The Department of Ophthalmology has been able to recruit several excellent clinicians in ocular oncology, retinal diseases and surgery, comprehensive ophthalmology and oculoplastics, and just completed the recruitment of several new recruits, further strengthening our research teams:
Dr. Peter Mortensen, MD, is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology who started in May 2025. He completed his ophthalmology residency in 2020 at UPMC, followed by a neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at Houston Methodist Hospital under the direction of Dr. Andrew Lee in 2021. He worked at Houston Methodist Hospital as a full-time neuro-ophthalmologist before returning to Pittsburgh.
As part of the Center for Data Science and Innovative Clinical Research Methodologies, we have attracted:
Dr. Alireza Chamanzar, PhD, a multidisciplinary researcher and engineer at the forefront of computational neuroengineering and artificial intelligence in medicine. He transferred as an Assistant Professor from the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh and started in this new role on July 1. He is also a member of the Computational Pathology & AI Center of Excellence. He brings a unique blend of expertise in electrical and computer engineering, neuroscience, and data science. He earned his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, where he developed noninvasive neural diagnostics using EEG, and was honored with the prestigious A.G. Milnes Best PhD Thesis Award. He has since advanced these innovations as a postdoctoral scholar and now as CTO of Precision Neuroscopics, Inc, where he leads the development of algorithms for noninvasive brain monitoring technologies.
Dr. Chamanzar’s academic work spans neural signal processing cortical spreading depolarization detection, lesion network mapping, and generative AI in pathology. His publications appear in leading journals, and he is the inventor of several patents related to neurodiagnostics and AI-based clinical tools. Notably, two of his software platforms have made noninvasive brain monitoring more accessible, especially for underrepresented groups, underscoring his commitment to diversity and equity in health technologies. Recognized with numerous fellowships and awards, Dr. Chamanzar is a rising leader shaping the future of neurotechnology and computational medicine.
Dr. Pirro G. Hysi, PhD, MD, recruited from King’s College London with joint appointments in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology. He is a leading figure in human genomics and ophthalmic epidemiology. He has made pioneering contributions to the understanding of complex traits and diseases through large-scale, data-intensive approaches. He earned his PhD in Genomic Medicine and MSc in Environmental and Health Sciences from the University of Oxford and holds a medical degree in Internal Medicine. His academic path includes key research fellowships and visiting positions at the University of California San Francisco and the University of Chicago. He starts at Pitt on August 1.
Dr. Hysi’s research centers on genetics, omics data integration, and statistical learning, with particular focus on ophthalmic conditions, aging, and pharmacogenomics. He has co-led international collaborations that yielded landmark genome-wide association studies, identifying hundreds of novel genetic loci involved in traits such as eye color, myopia, intraocular pressure, and retinal structure. His publication record includes over 200 peer-reviewed articles, with more than 19,000 citations and an h-index of 68.
An innovator at the intersection of genetics, bioinformatics, and medicine, Dr. Hysi continues to shape precision health through integrative multi-omics and machine learning, enabling improved disease prediction and understanding across populations.
We have also attracted world leaders in gene editing (Daniel Gao) and in retinal and visual pathways connectomics (Bryan Jones and Rebecca Pfeiffer).
Dr. Xin “Daniel” Gao, PhD, is a rising leader in genome engineering and therapeutic biotechnology. He comes to Pittsburgh from a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. David Liu at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and starts on August 1. Trained as a biomedical scientist with a PhD from UMass Chan Medical School and an MS in Biotechnology from Northwestern University, Dr. Gao has developed foundational tools that advance the frontiers of genome editing. His research has led to innovations such as Twin Prime Editing, enabling precise and programmable integration of large DNA sequences, and in vivo base editing therapeutics for genetic diseases like Zellweger Spectrum Disorder.
Dr. Gao’s contributions have appeared in high impact journals, and he is a co-inventor of multiple patents and applications involving prime editors, recombinases, and base editing systems. Widely recognized for his technical acumen and collaborative innovation, he has been honored with awards from ASGCT, the Chinese government, and Harvard Broad Genome Editing Technologies Fund.
Dr. Gao is committed to mentorship and equity in science. He serves as a reviewer for journals like Nature Communications and Nucleic Acids Research. His work continues to shape the future of gene therapy, with strong implications for rare disease treatment and synthetic biology.
Dr. Bryan W. Jones, PhD, is an internationally recognized neuroscientist and vision researcher, coming to Pittsburgh as a tenured Associate Professor at the Moran Eye Center, University of Utah School of Medicine, starting August 1. With a career spanning over two decades, Dr. Jones has made pioneering contributions to retinal connectomics and neurodegeneration, particularly in the context of retinal remodeling in diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. He earned his PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Utah, followed by postdoctoral training in cell biology and ophthalmology.
At the University of Utah, Dr. Jones directed a vibrant research program that integrates high resolution electron microscopy, computational modeling, and molecular profiling to map and understand neural circuitry in the retina. His lab’s work is foundational in the emerging field of retinal pathoconnectomics – using large-scale neural circuit reconstructions to understand disease induced remodeling.
Dr. Jones is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Research to Prevent Blindness Stein Innovation Award and the NSF Scientific Visualization Challenge. He is also a prolific educator, mentor to dozens of trainees, and a highly sought-after speaker, having delivered invited lectures at institutions worldwide. Through leadership roles in national and international organizations, Dr. Jones continues to shape the future of vision science and neurobiology.
Dr. Rebecca L. Pfeiffer, PhD, was recruited as an Assistant Professor from the Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, where she led cutting edge investigations into retinal neurodegeneration and neural circuit remodeling. As a specialist in connectomics and ultrastructural analysis, Dr. Pfeiffer’s research has transformed understanding of how neurodegenerative processes reshape neural networks, with a focus on retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.
Dr. Pfeiffer completed her PhD in neuroscience at the University of Utah, where she pioneered work on “persistent remodeling” in degenerating retinas. She then had a postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Bryan Jones, continuing her deep exploration into retinal pathoconnectomics. Her work has resulted in over 30 co-authored publications in high-impact journals, several invited book chapters, and a series of widely attended presentations at international symposia.
In addition to her research accomplishments, Dr. Pfeiffer is a dedicated mentor and educator, having trained undergraduate and graduate students in advanced electron microscopy, 3D reconstruction, and network analysis. She has received funding from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation and Research to Prevent Blindness and actively contributes to the scientific community as a journal reviewer and conference organizer. Through her integrative approach to retinal biology and computational neuroscience, Dr. Pfeiffer is advancing the frontier of vision science. She starts August 1.