Through advocacy, we seek to positively impact the lives of patients.

Mission: To be a community of medical students invested in ophthalmology, advocating for the highest standards of medical and surgical care for the benefit of patients.

Vision: To connect all students interested in ophthalmology with opportunities to lead and serve, enriching their education and promoting a longstanding commitment to advocacy.

Goals:

• Increase medical student understanding of current and upcoming legislation impacting the field of ophthalmology.
• Enrich student learning with advocacy-centered speakers and other educational opportunities.
• Engage students in supporting legislation to safeguard patient care.

Leadership

Matthew Schulgit and Scott Perkins are medical students at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. With backgrounds in nonprofit work and public service and a passion for ophthalmology, they realize how legislation profoundly affects the vision and lives of patients. They founded Future Leaders in Sight to engage medical students in promoting the highest standards of medical and surgical vision care through advocacy.

National Leadership

National Leaders coordinate FLIS initiatives and organizational functions at the national level.

• Liaison to the Vision Health Advocacy Coalition
  • Adam Leone – University of Cincinnati
• Outreach Lead
  • Asha Parvathaneni – University of Missouri, Kansas City
• Legislative Leads
  • Ashvin Babu – Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
  • Yulia Haraguchi – Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
  • Alexander Azar – Case Western Reserve University
  • Brigid Devine – Northeast Ohio Medical University
  • Viridiana Hernandez – Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine
  • Taylor Kolosky – University of Maryland
• Communications Leads
  • Prathi Pitchyaiah – University of Missouri, Kansas City
  • Esha Shah – Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
  • Malcom Wiseman – University of Cincinnati
  • Nancy Mahfouz – New York Institute of Technology
• Events Leads
  • Vincent Pham – Northeast Ohio Medical University
  • Esha Shah – Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
  • Devesh Kumar – Medical College of Wisconsin and Cleveland Clinic
• Action Group Chairs
  • Vision Research: Edward Esposito – Johns Hopkins University
  • Children’s Vision: Noor Ghali – Case Western Reserve University
  • Scope of Practice: Matthew Oley – University of Virgina
  • Sustainability: Margaret Tharp – Indiana University
• Outreach Leads
  • Kareena Chawla – Nova Southeastern University
  • Alisha Dhallan – Washington University
  • Sabrina Chu – Des Moines University
  • Gretchen Weiss – University at Buffalo
  • Annie Yao – University of Connecticut
  • Margaret Boudreau – University of Connecticut

State Leads

State Leads oversee initiatives in high-priority states, interface with state-level partner organizations, and coordinate with the FLIS national organization.

• Alabama
  • William Illiano – University of Alabama at Birmingham
• California
  • Aaron Rael – University of Southern California
• Connecticut
  • Christian Tallo – University of Connecticut
• Colorado
  • Rehan Choudhury – University of Colorado
• Florida
  • Isaac Poonen-Honig – University of South Florida
• Illinois
  • Tejas Sekhar – Rush Medical College
• Louisiana
  • Julia Moore – Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Maine
  • Rachelle Mendola – University of New England
• Maryland
  • Bhakti Panchal – University of Maryland
• Massachusetts
  • Milani Prasad – Boston University
• Minnesota
  • Zoe Avestruz – University of Minnesota
• Missouri
  • Regina Scott – University of Missouri, Kansas City
• New Jersey
  • Alexandra Sanchez – Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• New York
  • Karima Rai – State University of New York, Upstate
• North Carolina
  • Srinath Soundararajan – University of North Carolina
• Ohio
  • Devesh Kumar – Cleveland Clinic
  • Salma Abdel-Aziz – Ohio University
• Oklahoma
  • MacKenzie Toliver – Oklahoma State University
• Pensylvania
  • Nitya Devireddy – Pennsylvania State University
  • Anthony Di Cecca – Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
• South Carolina
  • Adam Arar – Medical University of South Carolina
• Tennessee
  • Ansam Qaddoumi – East Tennessee State University
  • DiAnna Rowe Presley – East Tennessee State University
• Texas
  • Blake Archer – University of Houston
• Utah
  • Joanna Gorka – University of Utah
• Virginia
  • Mariam Samuel – Virginia Commonwealth University
• Washington, D.C.
  • Kishan Avaiya – Georgetown University

School Liaisons

School Liaisons represent FLIS at institutions with high student involvement, serving as a resource for member students and a link of communication between the student body and FLIS initiatives.

• Alabama
  • Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Auburn – Hannah Cox
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham – Owen Harris
  • University of South Alabama – Anna Brooke Tarrant
• Arizona
  • Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine – Caitlyn Cooper
• California
  • California University – Parsa Riazi Esfahani
  • Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science – Kevin Lopez
  • University of Southern California – Aaron Rael, Albert Yang
  • University of California, Irvine – Christopher Yang
  • University of California, San Diego – Alondra Melendrez
  • University of California, Davis – Swetha Ganesan, Thao Nguyen
  • University of California, Riverside – Kimia Rezaei
• Connecticut
  • University of Connecticut – Elias Mullane
• Florida
  • Florida Atlantic University – Gurnoor Gill
  • University of South Florida – Isaac Poonen-Honig
  • Nova Southeastern University – Kareena Chawla
  • Florida International University – Alejandro Miguel Perez, Daniela Spies
• Louisiana
  • Louisiana State University – Connor Doyle
  • Tulane University – Athena Cohen
  • Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Louisiana – Jackson Moffatt
• Maryland
  • University of Maryland – Bhakti Panchal, Radhika Gholap
  • Johns Hopkins – Setu Mehta
• Massachusetts
  • Boston University – Milani Prasad
  • University of Massachusetts – Wen Ting Zheng
• Minnesota
  • University of Minnesota, Duluth – Ethan Lorsung
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities – Saliha Chaudhry
• Missouri
  • University of Missouri, Kansas City – Lauren Baetje
• New Jersey
  • Rutgers New Jersey Medical School – Alexandra Sanchez, Andreea Chirica
• New York
  • University at Buffalo – Eric Lovett, Jr.
  • Hofstra University – Oluwatosin Omilabu
  • State University of New York, Upstate – Stephanie Ijomah
• Ohio
  • Case Western Reserve University – Jonathan Shirian, Isabella Yazji
  • Northeast Ohio Medical University – Tahir Kuraan
  • University of Cincinnati – Adam Leone, Elizabeth Lopez
  • Wright State University – Kevin Williams
  • Ohio University – Alessandra Derick
• South Carolina
  • Medical University of South Carolina – Taylor DeHart
• Tennessee
  • East Tennessee State University – Ansam Qaddoumi, DiAnna Rowe Presley
  • Meharry Medical College – Tapan Bhupendra Darji
  • University of Tennessee – Josiah Lee Fahhoum, Sue Choi
• Texas
  • University of Texas, Houston – Amna Ali
  • University of Texas Medical Branch – Devang Deepak
  • Texas A&M – Jonathan Thomas
  • Baylor University – Daniel Brock
• Virginia
  • Virginia Tech – Dana Wang
  • University of Virginia – Hannah Harrelson