Career Plans: Cornea, External Diseases, and Refractive Surgery Fellowship, Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Ophthalmology, Boston, MA

Dr. Rao completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University before earning her medical degree from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She has a superb work ethic and demonstrates confidence and dexterity in the operating room. Throughout residency, Dr. Rao’s upbeat personality contributed to her wonderful bedside manner. A burgeoning scholar, Dr. Rao’s research focused on the cornea, particularly with regard to ocular trauma and ocular surface disease. Notably, her research on thyroid eye disease management culminated in a first-author paper in Current Opinion in Ophthalmology, and she submitted a case study on the treatment of severe graft-versus-host disease. She was also nominated to represent Mass. Eye and Ear for the 2016 Ophthalmology Times Resident Writer’s Award Program. In July 2017, Dr. Rao will join the Cornea, External Diseases, and Refractive Surgery Service at Mass. Eye and Ear as a cornea fellow, under the direction of James Chodosh, MD, MPH, and Hajirah Saeed, MD.