Eyecheck Medical Advisory Board
The Advisory Board at Eyecheck is comprised of leading eye care specialists and medical experts with a record of success in ophthalmology and medical affairs. Meet our team.
Dr. Rama Jager is the founder of Eyecheck and a board-certified ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon. He also is Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is dedicated to the surgical teaching and mentoring vitreoretinal fellows, residents, and medical students and new physicians, and has received awards for excellence in teaching. He specializes in the medical and surgical diseases of the retina, vitreous, and macula. Dr. Jager utilizes state-of-the-art technology in the management of age-related macular degeneration, retinal vascular occlusions, diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachment surgery, macular hole surgery, diabetic surgery, and epiretinal membrane surgery.
Dr. Kaiser is a Staff member of the vitreoretinal faculty of the Cole Eye Institute in the Department of Ophthalmology at Cleveland Clinic's main campus. He was appointed in 1997. Dr. Kaiser is the Founding Director of the Digital Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) Reading Center at the Cole Eye Institute. He received his medical degree magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston and a retinal fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Dr. Kaiser is study chairman of 4 major, multi-center, international clinical trials and is a principal investigator in multiple other trials. He serves on numerous scientific advisory boards and addresses his research interests as an invited speaker at national and international conferences. He is an associate editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, and serves on the editorial boards of Retina, Retina Today, Retinal Physician and Ocular Surgery News. Dr. Kaiser has been recognized by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and American Society of Retina Specialists with Achievement and Senior Achievement Awards, and is listed in the "Best Doctors in America" list. He is the team ophthalmologist for the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Cleveland Indians.
Dr. Palanki currently serves as the Senior Vice President for the Americas commercial organization at Santen Inc. He has spent more than a decade in Ophthalmology and has played a leadership role in various disciplines across marketing, sales, reimbursement, commercial operations, business development and medical affairs. Prior to joining Santen, he was Global Head of Marketing and Sales at Thrombogenics, Inc. where he led the commercial launch for Jetrea®. Previously, Dr. Palanki served as Director of Global Marketing and Sales at NeoVista, Inc., and earlier in his career, held several positions at Genentech as part of the team that developed and launched Lucentis®. Prior to Genentech, he worked at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals as part of the initial team submitting the NDA for Macugen®, and at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Oncology business unit in the New Product Commercialization group. Dr. Palanki completed his Pharm.D degree at Albany college of Pharmacy, NY and obtained his postdoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University, NJ.
Dr. Rohit Varma is Professor of Ophthalmology and Preventive medicine and holder of the Grace and Emery Beardsley Chair in Ophthalmology and at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Previously he served as Dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and President of USC Care and Chairman of the Board of Directors of USC Care. He was also the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, and director of the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute. An accomplished physician and scientist, Rohit Varma, MD, MPH is recognized worldwide as a visionary leader in the epidemiology of eye diseases. He is an expert on changes in the optic nerve in glaucoma and is also studying new imaging techniques in the early diagnosis of glaucomatous optic nerve damage. His primary research focuses on epidemiologic studies of eye disease in children and aging populations. He is the principal investigator of the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study, the Chinese American Eye Study, the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Diseases Study and the African American Eye Disease Study. More recently, Varma has been involved in the development of novel implantable intraocular pressure sensors and drainage devices. He has over 320 publications in various peer reviewed ophthalmic journals, and has co-authored two ophthalmic books. Varma obtained his medical degree at the University of Delhi, India. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, as well as earning a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University. He completed two glaucoma fellowships, one at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and the other at USC.
Sai Chavala, M.D., completed his residency in ophthalmology at the Cole Eye Institute Cleveland Clinic Foundation and a research fellowship in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Chavala then completed a fellowship in surgical retina at Duke University. Currently, Dr. Chavala currently serves as a tenured, Professor at the North Texas Eye Research Institute at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth. There he leads a NIH funded research laboratory focused on stem cell approaches to repair and regenerate the retina. He has led or participated in more than 75 scholarly presentations, research publications and patents, and is heavily dedicated to several philanthropic activities. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Society of Retina Specialists, Retina Society, and Macula Society, among others.
Dr. Michael Singer is a board-certified Vitreoretinal Specialist and Director of Clinical Trials at Medical Center Ophthalmology Associates in San Antonio, TX. He is currently the Clinical Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Dr. Singer has been in numerous clinical trials throughout his career and has been involved in all phases of the research process; from the planning to the implementation. He has published these findings in a multitude of journal articles and book chapters; in addition, he has lectured around the globe to present this research to his peers in the ophthalmology community. Due, to his copious contributions in ophthalmology, Dr. Singer has been awarded the New York Senior Honor Award, The Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, The Ophthalmology Faculty of the Year Award from FT 1000, and the Edgar Thomas Award.
Subhransu Ray, M.D., Ph.D., completed his ophthalmology training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School. Following residency he was selected as the Chief Resident, appointed as the Director of Eye Trauma, and served as an Associate Chief of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. His fellowship, in Diseases and Surgery of the Retina and Vitreous, was also at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has been awarded the prestigious Heed Ophthalmic Fellowship and the AOS-Knapp Foundation Awards. He has performed ocular research in the field of retinal neovascularization. He also holds a Ph.D. in Immunology. While at Bay Area Retina Associates, he has established multi-center clinical trials for wet Age Related Macular Degeneration, and is involved in developing new treatments for diabetes. Dr. Ray places great value in medical education and has lectured extensively in various topics of ophthalmology. His surgical interests are in diabetes, macular diseases, and ocular trauma.
Dr. Ray's education has taken him through Maryland, Chicago, New York, and Boston. Dr. Ray enjoys spending time with his wife, who is a nephrologist, and their two daughters. He enjoys cooking, gardening, and playing basketball during his free time.