Lama A. Al-Aswad, MD, MPH is ophthalmologist with subspecialty in glaucoma and cataract with a strong interest in disease prevention and population health management. She is professor of ophthalmology at NYU Langone Health and the Vice Chair for Innovations and the Director of Teleophthalmology, Artificial Intelligence and Innovations and the Associate director of the glaucoma fellowship. She received her medical degree from Damascus University Medical School and completed her glaucoma research fellowship at the Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School. Subsequently, she completed her residency in ophthalmology at the SUNY Downstate and her glaucoma fellowship at the University of Tennessee.
In 2015, Dr. Al-Aswad conferred the degree of Masters of Public Health from Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health for her work in healthcare policy and management. Dr. Al-Aswad, is the past president of the NY Glaucoma Society and the Women in Ophthalmology. She also holds an appointment with the FDA as a voting member on the ophthalmic device panel.
Dr. Al-Aswad is a believer in prevention of blindness as evident from her large-scale glaucoma screening project in NYC where she screened more than 8500 individuals for glaucoma. In 2017, she launched the tele-ophthalmology screening project for the four-leading cause of blindness using a mobile tele-ophthalmology unit equipped with state of the art devices and staffed with technicians, linked in real-time to a reading center. In 2019, she piloted the first teleophthalmology Kiosk for screening for the four leading causes of blindness. Dr. Al-Aswad has experience in building data capturing systems in addition to app development. She is currently working on validating artificial intelligence systems in glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy screening as a tool in blindness prevention.
