Featured Speakers

Mark Kupersmith, MD, is an internationally renowned expert in neuro-ophthalmology. He has decades of experience in treating and conducting research on a wide range of disorders, including optic neuritis, tumors, aneurysms and vascular malformations, ocular myasthenia gravis, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, NAION, GCA, and diplopia and ptosis. He is known for problem-solving for complex cases and unknown vision loss.

Dr. Kupersmith is in private practice in New York and serves as Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. He serves as the director of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Research Disease Investigator Consortium, a group of clinician-scientists specializing in National Eye Institute-sponsored research aimed at making clinical discoveries to improve patient care for such conditions as Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy.

Dr. Kupersmith received his medical degree from Northwestern University’s Honors Medical Program and then completed residency training in ophthalmology and neurology at New York University. He has ascended the faculty Ranks at New York University and Mt.

Sinai, culminating in his Directorship of NORDIC where he has overseen tens of millions of dollars in federally funded grants to conduct clinical trials to better treat blinding diseases.

Paul Sternberg, Jr., MD, is Professor of Ophthalmology, Ocular Oncology Fellowship Director, and former Director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of University Professionals of Ophthalmology, where he sets the agenda for academic ophthalmology programs throughout North America.

His clinical interests include age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, and his research interests include treatments for macular degeneration, as well as the biology of the aging retina. Dr. Sternberg has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and 30 book chapters. He has received numerous honors, including the American Academy of Ophthalmology Lifetime Achievement Award, the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Award, the Lew Wasserman Award of Merit from Research to Prevent Blindness, the Distinguished Service Award from ARVO, and the J. Donald M. Gass Medal.

Dr. Sternberg completed his medical training at the University of Chicago before completing his ophthalmology residency at Johns Hopkins University. He then completed his retina fellowship at Duke University before embarking on a career in academic ophthalmology at Emory University and then Vanderbilt. Throughout his career, he has held a variety of executive appointments through the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. He is especially recognized for his mentoring skills at all levels.

Sophie X. Deng, MD, PhD, is the Walton Li Chair in Cornea and Uveitis and Vice Chair for Inspiring Excellence at UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. She also serves as the current president of the Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology.

She is Director of the Stein Eye Institute’s Cornea Biology Laboratory, where her NEI-funded research focuses on developing regenerative therapies for corneal diseases. One of Deng's projects aims to improve current treatment for patients with limbal stem cell deficiency by using stem cell therapy to restore vision. Another focuses on developing exosome-based therapy for the treatment of corneal scarring. She also conducts clinical studies to develop new imaging and molecular tests for accurate diagnosis and staging of corneal diseases.

Her surgical areas include endothelial keratoplasty, deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty, penetrating keratoplasty, limbal stem cell transplantation, artificial cornea and cataract.

She received her medical degree and PhD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry through the rigorous Medical Scientist Training Program. She completed her residency in ophthalmology at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago. Before doing her fellowship in Cornea, External Ocular Disease and Refractive Surgery at the UCLA Stein Eye Institute as a Heed Fellow. She has more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters/presentations, serves on several editorial boards, and has received numerous awards, including the Prevent Blindness America Investigator Award and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award.

Sonal Tuli, MD, completed a residency in ophthalmology at Indiana University in 2000. She then completed a fellowship in cornea and external diseases at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida, and joined the University of Florida Department of Ophthalmology in 2001. She also completed a master’s degree in education in 2012 at the University of Florida. She was appointed interim chair of the Ophthalmology Department in October 2013 and named chair in April 2015. She is board-certified in ophthalmology. Her interests include cataracts, corneal transplants, ocular surface cancers, dry eye disease, and infectious eye diseases. She provides adult and family-based ophthalmic care.

She was appointed director of the Division of Cornea and External Diseases in 2003 and has directed its fellowship program since that year. She served as the director of the ophthalmology residency program from 2007 to 2017. She was a senator in the UF Senate for three years and served on the Faculty Council for six years. She is Vice-Chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee and is on the Board of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology. She has taught courses at international, national, regional, and local conferences, as well as at the University of Florida. She has more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals and is actively involved in clinical and laboratory research as a principal investigator or co-investigator. She serves on the editorial board of peer-reviewed publications and is a reviewer for several scholarly journals.

At the national level, she is Vice-Chair of the Practicing Ophthalmologists Curriculum Committee and recently completed a term as Chair of the Online Education Committee and the AAO educational representative to the Continuing Medical Education Task Force. She has been invited to serve as an oral examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology and has done so since 2006.