Bio
Dr. Pershing is on the ophthalmology faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine, with an academic career blending clinical practice, teaching, research, and administration. She serves as Chief of Ophthalmology and Eye Care Services for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and as Vice Chair for Education in the Stanford Department of Ophthalmology, after five years as Program Director for the ophthalmology residency.
As an educator she seeks to bring a "precision" approach to graduate medical education, incorporating innovation and research rigor. She is committed to program diversity and inclusion and excited to innovate and implement novel approaches to ophthalmology education. Specific areas of interest include competency-based education, career pathways and career development, and leadership development, with programmatic initiatives such as Stanford Ophthalmology's 4-year research track residency program (SOAR), opportunities for resident elective scholarly activity, and efforts to develop a valuable internship program for incoming ophthalmology residents at Stanford. Dr. Pershing's active research includes efforts to enhance diversity in residency selection, using AI semi-supervised models to augment the application review process, and predictive modeling to optimize cataract surgery case selection and scheduling.
Her broader research interests focus on utilization of big data, biomedical informatics techniques, and evidence-based medicine to study clinical associations and outcomes, health care utilization, disease progression, and cost-effectiveness of ophthalmic treatment, as well as a special interest in the relationship between visual impairment and cognitive impairment. Dr. Pershing is active in big data initiatives and analysis, including collaborative projects at Stanford and serving as site PI for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) IRIS Registry analytic group at Stanford. She also serves on the American Board of Medical Specialties Database and Information Technology Advisory Committee (DITAC), the AAO Medical Information Technology Committee, and AAO Committee on Aging. Through this and her other work, she is engaged in efforts to use diverse data sources to facilitate improved quality of care, continuing certification, and practice and outcomes assessments. Dr. Pershing is also involved in health policy, including helping to develop CMS episode-based cost measures for MIPS, and she is interested in health care innovation—technology, quality, and delivery systems.
Dr. Pershing also serves as faculty advisor for the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society Stanford association, with focus on resident initiatives, and mentors both medical students and undergraduate students.
