Featured Speakers
Snell Memorial Lecturer, Liliana Werner, M.D., Ph.D.
Lilana Werner, MD, PhD is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, and Co-Director of the Intermountain Ocular Research Center, at the John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah. She has a MD degree from Brazil (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and a PhD degree (Biomaterials) from the University of Paris (Paris, France). Dr. Werner’s research is centered on the interaction between ocular tissues and different intraocular lens designs, materials and surface modifications. These include intraocular lenses implanted after cataract surgery, and also phakic lenses for refractive surgery and ophthalmic implantable devices in general. She has authored more than 360 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on the subject, co-edited three books, and received numerous awards in international meetings for scientific presentations, videos, and posters. She has also been a guest speaker in different international meetings in at least 25 countries and is the first woman to deliver the Kelman Lecture at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting (2022).
Dr. Werner is also a consultant for various companies manufacturing IOLs and other ocular biodevices and a consultant for the FDA. She has been named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World of Ophthalmology (The Ophthalmologist magazine). Since June 1, 2020, Dr. Werner is the U.S. Associate Editor of the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Frederick Dushay, MD, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Rohit Khanna, M.B.B.S.
Rohit Khanna, MBBS, is the Network Director for the Public Health Unit of LVPEI – The Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester Flaum Eye Institute, and Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales, Australia. An active participant in various working groups of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Khanna is the IAPB Regional Chair for the South-East Asia region.
His areas of clinical interest are cataract and glaucoma. An alumnus of the Government Medical College in Nagpur and an LVPEI fellow, he holds dual master’s degrees in Community Eye Health and Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health respectively.
Dr Khanna has led multiple studies, including the cohort of Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) – a milestone study. He has to his credit over 150 peer-reviewed publications, is on the editorial boards of several journals, and has been awarded several prestigious research grants for his work focusing on studying the outcomes of different interventions as well as on geriatric and child eye health.