PhD student receives prestigious American Association of Optometry fellowship
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While training as an optometrist in Ghana, Albert Dadzie, a Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering PhD student at UIC, worked at a clinic in a rural area where he met several patients who had become irreversibly blind due to glaucoma.
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, with African countries containing the highest prevalence of glaucoma in the world.
“I witnessed firsthand how people became blind due to not being able to afford basic testing to diagnose retinal diseases,” Dadzie said. “The availability of the tools to diagnose these diseases is rare, so when they are available, they’re extremely expensive, and people often have to travel very far to take these tests.”
Researching in Richard and Loan Hill Chair Xincheng Yao’s lab, Dadzie is working to develop cost-effective diagnostic tools that can detect and diagnose retinal diseases.
And this work is being recognized. Dadzie was recently named a William C. Ezell Fellow, receiving the Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award. He is one of 16 fellows given this honor by the American Association of Optometry.
Dadzie explained he’s also interested in developing cost-effective tools to be readily available in screening centers to detect these diseases and potentially prevent blindness in the future of his career.
He hopes to pursue academia to conduct research and mentor the next generation of scientists.
In Yao’s lab, with close collaboration with UIC College of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Assistant Professor, Associate Residency Program Director, and Co-Director, Vitreoretinal Fellowship Program Dr. Michael J. Heiferman, Dadzie is also working on developing deep learning models to detect uveal melanoma.
“Uveal melanoma is a rare cancer, but it is very dangerous,” Dadzie said. “Most of the time, when diseases affect the eyes, they end in blindness. However, with uveal melanoma, it leads to the death of the patient. It’s very important we detect them early. The issue with uveal melanoma is that it looks very similar to a choroidal nevus, which is a relatively harmless tumor. Physically, the tumors look the same, no doctor can look at them, and tell the difference based solely on appearance. Many tests are required to understand the differences and these tests are very expensive and very time consuming.”
“Albert’s dedication to developing accessible and affordable retinal imaging technologies truly reflects the translational mission of our lab,” Yao said. “His work bridges innovative biomedical engineering with pressing clinical needs, and this fellowship is a well-deserved recognition of his vision, perseverance, and commitment to advancing global eye health.”
Dadzie added that he’s grateful to receive the recognition and support for his work and also wanted to acknowledge and thank his current advisor, Dr. Yao, his research mentor, Dr. Heiferman, and his optometry school mentor, Dr. Carl H. Abraham of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana.