COMMITTEES

Prof. Ido Didi Fabian received his MD from the Technion, Israel. He trained in ophthalmology at Sheba Medical Center, after which he joined the London Ocular Oncology Service from 2014-2017. Prof Fabian serves as a consultant ocular oncologist and is a co-founder and director of SHEBA Global Ophthalmology in Sheba Medical Center. He also founded and heads the ocular oncology services in Soroka and Bnai-Zion Hospitals in Israel. Prof. Fabian is affiliated to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and is the principal investigator of the Retinoblastoma Network. He founded and leads the Global Retinoblastoma Study Group, initiated the Rb-NET MDT Project, co-founded the Asian Retinoblastoma Group. 

I did my medical school and ophthalmology in Paris

During my residency I went to spend one year of training in New York Presbyterian medical center with Bob Ellsworth

I then started to work in Curie Institute  in 1981 with Pr Haye in ophthalmic oncology and became head of ophthalmic oncology department in 1991

In 2020 I retired from Curie Institute and became director of the French society of Ophthalmology

In 2011 I started to work with AMCC and developed with Pr Bey a program to improve retinoblastoma care in Africa  first with the support of the Sanofi Espoir foundation and then with the support of a swiss foundation since 2019

Dr Kahaki Kimani is a senior lecturer at the department of Ophthalmology, University of Nairobi since 2001. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery and a Master of Medicine in Ophthalmology from University of Nairobi as well as a Master of Science in Community Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is a fellow of the College of Ophthalmology East Central & Southern Africa (COECSA). She has been involved in training ophthalmologists from Kenya and many African countries.

She has supervised over 30 dissertations in Master of Medicine (10 of the on retinoblastoma), has been the principle investigator in several research projects and published widely in peer reviewed journals. Her most remarkable achievement is spearheading the Kenya National Retinoblastoma Strategy which has led to dramatic improvement in the treatment of children with retinoblastoma. She has been instrumental in making Kenyatta National Hospital a centre of excellence for retinoblastoma in Africa. Her passion is to see every child suffering from retinoblastoma access the highest quality of treatment regardless of their ability to pay for such treatment.

Dupe S. Ademola-Popoola, established and heads the Paediatric, Strabismus and Ocular oncology services at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. She completed the Fellowship of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria-NPMCN (FMCOphth) and that of  the West African College of Surgeon (FWACS) ) in Ophthalmology in 2001 She subsequently did sub-specialty training in Paediatric Ophthalmology at the LV Prasad Eye Institute, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Andrea Pradesh, India (2007) and International Council of Ophthalmology Fellowship in Ophthalmic Oncology at the Eye and Laser World Centre, Giza Egypt and Rod El Farag National Eye Centre Cairo, Egypt (2009). Had some stint at Emory, and Kansas in USA. She was part of the ROP-NET and RB-NET of Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.

Working with a highly dedicated team, she transformed University of Ilorin/Teaching Hospital to a frontline referral and training Centre for Paediatric Ophthalmology in Nigeria and especially for Retinopathy of Prematurity and retinoblastoma care.

Dupe is an advocate for kids’ eye care.  She facilitated and was the local host doctor for ORBIS (an international Eye care NGO based in the New York, USA) Flying Eye Hospital -FEH aboard a DC -10 aircraft and hospital-based-program -HBP with 52 volunteer international eye care super-specialists (from 13 different countries from 28 February to 20^th March in Ilorin, Nigeria, 2011. 

She also led the team that developed the bill that was later passed as “Kwara Childhood Sight Protection Law-2013” published in Kwara State Gazette in 2014.

Vera is an Associate Professor and Head of Ophthalmology, University of Ghana Medical School, a trainer for eye health workers in West Africa. She was the first Paediatric Ophthalmologist trained in Ghana; and was pivotal in establishing the paediatric ophthalmology fellowship in her country. She was awarded Eye Health Hero in 2018 by IAPB. In 2020, Vera successfully initiated Intra-arterial chemotherapy for the management of retinoblastoma, the first in West Africa. Currently, she leads the effort to establish a national strategy for retinoblastoma management in Ghana. Her research interests are in epidemiology, basic sciences, and therapeutic interventions for childhood blindness.

ASSANI Karim is a paediatric oncologist whose work focuses on improving the survival of children with retinoblastoma in sub-Saharan Africa.

He’s from the Democratic Republic of Congo where he works as a paediatric oncologist at the University Hospital of Kinshasa. Dr ASSANI Karim is also the manager of the retinoblastoma program of the French NGO Alliance Mondiale Contre le Cancer (French branch of the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research). This program aims to improve retinoblastoma survival in French and some English and Portuguese speaking countries in Africa.

Jesse L. Berry, MD is Associate Professor Ophthalmology, Director of Ocular Oncology and Vice Chair of Surgery for Academic Affairs Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the USC Roski Eye Institute. She received her undergraduate and medical degree from Harvard University followed by ophthalmology and fellowship training at USC. Dr. Berry is the founder of Women in Ocular Oncology and Vice President of the International Society of Ocular Oncology. Her clinical expertise focuses on retinoblastoma and uveal melanoma. She holds the Berle and Lucy Adams Chair in Cancer Research for her endeavors which incude development of the aqueous humor as a liquid biopsy for retinoblastoma which is supported by the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Helen Dimaras is Associate Professor and Director of Global Health in the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. She is cross-appointed to the Division of Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto. She serves as Director of Global Eye Health Research in the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences at The Hospital for Sick Children, and Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program and Centre for Global Child Health in the SickKids Research Institute.

Dr. Dimaras completed a PhD in Molecular & Medical Genetics and post-doctoral training in clinical trials and global health. Her work has contributed to the understanding of the molecular genetic development of the childhood eye cancer, retinoblastoma. She leads a research program that lies at the intersection of global health, cancer genetics and patient engagement. Much of her work is focused on how to deliver optimal retinoblastoma care worldwide and improve patient outcomes, with patients as partners in these efforts.

Dr. Dimaras is featured by the Canadian Society for International Health on the Canadian Women in Global Health List.

Deepak P Edward, M.D. FACS, FARVO. is Vice-Chair, Education, Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland,

Dr. Edward is ophthalmic pathologist and a glaucoma specialist. He is the Past President of American Association of Ophthalmic pathologists and is on the board of the International Society of Ophthalmic Pathologists. He has a wide range of research interests in the fields of ophthalmic education, clinical and experimental ophthalmic pathology, biomarkers, cell biology and proteomics. He has over 260 publications and contributed to the WHO manual of eye tumors.  He an active member of the American Academy of ophthalmology and received the Senior Achievement Award, and a member of the American Association of Ophthalmic Oncology and Pathology. He was the Zimmerman lecturer at the AAO in 2022. On. Dr Edward is an innovative educator and has been awarded several teaching awards during his career including a Lifetime teaching award at the University of Illinois

Dr. Edward has memberships in several professional societies including AAO, AGS, Verhoeff-Zimmerman Society, and the American Ophthalmological Society.

Dr. Stephen Gichuhi is a Consultant Ophthalmologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi Faculty of Health Sciences where he is Head of Ophthalmology. His area of clinical interest is cornea and external diseases, in particular ocular surface squamous neoplasia which he did his PhD in. He has a great passion for evidence-based practice in the belief that countries with few resources to invest in healthcare should direct them on what is proven to be effective.

Dr. Gichuhi received his MBChB and MMed in Ophthalmology from the University of Nairobi; MBA from University of Leicester; MSc and PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

• Swathi is the Head of Ocular Oncology services at the Operation Eyesight Universal Institute for Eye Cancer, LV Prasad Eye Institute, India.
• She has delivered more than 250 lectures in various national and international forums, published more than 230 peer-reviewed articles, contributed 30 chapters in oncology textbooks, and is an Ocular Oncology Section Editor for 2 international journals.
• She is a recipient of the prestigious Shakuntala Amir Chand Prize and Novartis Oration Award from Indian Council of Medical Research and the IAPB Vision Excellence Award 2020 for her contribution to the field of ocular oncology.
• She was named among the top 15 ophthalmologists from India with most citations in 2020 and 2021 based on Stanford University study for identifying top 2% of scientists in the world.
• She is also the brain behind ‘Whitathon’, an annual running event creating awareness about retinoblastoma and raising funds to support the treatment of children from financially distressed families with this deadly eye cancer. 

Ashwin Reddy undertook his medical degree at Cambridge University, UK and trained in ophthalmology in the UK with further paediatric ophthalmology & retinoblastoma subspecialisation in Toronto, Canada. His MD thesis from the Institute of Ophthalmology, London is on the molecular genetics of inherited cataract. He has an active interest in research with over 100 publications. He helped develop retinoblastoma services in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Nigeria and Indonesia.

Dr. Andrew W. Stacey MD is an ophthalmologist and runs the ocular oncology and retinoblastoma service at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. Originaly from Ohio, he obtained a master’s degree in statistics from Brigham Young University in Utah, followed by a medical degree from the Ohio State University. He completed ophthalmology residency at the Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan and was then a fellow in ocular oncology at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He moved to Seattle after fellowship to start the first ocular oncology program in Washington State. His practice is dedicated to intraocular and ocular surface oncology in adults and children. 

Dr Sadik Taju Sherief is a consultant pediatrics and Strabismus Ophthalmologist at Menelik II Hospital and holds the rank of Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Addis Ababa University. Following a Medical Doctorate degree from Jimma University, completed residency training in Ophthalmology at Addis Ababa University. He then went to a subspecialty fellowship training in Pediatrics Ophthalmology and Strabismus at The Hospital for Sick Children’s, Toronto, Canada. Since returning to Ethiopia, his clinical practice and research have focused on Retinoblastoma, retinopathy of prematurity, Ocular Trauma , Strabismus and as well as other anterior segment abnormalities. He became the chair of the department of Ophthalmology of Addis Ababa University and secretary general of the Ophthalmological society of Ethiopia. In collaboration with the University of Toronto, he designed a pediatrics Ophthalmology fellowship program at Addis Ababa University and lead the “Ethiopian National Retinoblastoma Guideline” team. 

Currently he is a research fellow at the Sickkids research institute, his research focuses on retinoblastoma in low income countries, RB guideline development, ocular trauma, challenges of child eye health in developing countries , pediatrics glaucoma and corneal transplantation.

Matthew W. Wilson, MD, FACS is a native of Atlanta, Ga. He graduated from Furman University with a B.S. in Biology in 1986. He completed his medical degree, residency, and ophthalmic pathology fellowship at Emory University. He completed additional fellowship training in ocular oncology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, England, and ophthalmic plastics and reconstructive surgery at Casey Eye Institute/Oregon Health Science University in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Wilson is the Barrett G Haik Endowed Chair and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, and Director of the Hamilton Eye Institute. He is also Chief of Ophthalmology at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and holds their Endowed Chair in Pediatric Ophthalmology. Dr. Wilson has active clinical and translational research programs; he has published over 140 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He has also chaired multiple education committees for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Wilson has worked extensively with the Department of Pediatric Global at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to build retinoblastoma centers of excellence in Central America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Wilson has trained numerous Fellows in both ocular oncology and oculoplastics.