The Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Research Professorship of Ophthalmology II

This Professorship was established in 2022, when the value of the endowment of the Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Research Professorship of Ophthalmology had increased sufficiently to support a second professorship.

The original Professorship was established in 1970 through the generosity of the Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Foundation, Inc. The chair exemplifies the consistent support and commitment of the Foundation toward the enrichment of programs that will ensure the finest in patient care, education, and research in the Department of Ophthalmology and at the Scheie Eye Institute at Penn Medicine. Irene Heinz Given (1871–1956) was the daughter of Henry J. Heinz (1844–1919), who created the well-known food company. John LaPorte Given (1871–1957) founded an advertising firm and later joined the H.J. Heinz Company as advertising counsel and member of the Board of Directors.

The Heinz family is well known for philanthropy and public service: Henry John Heinz III (1938–1991) was a U.S. Congressman and Senator. Irene and John Given provided significant support to many medical institutions and universities nationwide. 

Current Chairholder
Lama A. Al-Aswad, MD, MPH

Lama A. Al-Aswad, MD, MPH, is a board-certified ophthalmologist with a specialization in glaucoma and cataracts, as well as a strong interest in disease prevention and population health management. She received her medical degree from Damascus University Medical School and completed her glaucoma research fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School. She would go on to complete her residency in ophthalmology at SUNY Downstate and her glaucoma clinical fellowship at the University of Tennessee. In 2015, Dr. Al-Aswad received her Master of Public Health from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health for her work in healthcare policy and management.

At the Scheie Eye Institute, she is the Vice Chair for Quality and Safety and Director of Teleophthalmology, A.I., and Innovations. She is also an affiliated faculty member at the Penn Research in Embedded Computing and Integrated Systems Engineering (PRECISE) Center at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, as well as the CEO of EnVision Health Technologies and Visi Health Technologies. She was a professor of ophthalmology and population health, as well as Vice Chair for Innovations, Director of Teleophthalmology and Artificial Intelligence, and Director of the Ophthalmology Innovations Fellowship at NYU Langone Health.

Dr. Al-Aswad is the past president of the NY Glaucoma Society and Women in Ophthalmology. She is the founder and past president of the New York chapter of Women in Ophthalmology. She is currently a member at-large of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, serving as secretary and member of the annual meeting of the program committee, a member at-large of the American Glaucoma Society, and an examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. She served on multiple committees for the American Glaucoma Society, Women in Ophthalmology, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She is currently on the ophthalmology science editorial board and a section editor for the subspecialty of AI, Big Data, and Telemedicine in Ophthalmology for the Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. She was also on the editorial board of Ophthalmology Glaucoma. She holds an appointment with the FDA as a voting member on the ophthalmic device panel.

Dr. Al-Aswad has launched many courses for medical students, residents, and fellows. Most recently, in 2020-2021, she started the faculty development course, the artificial intelligence course, and the teleophthalmology course at the NYU Langone Department of Ophthalmology. In 2004, she helped start the glaucoma fellowship at Columbia University and lead the program from 2013-2019. She also contributed to the development of the Ophthalmology Innovation Fellowship at the NYU Langone Department of Ophthalmology.

Understanding the burden of disease and the need to improve access to care expanded her interest to include innovative medicine and artificial intelligence. In 2017, Dr. Al-Aswad 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 2020, due to the changes during COVID, she built a vision app integrating it with EPIC for patient use during virtual visits as part of a suite of apps for remote monitoring. She built the ophthalmology data core for machine learning as tool for blindness prevention at NYU and recently launched two digital companies for the transformation of eye care delivery to decrease the burden of eye disease.