Professor Penny Asbell
Dr Asbell is committed to the goal of 鈥渋mproving sight and empowering lives鈥 through聽contributions to education and mentoring, clinical and translational research, patient medical聽and surgical care and innovative academic collaboration. Her education includes a B.S. in聽biochemistry (University of Chicago), M.D. (SUNY Buffalo), M.B.A. (Baruch College), E.L.A.M.聽(Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program, Drexel University), and professional聽training includes internship in internal medicine at Yale University, ophthalmology residency聽and a fellowship in uveitis/immunology at NYU and a fellowship at LSU in cornea. She is boardcertified聽in ophthalmology and licensed to practice in New York, California, and Tennessee. Dr.聽Asbell has held diverse leadership positions, including tenured academic professorships at the聽Icahn School of Medicine (Mount Sinai) in New York, and the University of Tennessee Health聽Science Center in Memphis and has been interim chair in New York and chair in Tennessee and聽Director of the Hamilton Eye Institute at UTHSC and held numerous positions on various聽strategic committees at both institutions. Dr. Asbell has served in many professional societies,聽including President of CLAO/ ECLA, Women in Ophthalmology, Editor in Chief of ECLA journal,聽inaugural editor of Cornea Section for AAO Eyewiki and ad hoc reviewer for all the major聽ophthalmology journals as well as other world-renowned journals, including Nature, Lancet and聽JAMA, and a frequent member of NEI review panels.
A principal part of her career has been the mentoring of more than a hundred medical聽students, residents and fellows from North America and Europe and Asia and directing them聽into productive and innovative careers in practice and聽 academia, contributing to education and聽new research. She is an active participant in medical missions, on the Board of the Hawaiian Eye聽Foundation; she often ensures that a resident or two can join her on these global opportunities
to serve patients, enhance local education for sustained quality care and learn about health聽care challenges outside the USA. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed contributions聽in academic journals, including notably:
鈥 Asbell, P. A., Sanfilippo, C. M., Sahm, D. F., Decory, H. H. (2020). Trends in Antibiotic聽Resistance among Ocular Microorganisms in the United States from 2009 to 2018. JAMA聽Ophthalmology, 138(5), 439-450.
鈥 Asbell, P. A., Maguire, G., Pistilli, M., Ying, G. S., Szczotka-Flynn, L. B., Hardten, D. R., Lin,聽M. C., Shtein, R. M., Hom, M. M., et al . (2018). n鈭3 Fatty acid supplementation for the聽treatment of dry eye disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(18), 1681-1690.聽,
鈥 Roy, N., Wei, Y., Kuklinski, E., Asbell, P. A. (2017). The growing need for validated聽biomarkers and endpoints for dry eye clinical research. Investigative Ophthalmology and聽Visual Science, 58(6), BIO1-BIO19
鈥 Wilhelmus, K. R., Gee, L., Hauck, W. W., Kurinij, N., Dawson, C. R., Jones, D. B., Barron, B.聽A., Kaufman, H. E., Sugar, J., Hyndiuk, R. A., Laibson, P. R., Stulting, R. D., Asbell, P. A.聽(2020). Herpetic Eye Disease Study: A Controlled Trial of Topical Corticosteroids for聽Herpes Simplex Stromal Keratitis. 127(4), S5-S18.聽.
A major part of her career continues to be devoted to clinical and translational research and聽improving the quality and design of such research. This work embraces research on dry eye聽disease, ocular biomarkers, ocular infections, corneal disease, refractive surgery, and other聽areas, and has been funded by NIH/NEI, RPB, industry and philanthropy, including the DREAM聽trial on dry eye disease, HEDS and ZEDS on herpetic eye disease, ARMOR on antibiotic聽resistance, small spot excimer laser and INTACS, which have led to results that have directly聽impacted clinical practice and patient care and future research directions.
Dr. Asbell is a frequently invited lecturer internationally, organizer of professional symposia and聽recipient of awards and named lectureships from many institutions, including ARVO, AAO, and聽UC San Francisco, and U of Dusseldorf. A few international symposia Dr. Asbell organized as聽Chair / Moderator/ speaker include:
鈥 "Biomarkers for Ocular Surface Disease": Eye & Contact Lens Symposium, April 27,聽2019, pre ARVO.
鈥 鈥淏iomarkers and Endpoints in inflammatory Ocular Diseases: Challenges and聽Limitations鈥, National Institute of Health, Washington DC, May 31, 2017
鈥 "The ABCs of randomized controlled trials " April 22, 2023, ARVO Educational Course,聽New Orleans
鈥 鈥淜eratoconus and UV Corneal Cross-linking.鈥 June 2014, Toronto, ECLA Symposium聽
鈥 鈥淪ex-Based Biology in Diagnosis and Treatment, 鈥滱pril 29, 2004, ARVO Symposium
鈥 鈥淚ntacs Certification Course and Wet Lab鈥, April 23, 2004 at AAO Annual Meeting, New聽Orleans
鈥 鈥淐ertification Course and Wetlab for Intacs for Keratoconus鈥, April 2005 at ASCRS聽Annual Meeting
鈥 鈥淒esign and Conduct of Clinical Trials in Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD)鈥, Special聽Interest Group (SIG) at Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Annual聽Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, FL, May 1-6, 2010.
鈥 鈥淓CL Symposium on Myopia Epidemic and Myopia Progression鈥, pre ARVO May, 2015聽Dr. Asbell is committed to continuing to contribute to ophthalmology by improving the ability聽to serve patients through research, education, and enhanced expertise and efficiency in patient聽care.
Complete List of Published Work:聽
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Research activities: 聽
- Dry eye disease
- MGD ( meibomian gland dysfunction)
- HZO ( herpes zoster ophthalmicus)
- Pterygium
- Antibiotic resistance
- Eye pain
- Eye allergy
- Eye infections
- Corneal cross linking
- Clinical trial development / protocol development聽