2023 Award Winners – Ophthalmology

Congratulations to our winners for Ophthalmology!

Please read on to learn about their incredible achievements and work.

photo of dr. aakriti shukla

Dr. Aakriti Garg Shukla, MD

Board-Certified Ophthalmologist and Fellowship-Trained Glaucoma and Cataract Specialist

Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY

Dr. Shukla’s profile: https://doctors.columbia.edu/us/ny/new-york/aakriti-garg-shukla-md-635-west-165th-street

Dr. Shukla is the Leonard A. Lauder Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical Center. She received her medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, where she completed her ophthalmology residency and served as Chief Resident. She pursued further glaucoma subspecialty training at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. She was an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wills Eye Hospital prior to relocation to New York.  

Dr. Shukla has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and has been invited to speak nationally and internationally on patient care and research. She has received research grants and several awards, including the American Glaucoma Society (AGS) Mentoring for Advancement of Physician Scientists Grant and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Best Paper Award and Secretariat Award. She was awarded the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) International Service Grant for her involvement in global health initiatives. She serves on the Ophthalmology Glaucoma editorial board, the World Glaucoma Association Associate Advisory Board, the AGS Glaucoma Screening Task Force, the AAO Sustainability Task Force, and the ASCRS Young Eye Surgeons Clinical Committee. Her research interests include structure-function relationships in glaucoma, optimization of surgical outcomes, and sustainability in ophthalmology. She is passionate about trainee education in the clinic and operating room and is committed to excellent clinical care. 

To learn more about the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, please visit: https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/

photo of tomas aleman

Dr. Tomas Aleman, MD

Dr. Aleman is a Irene Heinz-Given and John LaPorte Research Professor, Attending Physician with the Department of Ophthalmology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Director of the Retinal Structure and Function Laboratory with the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Aleman has extensive expertise in the study of hereditary retinal degenerations. He is part of the Retinal Degeneration Center at Scheie Eye Institute and the CAROT center of the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Pennsylvania. His research expertise includes state-of-the-art psychophysical, electrophysiological and imaging studies in patients and animal models of the human disease. Most of the studies in which Dr. Aleman is an investigator are aimed to lead patients with these incurable retinal degenerations into clinical trials as well as in the detailed characterization of patients, both children and adults, with these conditions.
Dr. Aleman cares for children and adults with retinal degenerations, hereditary or acquired, at Scheie Eye Institute and at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. He is also a staff physician at Puentes Clinic. He is the co-principal investigator of a gene therapy trial for choroideremia. He is also responsible for all clinical electrophysiological investigations within this department, which provides this service to a large number of specialists in the region.
To learn more about the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, please visit: https://www.med.upenn.edu/