Tomas S. Aleman, MD

faculty photo
Irene Heinz-Given and John LaPorte Research Professor
Attending Physician, Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Director of the Retinal Structure and Function Laboratory, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Co-Director Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations, Scheie Eye Institute
Department: Ophthalmology

Contact information
Scheie Eye Institute
51 North 39th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-614-4100
Fax: 215-615-0527
Education:
B.S. (Sciences - High Honors)
F. Engels Vocational Schools, 1982.
M.D. (Medicine)
University of Havana (High Honors), 1988.
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Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Aleman has extensive expertise in the study of hereditary retinal degenerations. He is part of the Retinal Degeneration Center at Scheie Eye Institute and the CAROT center of the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Pennsylvania. His research expertise includes state-of-the-art psychophysical, electrophysiological and imaging studies in patients and animal models of the human disease. Most of the studies in which Dr. Aleman is an investigator are aimed to lead patients with these incurable retinal degenerations into clinical trials as well as in the detailed characterization of patients, both children and adults, with these conditions.

Clinical Trials
Dr. Aleman is a co-principal investigator in an ongoing gene therapy trial for choroideremia.

Key Words
Hereditary Retinal Degenerations, retinitis pigmentosa, choroideremia, cone rod dystrophy, optical coherence tomography, electroretinogram

Description of Clinical Expertise

Dr. Aleman cares for children and adults with retinal degenerations, hereditary or acquired, at Scheie Eye Institute and at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. He is also a staff physician at Puentes Clinic. He is the co-principal investigator of a gene therapy trial for choroideremia. He is also responsible for all clinical electrophysiological investigations within this department, which provides this service to a large number of specialists in the region.

Description of Other Expertise

Fluent in Spanish

Selected Publications

Schmidt, R.E., Pohodich, A.E., Birch, D., Jones, K., Lam, B.L., Jung, E.H., Jain, N., Georgiou, M., Mahroo, O.A., Webster, A.R., Michaelides, M., Bakall, B., Iannaccone, A., Vincent, A., Parameswarappa, D.C., Heon, E., Scholl, H.P.N., Janeschitz-Kriegl, L., Traboulsi, E.I., Zein, W., Brooks, B.P., Cukras, C., Hufnagel, R., Aleman, T.S., Sylla, M.M., Tsang, S.H., Alabek, M., Sahel, J., Gorin, M.B., Van Genderen, M.M., Stingl, K., Reith, M., Kohl, S., Amaral, R.A.S., Sallum, J.M.F., Vincent, A.L., Hull, S., Duncan, J.L., Hanson, J.V.M., Tedeus, M., Maggi, J., Graf, U., Koller, S., Berger, W., Gerth-Kahlert, C., Marra, M., Everett, L.A., Yang, P., Pennesi, M.E: Variants in CFAP410 cause a range of retinal and skeletal phenotypes. NPJ Genomic Medicine 10(1): 32, Apr 2025.

Zhong A, Sumaroka A, Tsui JC, O’Neil EC, Cideciyan AV, Datz E, Bedoukian EC, Aleman TS, Scoles D: Detailed Structural Abnormalities Associated to a Novel VCAN variant in a Family with Versican Vitreoretinopathy. Ophthalmic Genetics 26: 1-10, Mar 2025.

Cideciyan AV, Aleman TS: Gene therapy for young children with congenital blindness. The Lancet 405(10479): 601-603, Feb 2025.

Jiang YY, Sumaroka A, Aleman TS, Cideciyan AV, Morgan JIW: Adaptive optics imaging in RDH12-associated Leber congenital amaurosis. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

Jiang YY, Sumaroka A, Aleman TS, Cideciyan AV, Morgan JIW: Adaptive optics imaging in RDH12-associated Leber congenital amaurosis. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

Swider M, Sumaroka A, Kwok J, Sparrow JR, Aguirre GD, Aleman TS, Beltran WA, Cideciyan AV : ABCA4-mutant dogs show evidence of early lipofuscin accumulation on quantitative autofluorescence imaging. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

O'Neil EC, Bedoukian E, Datz E, Scoles DH, Sumaroka A, Roman AJ, Cideciyan AV, Aleman TS.: Detailed structural and functional observations of early retinal degeneration due to MYO7A-related Usher syndrome type 1B. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

Rustam Z, Kong G, Ibukun FA, Birch DG, Han I, Huckfeldt RM, Kuehlewein L, Pfau K, Grover S, Bennett LD, Jain N, Sapoznik KA, Kochhar S, Lien M, Siddiqui A, Carroll J, Michaelides M, Yzer S, Koenekoop RK, Aleman TS, Lam BL, Sather RN, Aychoua N, Farsiu S, Choy K: Repeatability of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and ellipsoid zone (EZ) width in eyes with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

Aleman TS, Cideciyan AV, Uyhazi KE, Weber ML, Roman AJ, Swider M, Sumaroka A, O'Neil EC, Santos AJ, Maguire KH, Aleman EM, Parchinski KM, Kim R, Fradin M, Sun J, Scoles DH, Wu V, Garafalo AV, Jayagopal A, Yerxa B, Tuller S, Maguire AM, Bennett J.: Recovery of cone-mediated vision in a severe ciliopathy after gene augmentation: One year results of a Phase I/II Trial for LCA5-LCA. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

Cideciyan AV, Roman AJ, Sumaroka A, Swider M, Garafalo AV, Wu V, Viarbitskaya I, Ho A, Pardon LP, Yoon D, Fujita K, Aleman TS: Fast and slow improvements in rod sensitivity in LCA1 patients followed over three years after subretinal gene therapy. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2025.

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Last updated: 05/26/2025
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