
Eyecelerator @ ARVO 2026
Save the Date: Eyecelerator @ AAO 2026 | Oct. 8 | New Orleans
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

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Blake Anderson, MD
CEO & CTO

CU Innovations
Gali Baler, PhD
Managing Director, Strategy and Operations

Alcon
Roshni Bhagalia, PhD
VP-Digital Products, Surgical

AbbVie
Austin Blackwell
Head of Marketing, Retina

CDHR
Bradley Cunningham (remote)
MSE

EyePoint
Jay S. Duker, MD
President & CEO

Topcon Healthcare
Daniela Ferrara, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer

Ray Technologies
Peter Francis, MD, PhD
Chief Scientific and Medical Officer

Gitkin & Co.
Andrew Gitkin
Managing Partner

New England Eye Center
Michael Goldstein, MD
Co-Director, Cornea Service

Visionary Ventures
Garrett Hamontree, MBA
Partner

Science Corporation
​
Ralf Hornig, PhD
Director, Clinical Affairs

Verana Health
Sujay Jadhav, MBA
CEO

InterWest Partners​
Gil Kliman, MD
Managing Partner, Program Director

American Academy of Ophthalmology
Stephen D. McLeod, MD
CEO​, Program Committee

Glaukos​​
Tomas Navratil, PhD
Chief Development Officer

Re-Vana Therapeutics
Michael J. O’Rourke
CEO

Ufonia
Nick de Pennington, FRCS
CEO

Horizon Surgical Systems
Rajesh K. Rajpal, MD
Chief Strategy and Medical Officer

Doheny Eye Institute
Srinivas Sadda, MD
Professor and Program Committee

University of California
Julie M. Schallhorn, MD, MS
​Professor and Program Co-Chair

Stanford Medicine​
Kuldev Singh, MD, MPH
Professor of Ophthalmology and Program Co-Chair

AbbVie
Julian Smith
​General Manager, Eye Care Pipeline Commercial Strategy

Duke University
Lejla Vajzovic, MD
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology

Genentech
Henry Wiley, MD
Lead Medical Director

California Retina Consultants
Robert L. Avery, MD
Founder/CEO, Program Co-Chair

CDER, FDA
Heidi I. Becker, MD
Ophthalmology Clinical Reviewer

National Eye Institute, NIH
Kapil Bharti, PhD
Scientific Director

Genentech
Christopher Brittain
Global Head of Ophthalmology Product Development

Ocular Therapeutix
Pravin U. Dugel, MD
President & CEO

Emory Eye Center
Ross Ethier, PhD
Professor of Ophthalmology and Program Committee

Revelation Partners
Doug Fisher, MD
Partner

Eli Lilly and Company
Carl Garner, PhD
SVP, Global Regulatory Affairs and Head

AbbVie
Kelly Giuffrida
Vice President, Eye Care

Foundation Fighting Blindness RD fund
Adrienne Graves, PhD
Board Chair

Wills Eye Hospital
Allen C. Ho, MD
Director of Retina Research, Retina Program Director

UCS Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics
Mark Humayun, MD, PhD
Director

Astellas
Erin Kimbrel, PhD
Head of Cell & Gene Therapy Research​

Ocugen
Uday Kompella, PhD
Founder

Nanoscope Therapeutics
Samarendra Mohanty
President & Co-Founder

Strategic Intelligence, Inc.
Babak Nemati, PhD
Founder and CEO

UCSF Innovation Ventures
Mike Papac, PhD
Head, Ophthalmic Business Development

ExSight Ventures, LLC
Firas M. Rahhal, MD
Partner

ARVO
Iris Rush, CAE
Executive Director

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc.
Namrata Saroj, OD
Chief Business Officer

Boston Consulting Group
Long Sha, PhD
Partner

Nuerotech
Rich Small
CEO

CBER
Katerina Tsilou, MD (remote)
Team Leader
​

Visionary Ventures
Jeffry Weinhuff
Managing Partner

MedTech Venture Partners
Christine Winoto
Founding Partner
