Board of Scientific Advisors

Yuri McKee MD - Chief Scientific Advisor

Dr. McKee is a Board Certified Ophthalmic Surgeon with fellowship training in Corneal and Refractive Surgery. His clinical and surgical training in corneal disease, complex anterior segment surgery, and refractive surgery was completed at the renowned Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, GA. Dr McKee specializes in advanced corneal transplant techniques, premium cataract surgery, micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, anterior segment reconstruction, and refractive surgery. Dr McKee is a partner at East Valley Ophthalmology and East Valley Outpatient Surgery in Mesa, Arizona. He is the Executive Editor of five books on ophthalmic surgical technique. He is also on the Board of Directors of EyeConnect International. Dr McKee was the Medical Monitor for the first-in-human trials for the JelliSee Accommodating IOL.
Prior to his training in Ophthalmology Dr. McKee served for six years as an active duty US Air Force flight surgeon. He logged over 500 hours in USAF aircraft including the F-15, F-16, and Combat Search and Rescue helicopters. His commitment to service was recognized with numerous military medals and awards, including a Command Flight Surgeon of the Year distinction.
His background includes a BA in Psychology from Minnesota State University, a master’s thesis in developmental neurobiology, and an MD from Loma Linda University in California. Dr. McKee completed his surgical internship at the University of Minnesota. He received the Outstanding Graduating Resident Award at the Louisiana State University/Ochsner Clinic Foundation Ophthalmology Residency where he trained in the clinical and surgical subspecialties of ophthalmology.

Mark S. Blumenkranz MD, MMS

Dr. Blumenkranz is a co-founder and the Chairman and CEO of Kedalion Therapeutics a clinical stage ophthalmic pharmaceutical company. He is also the Managing Director of Lagunita Biosciences an early stage healthcare investment company and incubator in Menlo Park CA and HJ Smead Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University where he is the Founder and Co-Director of the Ophthalmic Innovation Program. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology from 1997 until 2015 and played a leading role in the planning, fundraising and construction of the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford. He is a past President of the American University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), the Retina Society and the Macula Society and is a Fellow Emeritus of the Corporation of Brown University where he chaired the Medical School Committee (2002-2019). He is a member of the steering committee of the National Eye Institute’s Audacious Goals Initiative, and was a was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jackson Laboratory from 2017 to 2020. He is a co-founder and serves as a director of Verana Health and is a member of the board of Directors of BVI Visitec and One Medical (ONEM:NASDAQ).

David F Chang MD

Dr. Chang is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of California, San Francisco where he is now a clinical professor. Having chaired the ASCRS Cataract Clinical Committee, Dr. Chang has been on the ASCRS Board and Executive Committee since 2009 and served as the 2012-2013 president. He is a past chair of the AAO Cataract Preferred Practice Pattern Panel and the AAO Annual Meeting Program Committee. In addition to the Lifetime AAO Achievement award, Dr. Chang is a 6-time AAO Secretariat Award recipient. He previously served as chief medical editor of EyeWorld, and Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. Dr. Chang currently co-chairs the ASCRS Foundation and is the recipient of the 2019 AAO Humanitarian Service Award, and the 2020 Aravind Venkataswamy Award.

Cathleen McCabe MD

Dr. McCabe serves as Chief Medical Officer at Eye Health America™. She is one of the foremost eye surgeons today, specializing in complex and premium cataract and refractive surgery at The Eye Associates in Sarasota, Florida. She has a keen interest in advancing the field of ophthalmology and has participated in numerous clinical trials, including innovations in intraocular lenses, perioperative medications, medications and devices to treat glaucoma, dry eye treatments and presbyopia correction.
Dr. McCabe continues to receive many prestigious and esteemed awards for her work in Ophthalmology, including being named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor – 2015 to 2022 for Ophthalmology. Castle Connolly also selected her for the first-ever Exceptional Women In Medicine Award for 2017 to 2022. In 2022 she was nominated for and inducted into both the prestigious International Intraocular Implant Club established in 1966 by Sir Harold Ridley and the World College of Refractive Surgery and Visual Sciences as a founding member. She was named to Newsweek’s America’s Best Eye Doctors list in 2022 and 2023, The Ophthalmologist Global Power List of top ophthalmologists in 2021 and 2022, OSN Premier Surgeon 300 List, and the Premier Surgeon 250 List of Leading Innovators in Premium IOL Cataract Surgery. She was also chosen a LASERVISION Top 100 LASIK Surgeon, elected President of CEDARS/ASPEN-2017, has received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement and Secretariat Awards, is the Immediate Past President of the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society, the chair of the Refractive Surgery Clinical Committee for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), serves on the governing board of ASCRS and serves on numerous editorial and subspecialty boards and committees. She has leadership positions in mentoring and international educational organizations, serves as Chief Medical Editor for Ophthalmic ASC Magazine and Cataract Refractive Surgery Today, co-chairs the OR Waste Task Force Committee, is an advisory board member of EyeSustain, and is an advisor to many ophthalmology industry partners. She is passionate about giving back to her local community, her profession and globally and participates in charitable giving and volunteer efforts both at home and abroad. She is a board member of several charitable foundations in ophthalmology, including One World Global Health/Sight for Life, OOSS Gives, and others.
Dr. McCabe received her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and received her residency training at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami’s School of Medicine. She continues to share her expertise by publishing articles and book chapters as well as lecturing at national and international ophthalmological seminars.

Brandon Ayres MD

Dr. Ayres has been part of the Cornea Service at Wills Eye Hospital since 2005, and has been part of Ophthalmic Partners since 2007. He serves as an Assistant Surgeon at Wills Eye Hospital and is an instructor at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University. He currently has staff privileges at Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and Virtua Health System in South Jersey.
Dr. Ayres is an active participant in resident and fellow education and in clinical research. In his first year as an Attending on the Cornea Service, he became the youngest recipient of the Golden Apple Award at Wills Eye. He continues to lecture nationally and internationally at numerous academic conferences. One of his publications was selected as a “Best of Session” at the American Academy of Ophthalmology for 2013.
Dr. Ayres is board certified in ophthalmology and specializes in all forms of corneal transplantation including full thickness corneal transplants, Descemets’ stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK), deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK), and keratoprosthesis. He was the first person at Wills Eye Hospital to perform Descemets’ membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). He also has an interest in repair of traumatic eye injuries and anterior segment. Dr. Ayres performs all types of refractive and cataract surgery including LASIK, phakic lens surgery for myopia, and multifocal intraocular lenses. As a corneal specialist, Dr. Ayres treats all forms of infectious diseases of the eye and ocular surface disease (dry eye).
Dr. Ayres received a B.S., Biology, summa cum laude from Eastern Nazarene College and is a graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Following his internship at the University of Pennsylvania Health System Presbyterian Medical Center, he was a resident at UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School's Department of Ophthalmology followed by a fellowship with Corneal Associates at Wills Eye Hospital Cornea and Refractive Surgery.

Nestor Farmiga

Mr. Farmiga, president of Khiram Prototype Works LLC, has spent his entire career building precision opto-mechanical equipment for a variety of world-class institutions and corporations. he has worked in a wide variety of fields – from research astronomy to the semiconductor equipment industry, to telecommunications, to precision metrology, to the life sciences. He has led engineering teams developing complex, cutting-edge opto-mechatronic systems. Some examples of these are large-format excimer laser microlithography systems, telecom optical switch cross-connect systems, novel interferometers for sub-micron surface mapping, zoomable OCT systems for ophthalmic surgery, and accommodating intra-ocular lenses. This work has resulted in 29 patents and a deep, hands-on design engineering experience in many areas of photonics and precision mechanical engineering.
Mr. Farmiga obtained his BA in Physics with Honors from the University of Chicago in 1991, and his MS in Optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester in 1993.