InSight Newsletter Fall 2025
Message from the Chair
Welcome to the Fall 2025 edition of the Department of Ophthalmology InSight Newsletter. We are now well into the 2025-26 academic year, and it has been the most unusual – and in many ways challenging – in my almost 18 years as chair. As you are aware, substantial changes in Federal policy have occurred in the past year that have impacted our NIH grant funding and may soon impact our payments for clinical services. In anticipation, the University of Washington is implementing significant austerity measures. Despite this, our research continues at a brisk pace, and we continue to provide outstanding patient care.
Our community’s support has allowed us to continue to fulfill our mission. This issue's research spotlight is on the Kren Engineering-based Medicine Initiative (KEMi). Made possible by an extraordinarily generous gift from George and Martina Kren, emeritus members of our Community Action Board, and catalyzed by fellow emeritus CAB member Graham Siddall, this initiative combines the strengths of UW Engineering and UW Medicine to develop solutions for healthcare’s most urgent unmet needs. KEMi, led by Graham and Brenda Siddall, Professor Tueng Shen, MD, PhD, will focus on engineering-driven projects that translate advanced technologies from laboratory research into real-world clinical tools. A substantial portion of this initiative is directed toward ophthalmology research, and we are delighted to feature these projects in this quarter’s newsletter.
In this issue, we also introduce Acting Assistant Professor Yue Wu, PhD, who has taken a leadership role in the Computational Ophthalmology Lab following the departures of Drs. Aaron and Cecilia Lee for leadership positions at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Wu has been in our department for more than seven years and has collaborated with many faculty members, including myself, on research projects involving large datasets. We will continue much of the work started by the Lees.
Our Patient Care Spotlight welcomes two terrific physicians to the faculty: Acting Assistant Professor Nathan Agi, MD, and Alexa Van Brummen, MD. Both are staying with us after completing their fellowship specialty training: Dr. Agi in vitreoretinal surgery and Dr. Van Brummen in oculoplastic surgery.
In Education, our department hosts medical students from UW and around the country for summer clerkships each summer. Learn more about Lensa Moen, a student at Washington State University who received a scholarship for her summer experience at Harborview and Seattle Children’s.
Our faculty also mentors several graduate students in their doctoral programs, and recently, Samson Darrah, OD (a PhD student in Dr. Debarshi Mustafi’s lab) received the prestigious Homecoming Scholar Award from the UW Alumni Association.
Finally, in our philanthropy spotlight, learn more about the generosity of our donors and the support of two key initiatives: the Vision Research Innovation Fund and the Tietze Family Award for Vision Sciences. These programs empower junior faculty to pursue groundbreaking, early-stage research with the potential to transform patient care.
Wishing you and yours all the best this upcoming holiday season.
Russ Van Gelder, MD, PhD,
Boyd K. Bucey Chair, UW Medicine Department of Ophthalmology
Director, Roger and Angie Karalis Johnson Retina Center
Director, Vision Science Center