Dr. Lama A. Al‑Aswad is the Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Research Professor of Ophthalmology at the Scheie Eye Institute with a secondary appointment in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She serves as the Vice Chair for Quality and Safety, Director of Teleophthalmology, AI, and Innovations, Chair of the Glaucoma Imaging Group on the Collaborative Community on Ophthalmic Imaging, and most recently is the chair elect of the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee. A board‑certified glaucoma specialist, she has held national leadership roles, including past president of the NY Glaucoma Society and Women in Ophthalmology, and a voting member of the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel.

Dr. Al-Aswad’s research focuses on blindness prevention, tele‑ophthalmology, artificial intelligence, and healthcare innovation. She has led major population‑health initiatives, including large‑scale glaucoma screening programs, a mobile tele‑ophthalmology unit for detecting leading causes of blindness, and an Epic‑integrated vision‑testing app developed during the COVID‑19 pandemic.