysfunction. Additionally, my laboratory is working on two research initiatives. First, the development of a non-surgical treatment of cataracts by perturbing lens cell pathways, and second, stem cell-based regeneration of the glaucomatous tissue as a possible treatment of glaucoma.
