David Huang, MD, PhD
Director of COOL Lab
Dr. David Huang is the Associate Director and Director of Research of Casey Eye Institute, the Wold Family Endowed Chair in Ophthalmic Imaging, and Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Dr. Huang earned BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from MIT, and MD-PhD degrees from the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. He received ophthalmology residency training at the Doheny Eye Institute/University of Southern California and fellowship training in cornea, external disease and refractive surgery at Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Huang is known for his innovations in applying laser and optical technology to eye diseases. He is a co-inventor of optical coherence tomography (OCT), a commonly used ophthalmic imaging technology with 40 million procedures performed annually worldwide. His seminal article on OCT, published in Science in 1991, has been cited more than 18,000 times. Dr. Huang contributed to many advancements in OCT technology and clinical application, including polarization-sensitive OCT, anterior eye OCT, macular OCT for glaucoma evaluation, Doppler OCT for retinal blood flow measurement, and OCT angiography in eye diseases. He has published more than 350 peer-reviewed articles with over 60,000 citations (H-index 95) and holds 42 US patents. Dr. Huang has received the Champalimaud Vision Award, the Friedenwald Award from the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, the Russ Prize from the National Academy of Engineering, the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award - one of the United States’ most prestigious biomedical research award, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation – the nation’s highest honor bestowed by the President on technology innovators. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Ophthalmological Society.
Dr. Huang leads the Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers (www.coollab.net). He is a founder of GoCheck, the maker of the GoCheck Kids (www.GoCheckKids.com) smartphone app that has screened over 5 million children for amblyopia risk factors. He is the founding president of the International Ocular Circulation Society (www.OcularCirculation.org).
Bibliography (351 publications, 60,831 citations, H-index 95):
Research Activities:
OCT angiography
OCT optoretinography
Doppler OCT
Glaucoma diagnosis and monitoring
Phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK)
Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL)
OCT-based corneal topography and tomography
OCT-based corneoscleral topography for scleral lens fitting
IOL power calculation for post-refractive surgery eyes
Laser thermal conjunctivoplasty
OCT contrast agent
OCT speed and resolution enhancement
OCT elastography
LASIK nomogram
Clinical Interests:
Refractive surgery (LASIK & PRK)
Phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK)
Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL)
Corneal allogeneic intrastromal ring segments (CAIRS)
Keratoconus
Corneal scars
Corneal dystrophies
Refractive surgery complications
Yali Jia, PhD
Associate Director
Dr. Yali Jia is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, Jennie P. Weeks Professor of Ophthalmology, and co-founder of International Ocular Circulation Society (https://ocularcirculation.org). Dr. Jia is a world-renown expert in advanced ophthalmic imaging and a leading pioneer in functional optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA). This is well demonstrated by her >180 peer-reviewed articles, with >13000 citations (h-index=48), and 6 co-edited books. Her first invention, SSADA, was a revolutionary breakthrough in translating OCTA from fundamental lab research to clinical deployments. Her technique has been rapidly adopted by >1000 international research and clinical centers. As the PI on several federal, foundation, or industry-sponsored studies for clinical translation of OCTA, she owns >10 issued and licensed patents. Her recent remarkable accomplishments include OCT oximetry (PNAS, 2020), and the use of AI to detect and classify retinal pathologies (PRER, 2021). Her outstanding contributions to this field have been well recognized by receiving the prestigious Special Scholar Award from Research to Prevent Blindness, Carl Camras Translation Research Award from Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Dr. Jia has also been inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Senior Member of the National Inventor Academy.
Academic Awards:
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William & Mary Greve Special Scholar Award by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB)
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NIH/NEI R01 R01EY027833 Wide-field and projection-resolved optical coherence tomography angiography in diabetic retinopathy
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NIH/NIDDK DP3 DK104397 Functional Optical Coherence Tomography-derived Biomarkers for Diabetic Retinopathy
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NIH/NEI R01 EY024544 OCT Angiography for Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration
Areas of Interest:
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Retinal imaging
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Optical Coherence Tomography
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Artificial Intelligence
Faculty
Ou Tan, PhD
Research Associate Professor
Dr. Ou Tan (Click here for Curriculum Vitae) is a Research Assistant Professor in Casey Eye Institute. He joined the faculty at Casey Eye Institute in 2010. Dr. Tan earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2000. He completed his post-doctoral research at National Institute of Radiology Science, Chiba, Japan, in 2002. He acted as a research associate in Cleveland Clinic Foundation from 2002 to 2004. He was an assistant professor of research ophthalmology in Doheny Eye Institute from 2004 to 2010. His research interests includes medical image analysis and computer aided diagnosis in glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration with optical coherence tomography.
Yifan Jian, PhD
Associate Professor
Dr. Yifan Jian (Click here for Curriculum Vitae) is an Assistant Professor of Casey Eye Institute since 2018. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Simon Fraser University, Canada in 2014. Dr. Jian continued his research at Simon Fraser University as a University Research Associate until he joined faculty of Casey Eye Institute. Dr. Jian developed GPU accelerated software for real time volumetric OCT, and Sensorless Adaptive Optics OCT for ophthalmic imaging. His research interests include optical imaging, parallel computing and artificial intelligence. Dr. Jian is actively recruiting postdoctoral fellows and PhD students.
Yan Li, PhD
Associate Professor
Dr. Yan Li (Click here for Curriculum Vitae) earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. She is currently a Research Assistant Professor in Casey Eye Institute. She received her master's degree in Biomedical Engineering at the Zhejiang University, China, in 2000. Her research interests include medical image processing, optical coherence tomography for imaging the corneal and anterior segment of the eye, planning refractive surgeries, automated anterior chamber cell counting in uveitis grading, mechanism of angle-closure glaucoma, and guiding the treatment of anterior eye diseases with optical coherence tomography.
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Siyu Chen, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Siyu Chen earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2017. He completed his postdoctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined Oregon Health & Science University as Assistant Professor in 2022. Dr. Chen’s research projects investigated visible light optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT retinal oximetry, ultrahigh resolution OCT and functional retinal imaging. His research interests include applying next generation imaging technology to facilitate the diagnosis, monitoring, and understanding of eye diseases.
Research Coordinators
Denzil Romfh, OD
Dr. Denny currently works as a clinical research manager in the COOL lab. He manages subject recruitment and OCT imaging projects across all pertinent clinical specialties. He earned a BS in Biology from Texas A&M University and a PhD in Optometry from Pacific University. Denny has previously worked in specialty eye care clinics, specifically a Retina Disease private practice in Texas for 11 years and the Cornea Disease clinic here at CEI-OHSU for 7 years.
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Humberto Martinez, COT
Humberto is a research coordinator in the COOL Lab. He is currently working on the anterior eye disease studies as well as assisting in the glaucoma and retinal studies. He is a certified ophthalmic technician with experience in general ophthalmology since 2014. He collects data including OCT imaging and other ancillary testing from study patients.
George Pacheco, COA, B.S.
George is a Senior Clinical Research Assistant for the Age Related Macular Degeneration, LCHAD, FSOCT High Myopia, and assists in the NSP and Anterior Eye Disease studies. He is a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant and has been in the field of ophthalmology since 2006. Along with diagnostic imaging his interests are data analysis primarily in the area of early detection of CNV in AMD cases. He obtained his B.S in Critical Analysis from Portland State University in 2012 and is continuing his education in OCTA technology.
Chinmay Deshpande,
M. Optom, FIACLE (Australia)
Chinmay is working as a research assistant. He earned his Master of Optometry from BV (DU) Medical College School of Optometry, Pune India. He was working as an Assistant Professor in same institute & consulting optometrist in a private practice in India. He is a ‘Fellow of International Association of Contact Lens Educators’ (Australia). He has presented his work in various International & National Optometry Conferences and has two papers published in Delhi Journal of Ophthalmology. He has written articles for ‘The Indian Optician’.
Kevin Lathrop
Kevin is a research coordinator in the COOL Lab. He is currently working on the Diabetic retinopathy studies as well as assisting in the cornea and MS studies. He has experience in general ophthalmology since 2017. Prior to working in ophthalmology he has worked in optometry and was an optician. He collects data including OCT imaging and other ancillary testing from study patients. Kevin is interested in going to optometry school.
Assistant Staff Scientists
Tristan T. Hormel, PhD
Tristan Hormel is a postdoctoral scholar. He earned his PhD in physics from the University of Oregon, and his research interests include OCTA image processing and data analysis.
Biostatistition
Libby White, BS
Libby White is a biostatistician at the Casey Eye Institute. Libby earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Vermont in 2016 and worked as a research assistant at the Casey Eye Institute from 2018 to 2020, researching glaucoma in mouse and rat models. She will obtain her M.S. in Biostatistics from the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health in May of 2022. Libby is the current president of the American Statistical Association's Portland chapter (PASA), a position through which she promotes sharing research among fellow local statisticians.
Research Fellows
Yukun Guo, MS
Yukun Guo is a visiting scholar. He earned his master's degree in computer science from University of Jinan in 2017. His research interests are image segmentation and machine learning.
Min Gao, MS
Min Gao is a research assistant. She earned her master's degree in communication and information system from Shandong Normal University in 2019. Her research interests are image processing and machine learning.
PengXiao Zang
Pengxiao Zang is a PhD in the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. He earned his master’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Shandong Normal University in 2017. His research interests are image processing and machine learning algorithm for the Optical Coherence Tomography related images.
Kai Neuhaus, PhD
Dr. Kai Neuhaus is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Casey Eye Institute since 2022. He received his Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), in 2018. Kai worked for many years in the software industry. He co-founded Compact Imaging Inc. Limerick, Ireland, developing low-cost optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems for technical and medical applications. Before joining the Casey Eye Institute, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at NUIG Tissue Optics and Microcirculation Imaging (TOMI),researching multimodal imaging of human skin using OCT. One of his research interests is noise analysis in OCT signals, signal and image processing, and the application of machine learning. Kai is a member of SPIE, IEEE, OSA, and IOP.
Jie Wang, PhD
Jie Wang is a COOL Lab research assistant and a Ph.D in the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. Jie’s research interests are digital image processing and pattern recognition.
Shuibin Ni, MS
Shuibin Ni is a research assistant. He earned his master’s degree in electronic science and technology in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. His research interests focus on handheld OCT project and optical imaging
Omkar Thaware,
B Optom, MSVS
Omkar is a PhD student in the Biomedical engineering department at OHSU. He earned a Bachelor in clinical Optometry from BVDM University, India, and a Masters in vision science from Pacific University. Omkar has worked as an optometry practitioner and a teaching faculty in India. His research interest includes an advancement in corneal collagen cross linking surgical procedure and anterior segment OCT imaging.
Guangru (Ben)
Guangru (Ben) is a Ph.D. student of the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. He comes from Guangdong China, and graduated from the Southern University of Science and Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering. His main research interest is advancing the hardware and software support of OCT systems.
PhD Students
Shanjida Khan
Shanjida is a PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering department at OHSU. She earned her BSc degree in Physics from Drew University in 2020. Her current research interest lies in the area of optical imaging.
COOL Lab staff Halloween 2023 event
Featuring a ghost festival theme
The COOL Lab staff found some fun ways to stay connected during COVID-19 modified operations!
GET TO KNOW OUR NEW FACULTY, STAFF & VISITING SCHOLARS
Azaz Khan is a PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. He earned his MS degree in Computer Science and Technology from the University of Jinan, China. He also holds a BS in Electrical Computer Engineering from COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Pakistan. His research interests are Optical Coherence Tomography image segmentation and analysis.
Siyu Song is a Ph.D. student of the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. She earned a MS degree in optical engineering from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include advanced Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) system, image processing and analysis.
Xiao (Gabriella) Zhou is a research associate at Casey Eye Institute. She completed her MSc in bioengineering from University of Washington in 2021. Her main research interests include OCT and OCTA imaging processing and data analysis.
Dr. Jad F. Assaf is a postdoctoral scholar at Casey Eye Institute. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where he served as the co-Director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) Program. His primary research involves AI in ophthalmology, emphasizing corneal imaging and tomography. His expertise lies in machine learning, deep learning, and image analysis.
Dr. Alfonso Jiménez-Villar is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Casey Eye Institute. He completed his MSc in Optical Technologies and Imaging from Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) in 2015. After having worked in the design and manufacturing of ophthalmic lenses, he earned his PhD in physics from the Nicolaus Copernicus University (Torun, Poland) in 2022. His main research interests include the development of alternative clinical devices for ophthalmic applications, intelligent adaptive optics and functional applications of Optical Coherence Tomography (optorretinography and elastography).
Naixing(Nelson) Huang is a graduate student of the Biomedical Engineering Department at OHSU. He earned his bachelor's degree in Automation from Guangdong University of Technology(2022). His research interests are functional imaging and laser system development.
Yiming Huang, MD
Yiming Huang is a visiting scholar since 2023. He is a vitreoretinal specialist in Taipei Veteran General Hospital in Taiwan. His research interests are CNV conversion and Ultrawide filed OCT of DR.
Dr. Jiachi Hong earned his bachelor's degree in Information and Computing Science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2017. He then received his phD in Optical Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2022. His research interests include high resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography (OCTA), functional extantion of OCT (elastography, blood flow imaging), medical image processing and analysis for OCT/OCTA, and laser speckle imaging.
John Jackson is a Visiting Scholar at the Casey Eye Institute. He is an M.D. candidate at the University of Toledo College of Medicine. He holds two B.A. degrees, one in film from Harvard and the second in Computer Information Science with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from the Ohio State University. His research interests include the application of Machine Learning, Image processing and Geometric Algebra to improve patient care and clinical training.