Anthony Aldave, MD
Dr. Anthony Aldave, founder of Visionaries International, received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He completed his residency training in ophthalmology at the Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then a two‐year Cornea, Uveitis and Refractive Surgery Fellowship at The University of California, San Francisco/Francis I. Proctor Foundation. He joined the Stein Eye Institute in July 2002 as a full‐time member of the Cornea and Uveitis Division. Dr. Aldave is currently a Professor of Ophthalmology, holder of the Walton Li Chair in Cornea and Uveitis, Chief of the Cornea and Uveitis Division and Director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Fellowship Program.
Dr. Aldave has received numerous honors during his career, including the Alpha Omega Alpha Scholarship Award for graduating first in his medical school class, the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Fellowship, the American Ophthalmological Society‐Knapp Testimonial Fund Fellowship, the first Claes Dohlman Society Award and the Achievement, Senior Achievement and Secretariat Awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Aldave is an active member of the UCLA Global Health Program, working with other members of the UCLA faculty on the Global Surgery Initiative, whose mission is to improve the surgical health of people and communities throughout the world through education, research, and service. Recognized as a leader in the field of keratoprosthesis (artificial corneal transplant) surgery, Dr. Aldave has performed more than 250 Boston keratoprosthesis procedures in the United States. In addition, he has conducted Boston keratoprosthesis surgery skills transfer courses in over a dozen countries and many of the surgeons that he has trained have become the leading keratoprosthesis surgeons in their countries. Dr. Aldave is frequently invited to lecture at international ophthalmology meetings on the Boston keratoprosthesis and has published 25 peer-reviewed articles on the subject. In addition, he is a member of the Boston Type 1 Keratoprosthesis Study Group and is a site principal investigator for the Vision Restoration with a Collagen Crosslinked Boston Keratoprosthesis Unit multicenter study.
Sophie Deng, MD PhD
Dr. Sophie Deng is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Deng received her MD and PhD at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York, where she completed the rigorous Medical Scientist Training Program. She did her residency in ophthalmology at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Deng subsequently completed her fellowship in cornea, external ocular disease and refractive surgery at the Jules Stein Eye Institute. She sees patients with corneal and external ocular diseases and cataracts. Her surgical areas include femtolaser-assisted penetrating keratoplasty, Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty, deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty, keratoprosthesis, ocular surface reconstruction and cataract.
In addition to her clinical activities, Dr. Deng dedicates 40% of her time to research. She is the director of Corneal Cell Biology Laboratory and her research focuses on corneal epithelial stem cell biology and new treatments for ocular surface reconstruction using stem cell therapy.
Roberto Pineda, MD
A native of Minneapolis, MN, Dr. Pineda completed his medical degree at the University of Minnesota Medical School and was a recipient of the Howard Hughes NIH-HHMI Research Scholars Program at the Cloisters in Bethesda Maryland where he worked with retinoblastoma cell lines at the National Eye Institute. He went on to complete his Residency in Ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School where he served as Chief Resident and Director of the Trauma Service for an additional year. As a Heed Fellow recipient, he completed his Cornea and Refractive Surgery Fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Currently, an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, serving as full-time faculty of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He was former Division Chief of Ophthalmology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Pineda has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and co-authored 5 books including the award-winning Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Illustrated Manual of Ophthalmology (5th ed.) and the Essentials of Cataract Surgery (2nd ed). He has received both the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Achievement and Senior Achievement Awards and has served on the AAO Practicing Ophthalmology Committee in Cataract, AAO Ethics Committee and the AAO Preferred Practice Pattern, Adult Cataract. He regularly participates in the Flying Eye Hospital Programs run by ORBIS International since 1998, with the most recent program to Accra, Ghana this November 2019. He has been involved in numerous other international programs such as the Life Line Express in China as well as his research with the International Boston Keratoprosthesis program in Ethiopia and Sudan since 2007. He participates in SightLife’s surgical skill transfer programs for corneal transplantation. He serves on the International Council of Ophthalmology’s (ICO) Fellowship committee and has regularly sponsored award recipients from developing countries since 2005. He currently sits on the Board of KeraLink International working to reduce corneal blindness through advancements in novel low resource technologies. Lastly, he was elected and induced to the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC).
Samar K Basak, MD, DNB, FRCS
Dr. Samar K Basak received his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in 1982 from NRS Medical College in Kolkata, India and his MD degree in 1987 from Dr. RP Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi. Dr. Basak’s post-graduate training includes receiving the title Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in 1994 and honorary FRCS from Royal College of Physician and Surgeons, Glasgow, in 2007.
Dr.Basak is Director and one of the founder members of Disha Eye Hospitals, Kolkata, India. He looks after Cataract, Cornea and External eye diseases, and he is the Medical Director of Eye Bank services. He was President of Cornea Society of India (2018) as well as Eye Bank Association of India (2015-17).
He is the recipient of 10 Gold Medal Awards from AIOS; 8 other Gold Medal oration and prestigious Prof LP Agarwal Oration by RP Centre, AIIMS. Internationally, he has received the “Best of Show” Video Award 6 times and Best Poster Award 4 times in AAO; Best Video Award 2 times in ESCRS and “People’s Choice” Best Video Award in ASCRS-2012. He has received “Achievement Award” by AAO in 2008 and APAO in 2011 and Senior Achievement Award by the AAO in 2015 and Senior Scholar Award by the AAO in 2017.
Dr. Basak, an FRCS Examiner since 2008, has written 6 text books in Ophthalmology; the most popular on is “Essentials of Ophthalmology” for the under graduate students. He has 39 publications in national and international peer-review journals. He is currently the reviewer of 10 prestigious peer-review journals.
He is a bulk Phaco surgeon @2500/year and Keratoplasty (PK/DALK/DSEK/DMEK/Boston KPro) more than 400/year. He is obsessed with DMEK in recent years, performing close to 250/year. He is involved with teaching and training program (Phaco/SICS; and DSEK/DMEK/Boston Kpro1 Skill Transfer Course) with Visionaries International, ORBIS and SightLife, in India and South East Asia region.
