Lab Alumni

Shomoukh AlShamekh, MD

Dermatologist
Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery

Akintomide (Tommy) Apara, MD, PhD

Ophthalmologist
Eye Surgery Associates

Melissa Atkins, MS

Biosafety Officer
Hawaii State Department of Health

Alena Bartakova, MD

FAS manager/Customer Success manager
NanoCellect Biomedical, Inc.

Evan Cameron, PhD

Scientist
Biotech

Dolly Chang, MD, MPH, PhD

Genentech, South San Francisco, CA / 
Clinical Instructor of Ophthalmology
Byers Eye Institute at Stanford

Heather Chang, BS

Life Science Research Professional 1

Hometown: San Jose, CA

Hobbies: Running, cooking, video games

Kun-Che Chang, PhD

Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
University of Pittsburgh

In Cho, BS

Research Assistant
Stanford University Benson Lab

Julie Cho, MD, PhD

Clinic Instructor
Stanford CAP Profile

Hui-Chun Cheng, MEd

Administrative Technician
University of Pittsburgh

Raul G Corredor, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health and Neuroscience, FIU Health

Luciano Custo Greig, MD, PhD

Ophthalmology Resident, Stanford

Narsis Daftarian, MD

Associate Professor of Ophthalmology
Ophthalmic Research Institute, SBMU

Esther Elenes

Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Stanford CAP Profile

Lab focus: Neuroprotective and neurorestorative clinical trials in glaucoma

Hometown: Lompoc, California

Hobbies: Snowboarding, cooking, traveling, hiking with my dog Moffitt

Joana Galvao, PhD

Ophthalmology Translation & Technology Lead at Roche

Sylvia Groth, MD

Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Vanderbilt Eye Institute 

Sarah Hay, MS

Medical Student

Kathleen Heng, DVM, DACLAM

Postdoctoral Scholar, Neurosciences PhD Candidate

Lab focus: Interested in neuroprotection and regeneration in the visual system, and research focuses on advancing promising strategies towards safe and effective clinical treatments for optic pathway diseases

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Hobbies: Swimming, hiking, cooking, and baking

Jonathan Hertz, PhD

Associate Director
Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.

Ying Hu, MD, PhD

Associate Director
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Emma Huie, BS

Life Science Research Professional

Lab focus: Axonal local translation during axon outgrowth

Hometown: California

Hobbies: Baking, kayaking, knitting, writing, and trying to keep succulents alive

Star Huynh, BS

Medical Student
University of California, San Diego

Keiichiro Iwao, MD, PhD

Medical Director, Kengun-Sakuragi Eye Clinic and
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Kumamoto University Hospital

Gurdeep Jhaj, MD

Private Practice
Southern California

Karl Kador, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Ophthalmology
UMKC School of Medicine

Tasneem Khatib, DM, FRCOphth

Postdoctoral Scholar
Stanford CAP Profile

Lab-based focus: Neuroprotective and regenerative strategies for glaucoma

Clinic-based focus: Non-invasive imaging of aqueous outflow; neuro-enhancement for glaucoma

Dr Khatib (Tas) is a fellowship-trained glaucoma specialist and clinician scientist. She qualified from Oxford University Medical School and completed her doctorate in gene therapy-based neurotrophin delivery for glaucoma neuroprotection at Cambridge University alongside her residency. She undertook a surgical glaucoma fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital London prior to joining Dr. Goldberg’s team as a postdoctoral scholar.

Cara Knasel, BS

Medical Student
Rocky Vista University

Alexander Kreymerman, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Harvard University

Varun Kumar, PhD

Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai

Noelia Kunzevitzky, PhD

COO
Biotech company

Olga Kuzmenko, BS

Process Engineer III
Neurona Therapeutics

Katherine Li

Medical Company

Ankush Madaan, PhD

Team Lead Manager
Azenta Life Sciences

Eeshika Mitra, MPH

Life Science Research Professional

Lab focus: At the Goldberg lab she is currently focused in assessing retinal ganglion cell function after injury using a novel reversible model of intraocular pressure elevation in glaucoma. Her major roles include assisting the postdocs with their silicon oil injection injury models, confocal imaging and immunohistochemistry. She is also involved in a project that studies the developmental potential of Muller glial cells to enable retinal ganglion cell generation.

Hometown: Puducherry, India

Hobbies: Hiking, learning different dance forms and making new friends

Darcie Moore, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Melina Morkin, MD

Cornea and Refractive Specialist, 
New England Eye Center and
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Tufts University School of Medicine

Michael Nahmou, BS

Life Science Research Professional 2

Lab focus: Astrocyte reactivity in disease and injury as well as retinal ganglion cell-targeted gene therapy

Hometown: Encino, California

Hobbies: Exploring new eats and spending time outdoors, especially with his dog Elvis

Bac Nguyen, MD

Glaucoma Specialist and Ophthalmologist
Berkeley Eye Center

Ashley Nies

Undergraduate/Master's Student

Lab focus: Interested in neuroprotection and regeneration in the visual system, and research focuses on advancing promising strategies towards safe and effective clinical treatments for optic pathway diseases

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Hobbies: Swimming, playing the guzheng, and traveling

Takahiko Noro, MD, PhD

Ophthalmologist
Assistant Professor
Jikei University, Japan

Sabri Raza, MD

Ophthalmologist
American Hosptial- Spitali Amerikan

Enrique Salero, PhD

Research Assistant Professor
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute

Mariella Saludares

Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Stanford CAP Profile

Lab focus: Neuroprotective and neurorestorative clinical trials in glaucoma

Hometown: Oak Harbor, Washington

Hobbies: Yoga, running, and journaling

Travis Stiles, PhD

President and CEO
Novoron Bioscience

Catalina Sun, BS

Info coming soon

Bogdan Tanasa, MD, PhD

Senior Data Scientist
Amgen

Ephraim Trakhtenberg, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
UConn Health

Christina Tsien, BS

Life Science Technician
Stanford CAP Profile

Lab focus: I support lab research in various procedures such as intravitreal injections, optic nerve crush, and perfusion; and I assist in managing the mouse colony. 

Hometown: Olympia, Washington

Hobbies: Reading, writing, trying out different restaurants, and exploring the Bay Area

Praseeda Venugopalan, PhD

Sr. Manager Reg Affairs
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.

Sophia Wang, MD, MS

Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Byers Eye Institute at Stanford

Rain Runxia Wen, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar
Stanford CAP Profile

Lab focus: I am developing an epigenetic gene editing system to help with future gene therapy and using this system to identify novel therapeutic targets to treat optic neuropathies.

Hometown: China

Hobbies: Kayaking and golfing

Geoffrey Weiner, MD, PhD

Senior Equity Research Associate
Credit Suisse

Mollie Woodworth, PhD

Lab focus: Retinal ganglion cell regeneration from endogenous progenitors

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Hobbies: Knitting, hiking, science outreach

Daniel Wolfgang Pita-Thomas, PhD

Associate Director of Clinical Science
4D Molecular Therapeutics

Suqian Wu, MD, PhD

Ophthalmologist
China

Alexandra Yakovleva

Life Science Research Professor
Stanford Profile

Satoshi Yokota, MD, PhD

Ophthalmologist
Kobe City Eye Hospital
Japan

Caroline Yu, MD

Ophthalmology Resident
The University of Iowa