Advanced Trainees

Aneesha Ahluwalia, MD

Medical School: Yale University
Residency: Stanford University / Byers Eye Institute

Aneesha grew up in Minnesota and graduated from Yale University. She completed medical school at the Yale School of Medicine. She then completed her ophthalmology residency at Stanford University and is excited to be staying at Stanford for her cornea fellowship.

Eileen Feng, MD

Medical School: University of Michigan Medical School
Residency: Harvard University / Massachusetts Eye and Ear

Eileen is originally from Baltimore, Maryland and earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard College. She went on to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed her ophthalmology residency at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard. In her free time, Eileen enjoys trying new restaurants, traveling, and singing karaoke.

Evan Chen, MD

Medical School: Yale Medical School
Residency: UC San Francisco

Evan grew up in Minnesota and pursued higher education at Yale University. After completing college, he attended Yale Medical School for his medical degree. He then completed residency training at UCSF. Evan is now training to become a glaucoma specialist committed to advancing eye care and improving patient outcomes.

Sachin Patel, MD, PhD

Medical School:  Harvard University Medical School
Residency: UC San Francisco

Sachin is a first-year glaucoma clinical and research fellow at Stanford. He is originally from Anaheim, California, and has an interest in neuro immunology and neuroprotection.

Blake Snyder, MD

Medical School: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Residency: University of California, Davis

Blake Snyder, MD, grew up in Colorado and brings his love of skiing, biking, hiking, and live music to a life and career focused on global ophthalmology. He studied biochemistry and chemistry at the University of Colorado, graduating summa cum laude as the only student in his department to do so, with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa honors. He then spent a year as an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he was first introduced to ophthalmology. During medical school, he was one of six students selected as an AOA Honor Society leader and received both the departmental award in ophthalmology at graduation and a full presidential scholarship. He spent two years completing international ophthalmology research as a Doris Duke/Fogarty Fellow with the Francis I. Proctor Foundation at UCSF, contributing to a project later supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He completed residency at UC Davis, where he served as Chief Resident and co-authored a policy paper that helped advance Congressional legislation on corneal donation access for minority populations. He returned to UCSF and the Proctor Foundation for fellowship training in uveitis and medical cornea and is now a Global Ophthalmology Fellow at Stanford.

Gina Yu, MD

Medical School: University of Michigan Medical School
Residency: Stanford University / Byers Eye Institute

I was born and raised in Michigan, where I spent my childhood serving soul food at my family’s fried chicken restaurant. It was at this same restaurant, my father lost vision suddenly in a workplace accident, which then sparked my interest in ophthalmology. I studied biomedical engineering at Harvard, returned to Michigan for medical school, and took a gap year at Stanford, eventually working at CNN during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore how storytelling can improve patient advocacy and health literacy. My research interest focuses on developing cost-effective, innovative tools for diagnosis and treatment in ophthalmology. I'm excited to train at Stanford, where I can continue to blend clinical care, research, and advocacy in a place that supports all three.

Palmer Feibelman, MD

Medical School: Medical College of Georgia
Residency: Brown University Ophthalmology

Palmer earned his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech and his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. He served for four years as a Navy Flight Surgeon, including a Pacific deployment with a Marine F-18 squadron. Following his military service, he completed his Ophthalmology Residency at Brown University, where he cultivated a growing interest in ophthalmic innovation and technology.

Bertan Cakir, MD

Medical School:  University of Lübeck, Germany
Residency: Harvard Medical School

Dr. Bertan Cakir earned his medical degree from the University of Lübeck, Germany, and completed his ophthalmology residency at Harvard Medical School. He is currently a vitreoretinal fellow at Stanford University, where his research focuses on retinal energetics. His work aims to develop innovative in vivo and ex vivo systems to assess retinal metabolism, facilitating the discovery of novel treatments.

Class of 2022 group shot

Front row (L to R): Alice Shen, Karen Wai, Michelle Sun, Amal Al-Lozi, and Irmak Karaca

Back row (L to R): Vikram Shankar, Austen Knapp, Randy Brown, Charles DeBoer, and Bryce Chiang

Not pictured: Kanwal Matharu and Suzanne Michalak