CPOB Faculty and Staff

Gui-shuang Ying, PhD

Gui-shuang Ying, Ph.D. has been working as a biostatistician in the center since June 2000.  After completing his Ph.D. in biostatistics in 2004 at the University of Pennsylvania, he became a faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology. Currently, Dr. Ying is Carolyn F. Jones Professor of Ophthalmology, Director of the Center for Preventive Ophthalmology and Biostatistics, and an Associate Scholar in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Ying has an M.S. in biostatistics from University of Michigan, and a MD and MPH from Zhejiang University, P. R. China. 

Dr. Ying has led the Data Coordinating Center for several multi-center ophthalmic clinical studies and clinical trials including: the Telemedicine approaches to evaluating acute-phase ROP (e-ROP) study, the Postnatal growth and retinopathy of prematurity (G-ROP) studies, the Fluoreomethlone as Adjunctive Medical Therapy for TT Surgery (FLAME), and Glaucoma Drainage Device and Endothelial Cell Loss Compare Trial (DECLARE). Dr. Ying has been the principal investigator for many NIH-funded secondary data analysis grants for the Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study, the e-ROP study, the G-ROP study, the Comparison of Age-related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials (CATT) and the Dry Eye Assessment and Management (DREAM) Study.  In these leadership roles, Dr. Ying supervises staff, collaborates with other members of the research team, and takes responsibilities for the conduct of the study and the publication of findings.

Dr. Ying has been the co-investigators or senior biostatistician for many funded studies in ophthalmology and vision science including: the Vision In Preschoolers (VIP) Study, the Vision in Preschoolers Hyperopia in Preschoolers (VIP-HIP), the Complications of Age-related Macular and Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT), the Comparison of Age-related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials (CATT), the Retinopathy in Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (RCRIC) study, the Systemic Immunosuppressive Therapy for Eye Diseases (SITE),  the Sensory dysfunction in early Parkinson’s disease, Biomarkers of vision loss in children with optic pathway Gliomas,  Quantitative MRI for Pediatric Optic Pathway Glioma Treatment Response,  the study of Developing new methods for early detection of Sjogren’s syndrome, the study of Imaging Photoreceptor Function, and the study of Analyzing Retinal Microanatomy in Retinopathy of Prematurity to Improve Care (BABY-STEPS).

Dr. Ying is the Biostatistics Module Director of the Vision Core Grant funded by the National Eye Institute of NIH.  He leads the MS biostatisticians in providing biostatistical services to investigators at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on many collaborative projects.  In these projects, Dr. Ying provides critical guidance in the design of the study, develops appropriate statistical analysis plan, oversees the conduct of the statistical analysis by MS-level biostatisticians, and helps with interpretation of analysis results and manuscript writing. 

Dr. Ying has mentored many undergraduate students, medical students, residents, fellows and visiting scholars on the conduct of clinical eye research. Many of his students received ARVO travel grant awards, the Ophthalmology Medical Student Research Prize, the meritorious poster award, and best oral presentation award etc..

Dr. Ying's research expertise includes analysis of correlated eye data, predictions in clinical trials, development of risk prediction models, statistical assessment of screening/diagnostic tests.  As a strong advocate for using the correct statistical methods for analyzing correlated data arising from measurements of both eyes, Dr. Ying has worked with distinguished biostatisticians in ophthalmology (Drs. Maguire, Rosner and Glynn) and published several tutorial papers, co-organized and presented short courses on the appropriate statistical analysis of correlated eye data.

Dr. Ying has authored or co-authored 500+ papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Yinxi Yu, MS

Yinxi Yu received her Master of Biostatistics from Duke University in May 2017, and she joined the center as the Biostatistician in July 2017. Before joining the center, Yinxi worked as a biostatistics intern at Duke Biostatistics Core, provided statistical support in clinical research projects. Currently Yinxi works on Coordinating Center studies such as DREAM, G-ROP and projects based on national health database.

Jocelyn He, MS

Jocelyn joined CPOB as a biostatistician in June 2022, after receiving her master’s degree in Biostatistics & Bioinformatics from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in Biological & Biomedical Engineering from Penn State. She collaborates with clinicians and investigators on pediatric vision screening, vision-disorder and neurodegenerative-disease studies, and large-scale EHR analytics. Currently, she leads statistical analyses for clinical trials including BabySTEPS 1–2 (retinal microanatomy in ROP) and ISEE (multi-site pediatric vision-screening), as well as NIH All of Us Research Program projects and additional consulting collaborations nationwide.

Fangming Jin, MS

Fangming Jin is a biostatistician who provides statistical support for ophthalmology clinical trials and different types of observational studies in the center.  She received her Master of Biostatistics from Columbia University and joined CPOB in 2024 after working in the CRO company for 3 years, where she served as a statistical programmer and biostatistician in multiple phase I/II/III clinical trials.

Maureen Maguire, PhD

Maureen G. Maguire, PhD received her doctoral degree in 1983 from the Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and joined the faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University.  She worked with two established clinical trial groups, the Wilmer Clinical Trials and Biometry Unit, School of Medicine and the Center for Clinical Trials, School of Public Health.  Dr. Maguire served in increasingly more responsible positions (protocol monitor, biostatistician, senior biostatistician, deputy director) within the Coordinating Centers for clinical trials based in each group.  In 1985 she became Principal Investigator and Director of the Coordinating Center for the Collaborative Corneal Transplantation Trials.   During this period, she also collaborated on multiple clinical research projects with colleagues in the Department of Ophthalmology.

In July 1994, Dr. Maguire joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania to establish the Center for Preventive Ophthalmology and Biostatistics (CPOB).  Since then, she has held been the principal investigator of the coordinating center for several multicenter clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration sponsored by industry and the National Institutes of Health.  In addition, she was actively involved in the development of the Vision In Preschoolers Study, an NEI-sponsored, multicenter, clinical investigation of methods for screening young children for vision problems.

Dr. Maguire has served on and chaired several data and safety monitoring committees and is on the editorial board of the journals Ophthalmology and Cornea.  She has more than 150 publications in the areas of ophthalmology and clinical research.

Erin Prachar

Erin Prachar joined CPOB as a Clinical Research Project Manager in May 2024. Prior to joining the center, Erin worked as a project manager specializing in randomization and drug management software development for industry clinical trials, before working as a clinical research/regulatory coordinator in the areas of hepatology, nephrology, and rheumatology.

At CPOB, Erin works on Data Coordinating Center studies including FLAME, DECLARE, and ISEE. She is a member of the Society for Clinical Trials and the Society for Penn Clinical Research Professionals, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Regulatory Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania.