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CEO
Chief Executive and Medical Officer
Director, Molecular Ophthalmology Laboratory
T. Boone Pickens Senior Scientist
Clinical Center of Innovation for AMD
Karl Csaky, MD, PhD, is a vitreoretinal specialist serving as the Chief Executive and Medical Officer at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest. Dr. Csaky is the award recipient of the T. Boone Pickens Senior Scientist.
Dr. Csaky’s main area of research is age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in both laboratory and clinical settings. His laboratory is studying the pathogenesis of all forms of AMD. He has more than 25 years of drug development and translational research experience. He has an accomplished history of conducting clinical trials for AMD research.
Dr. Csaky continues to serve as a scientific advisor to large pharmaceutical companies and share his research and treatment innovations with ophthalmologists across the globe.
Previously, Dr. Csaky was an Investigator at the National Eye Institute where he directed the Laboratory of Retinal Diseases and Therapeutics. A Fulbright Scholar, he completed a retina fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University and a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Csaky received his combined MD, PhD, degrees from the University of Louisville.
Office:214.363.3911, ext. 137
Director
Director, Macular Function Laboratory
Ph.D., Indiana University, 1996
NIH Bibliography: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/yi-zhong.wang.1/bibliography/public/
Shape Perception, Perceptual Organization, Aging, Amblyopia and Macular Degeneration
Wang, Y.Z., Morale, S. E., Cousins, R., and Birch, E. E. (2009) “Course of development of global hyperacuity over lifespan”, Optom & Vis Sci, Vol. 86 (6), 695-700.
Wang, Y. Z. and Hess, R. F. (2005) “Contributions of local orientation and position features to shape integration”. Vision Research. Vol. 45, 1375-83.
Wang, Y. Z., Wilson, C. E., Locke, K. G. and Edwards, A. O. (2002) “Shape discrimination in age-related macular degeneration”. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. Vol. 43(6), pp.2055-2062.
Wang, Y. Z. (2001) “Effects of aging on shape discrimination”. Optometry and Vision Science, Vol.78 (6), pp.447-454
Wang, Y.Z., Thibos, L.N., and Bradley, A. (1997). “Effects of spherical defocus on detection, resolution, and letter discrimination in the periphery”. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 38, 2134-2143.
Office:214.363.3911, ext. 133
Director
Director, Crystal Charity Ball Pediatric Vision Laboratory
Ph.D., University of California, 1979
Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1980-1982
NIH Bibliography: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/eileen.birch.1/bibliography/public/
Esotropia, Amblyopia, Hyperopia, Pediatric Cataracts, Retinopathy of Prematurity, Vision Screening, Infant Nutrition
Birch EE, Gwiazda J, and Held R. Stereoacuity development for crossed and uncrossed disparities in human infants. Vision Research, 1982; 22:507-13.
Birch EE, Stager DR, and Wright WW. Grating acuity development following early surgery for congenital unilateral cataract. Archives of Ophthalmology, 1986; 104:1783-7.
Birch EE and Spencer R. Visual outcome in infants with cicatricial retinopathy of prematurity. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 1990; 32:174-179.
Birch EE and Stager DR. The critical period for surgical treatment of dense congenital unilateral cataract. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science; 1996, 37: 1532-8.
Birch E, Fawcett S, Stager Sr. D. Why does early surgical alignment improve stereoacuity outcomes in infantile esotropia. Journal of AAPOS, 2000, 4: 10-4.
Birch E, Williams C, Drover J, Fu V, Cheng C, Northstone K, Courage M, Adams R. Randot Preschool Stereoacuity Test: Normative data and validity. Journal of AAPOS, 2008, 12: 23-6.
Birch E, Carlson S, Hoffman D, Fitzgerald-Gustafson K, Fu V, Drover J, Castañeda Y, Minns L, Wheaton D, Mundy D, Marunycz J, Diersen-Schade D. The DIAMOND study: A double masked, randomized controlled clinical trial of the maturation of infant visual acuity as a function of the dietary level of docosahexaenoic acid. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010, 91: 848-59.
Birch EE. Amblyopia and binocular vision. Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, 2013; 33: 67-84.
Jost R, Yanni S, Beauchamp CL, Stager Sr DR, Stager Jr D, Dao L, Birch EE. Beyond screening for risk factors: objective detection of strabismus and amblyopia. JAMA Ophthalmology, 2014; 132:814-20.
Birch EE, Li SL, Jost RM, Morale SE, Stager Jr D, Dao L, Stager Sr DR. Binocular iPad treatment for amblyopia in preschool children. Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus, 2015; 19:6-11.
Birch EE, Jost RM, De La Cruz A, Kelly KR, Beauchamp CL, Dao L, Stager Jr D, Leffler JN. Binocular amblyopia treatment with contrast re-balanced movies. Journal of AAPOS, 2019;23:160.e1-5.
Wang J, Xu H, Morale SE, Jost RM, Leske DA, Holmes JM, Birch EE. Improved monitoring of patching adherence using a microsensor and Eye Patching Assistant. Journal of AAPOS, 2020;24:96.e1-7.
Birch EE, Castañeda YS, Cheng-Patel CS, Morale SE, Kelly KR, Jost RM, Hudgins LA, Leske DA, Holmes JM. Associations of eye-related quality of life (ER-QOL), vision, visuomotor function, and self-perception in children with strabismus and anisometropia. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 2020; 61(11):22.
Morale SE, Jost RM, Hunter JS, Weakley DR, Birch EE. Normative values, testability, and validity for a new preferential looking stereoacuity test. Binocular Vision & Ocular Motility, 2021, 71: 29-34.
Simmons M, Wang J, Leffler JN, Li S, Morale SE, de la Cruz A, Birch EE. Longitudinal development of refractive error and visual acuity in children treated with intravitreal bevacizumab or laser for retinopathy of prematurity. Translational Vision Science & Technology, April 2021, doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.10.4.14.
Office:214.363.3911, ext. 111
Pediatric Lab:214.363.3911, ext. 113
Scientific Director
Director, Rose-Silverthorne Retinal Degenerations Laboratory
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1978
NIH Bibliography: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/david.birch.1/bibliography/public/
Genetic Eye Diseases, Macular Degeneration, Electrophysiology, Visual Function Testing
Birch DG and Sandberg MA. Psychophysical studies of cone optical bandwidth in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Vision Res, 1982; 22:1113-1117.
Birch DG and Anderson JL. Rod visual fields in cone-rod degeneration: comparisons to retinitis pigmentosa. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 1990; 31:2288-2299.
Birch DG and Anderson JL. Standardized full-field ERGs: normal values and their variation with age. Arch Ophthal, 1992; 110:1571-1576.
Birch DG, Hood DC, Nusinowitz S, and Pepperberg DR. Abnormal activation and inactivation of rod transduction in patients with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa and the pro-23-his mutation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 1995; 36:1603-1614.
Birch DG, Travis GH, Locke KG, Hood DC. Rod ERGs in mice and humans with putative null mutations in the RDS Gene. Vision Science and Its Applications, Vol. 1, OSA Technical Digest Series (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C.) 1997; 262-265.
Birch DG, Anderson JL, and Fish GE. Yearly rates of rod and cone functional loss in retinitis pigmentosa and cone-rod degeneration. Ophthalmol, 1999; 106:258-268.
Birch DG, Yang R-B, Robinson SW, Garbers DL. Loss of cone and reduction in rod ERG responses in the guanylyl cyclase-E (GC-E) deficient mouse. Degenerative Disease of the Retina (R. Anderson, J. Hollyfield, and M. LaVail, editors), Plenum, New York, 1999; 67-80.
Birch DG, Peters AY, Locke KL, Spencer R, Megarity CF, Travis GH. Visual function in patients with cone-rod dystrophy (CRD) associated with mutations in the ABCA4 (ABCR) gene. Exp Eye Res, 2001; 73:877-886. PMID: 11846518.
Birch DG. A randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. Retina, 2005; 25:S52-S54. PMID: 16374336.
Birch DG, Wen Y, Locke KI, Hood DC. Rod sensitivity, cone sensitivity and photoreceptor layer thickness in retinal degenerative diseases. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 2011; 52(10): 7141-7. Sept 9, 2011 [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21810977.
Birch DG, Locke KG, Wen Y, Locke KI, Hoffman DR, Hood DC. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography measures of outer segment layer progression in patients with x-linked retinitis pigmentosa. JAMA Ophthalmol, 2013, 131(9): 1143-1150. July 4. PMID: 23828615 PMCID: PMC4111937.
Birch DG, Weleber RG, Duncan J, Jaffe GL, Tao W, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Retinitis Pigmentosa Study Groups. Randomized trial of ciliary neurotrophic factor delivered by encapsulated cell intraocular implants for retinitis pigmentosa. Amer J Ophthalmol, 2013, 156(2): 283-292. May 10 (Epub ahead of print). PMID: 23668681, PMCID: PMC4111936.
Birch DG, Bernstein PS, Ianaconne A, Pennesi ME, Lam BL, Heckenlively J, Csaky K, Hartnett ME, Winthrop KL, Jayasundera T, Hughbanks-Wheaton DK, Warner J, Yang P, Fish GE, Teske MP, Sklaver NL, Erker L, Chegarnov E, Smith T, Wahle A, VanVeldhuisen PC, McCormack J, Lindblad R, Bramer S, Zilliox P, Francis PJ, Weleber RG. Effect of Oral Valproic Acid vs Placebo for Vision Loss in Patients with Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa: A Randomized Phase II Multicenter Placebo-Controlled Trial. JAMA Ophthalmology 2018 Aug 1; 136(8):849-856.
Bennett LD, Klein M, John FT, Radojevic B, Jones, K, Birch DG. Disease progression in patients with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa due to a mutation in Inosine Monophosphate Dehydrogenase (IMPDH1). Transl Vis Sci & Tech. 2020; 9(5):14. PMID: 32821486.
Birch DG, Cheng P, Duncan JL, Ayala AR, Maguire MG, Audo I, Cheetham JK, Durham TA, Fahim AT, Ferris FL, Heon E, Huckfeldt RM, Iannaccone A, Khan NW, Lad EM, Michaelides M, Pennesi ME, Stingl K, Vincent A, Weng CY, for the Foundation Fighting Blindness Consortium Investigator Group. The Rush2A Study: Best-corrected visual acuity, full-field electroretinography amplitudes and full-field stimulus thresholds at baseline. Transl Vis Sci & Tech. 2020;9(11):9. PMID: 32441177.
Office:214.363.3911, ext. 105
Director
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
Henderson Ocular Stem Cell Laboratory
Dr. Sripathi is the Director of the newly launched Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Henderson Ocular Stem Cell Laboratory, where he will lead with science to provide innovative sight restoration solutions.
Dr. Sripathi is focused on the development and translation of stem cell-based therapies for treating AMD. His work involves studying stem cells grown from a blood sample in patients with AMD.
Dr. Sripathi completed his doctorate degree in Retina Biochemistry and Proteomics in 2013 at Michigan Technological University. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and has been training under Donald J. Zack, MD, PhD for a decade at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in the Department of Ophthalmology. Previously, Dr. Sripathi served as Research Associate at the Department of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Sripathi has successfully secured several prestigious grants to help advance and accelerate his research, including the BrightFocus Foundation’s New Investigator Grant in AMD Research. His passion to save vision began as a young child in India where he helped vision-impaired children and adults read braille.
Office:214.363.3911, ext. 126
Director
Ophthalmic Genetics
Kenneth C. Swan Endowed Professor in Ophthalmology and Chief of the Paul H. Casey Ophthalmic Genetics Division, Casey Eye Institute
Dr. Pennesi is the Director of Ophthalmic Genetics. He will focus on expanding the Retina Foundation’s world-class center of excellence in inherited retinal degenerative diseases to bring cutting-edge treatments from the laboratory to the clinic.
Dr. Pennesi received his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a combined MD/PhD at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is a board-certified ophthalmologist, having completed his residency at University of California – San Francisco and an Ophthalmic Genetics fellowship at Casey Eye Institute.
Dr. Pennesi has served as the lead investigator for numerous first-in-human clinical trials for inherited retinal diseases.
The Retina Foundation of the Southwest is comprised of five laboratories. Our scientists are leading the way the world understands, prevents, and treats vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration, pediatric eye conditions, and inherited eye diseases.
Karl Csaky, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Executive and Medical Officer
T. Boone Pickens Director
Clinical Center of Innovation for AMD
Doris Lambracht-Washington, Ph.D.
Senior Staff Scientist
Sanchareeka Dey, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Alison Takacs, M.S.
Staff Scientist
Neha Tandon, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Jessica Clark
Clinical Research Coordinator
Katherine Juroch, M.S.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Paige Grona Kennedy
Clinical Research Coordinator
Natalia Feliz
Clinical Research Coordinator
Abigail Hernandez
Ophthalmic Technician
Cindy Baillie
Project Manager
Eileen Birch, Ph.D.
Director
Reed Jost, M.S.
Research Associate
Christina Cheng-Patel, CCRP
Certified Clinical Research Associate
Brooke Koritala
Research Assistant
David Birch, Ph.D.
Scientific Director
Kirsten Locke, CRA, FOPS
Clinical Trials Manager
Martin Klein, M.S.
Lab Manager
Kaylie Jones, M.S.
Senior Research Associate
Eric Vasquez
Clinical Research Coordinator
Jennifer Herrera
Ophthalmic Technician
Yi-Zhong Wang, Ph.D.
Director
Eric Vasquez
Clinical Research Coordinator
Srinivasa Sripathi, Ph.D.
Director
Adnin Ashrafi, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Naresh Rajendran, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Mark Pennesi, M.D., Ph.D., FARVO
Director
Rachel Murray
Clinical Research Coordinator
Georgia Durham
Ophthalmic Technician
Chelsea Hamilton
Ophthalmic Technician
Amy Johnson
Chief Development Officer
Katie Cannon
Development Manager
Naomi Emmett, MBA
Chief Financial and Business Officer
Natalie Gilbert, CPA
Finance Director
Jency John
Senior Accountant
Shana Risinger
Finance & Administration Assistant
Cindy Baillie
Business Operations Manager
Shana Risinger
Finance & Administration Assistant
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