In this episode of WPO – Journey Into Academia, we welcome Dr. Lama Al-Aswad, a national leader at the intersection of ophthalmology, technology, and population health.

Dr. Al-Aswad is a glaucoma specialist, professor of ophthalmology and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and a pioneer in teleophthalmology, artificial intelligence, and innovative care delivery models designed to prevent blindness and improve access to eye care.

Her career bridges academic medicine, technology innovation, and entrepreneurship, bringing groundbreaking ideas from research to real-world impact.

In this conversation, Dr. Al-Aswad shares how frustration with late-stage glaucoma diagnoses sparked a mission to transform how eye care is delivered. Through mobile screening programs, telemedicine initiatives, and eye care technology startups, she has worked to empower patients and improve early detection of vision-threatening diseases.

The discussion explores how clinicians can turn scientific discovery into scalable solutions that improve patient outcomes worldwide.

Key Takeaways

• What inspired Dr. Al-Aswad to pursue academic medicine

• The challenges of glaucoma detection and why patients often present too late

• How teleophthalmology and AI are reshaping eye care delivery

• The role of entrepreneurship in accelerating medical innovation

• Building successful teams and bringing collaborators along your journey

• How academic rigor and startup agility complement one another

• Training the next generation through ophthalmology innovation fellowships

• Why the future of medicine will require clinicians to understand AI, big data, and digital health