Michael Xavier Repka, MD

Bryce Chiang, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of ophthalmology and a glaucoma specialist at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine East Baltimore location. His clinical interests include the medical and surgical management of glaucoma and cataract. After receiving his combined bachelor’s/master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Chiang completed joint M.D./Ph.D. degrees at the Emory University School of Medicine. During his doctorate in biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Chiang became interested in ophthalmology through his research in ocular drug delivery. He served as a medicine intern at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, and completed his ophthalmology residency, glaucoma fellowship and innovation fellowship at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University. Dr. Chiang’s research interests include targeted ocular drug delivery, specifically within the suprachoroidal space and to the optic nerve head. He studied the pharmacokinetics of microneedle injections into the suprachoroidal space while pursuing his doctorate at Georgia Tech, and maintains an interest in the suprachoroidal space as a means of altering disease trajectory. Furthermore, despite the optic nerve head being the site of disease in optic neuropathies, no therapies exist that treat the optic nerve head. By directly treating the diseased tissue, targeting therapeutics to the optic nerve head may enable paradigm shifting therapies for optic neuropathies. Targeted delivery to the optic nerve head may also serve as a research tool to query the pathogenesis of glaucoma.

Marianne Cowley, M.D., is a clinical associate of ophthalmology and retina specialist at the Wilmer Eye Institute's Green Spring Station and Odenton, Maryland locations. Dr. Cowley specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (dry and wet) and diabetic retinopathy. Dr. Cowley comes from private practice where she has focused on clinical excellence and patient experience in retinal care. For many years, Dr. Cowley volunteered her services with the University of Louisville and has made trips internationally to assist in providing retinal care.

Dr. Nimgaonkar is gastroenterologist and a medical technology researcher at Johns Hopkins University. He is an assistant professor of medicine, a medical director at the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design in the JHU Biomedical Engineering department and an adjunct faculty at the JHU Carey Business School. He leads numerous translational technology research projects at Johns Hopkins in the areas of gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. His particular interest is to investigate the physiology behind various interventions to treat metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity and apply various engineering tools to develop novel therapies for these diseases.He has been inventor on many technologies and a recipient of numerous awards including the AGA-Boston Scientific career development technology & innovation award and the CIMIT-Johnson & Johnson Young Clinician award. His work has been supported by grants from both foundational ​and federal (NIH, NSF) agencies.