Jenny Y. Yu, MD FACS
Katherine E. Duncan, MD
Project Theia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization named after the Greek goddess of sight and heavenly light. We are focused on delivering specialized surgical care, training surgeons, and providing sustainable healthcare in low-income, middle-income, and developing countries.
Katie Duncan, MD and Jenny Yu, MD are the co-founders of the organization. Both are fellowship trained Oculoplastic surgeons who are experienced in trauma and reconstructive surgeries. The team will include other facial plastic surgeons, ophthalmic surgeons, nurses, and anesthetists. For each country of service, the members of the team will vary based on the local needs.
Katie is a native Marylander whose education experiences include Roland Park Country School, Washington&Lee, and University of Maryland. She currently works as an oculoplastics surgeon at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC). Katie has always had an interest in global health, being part of mission trips as a child.
Jenny is a native Californian who practices medicine in Pittsburgh both at the University of Pittsburgh and Everett and Hurite. Her interest in global health also dates back to high school and college days, participating in mission trips.
The idea of Project Theia stemmed from both of their passion to improve the lives of patients with vision loss and facial deformities. This organization assists in long-term education and solutions in addition to the surgical trips to positively impact communities overtime.
Officers
Nikisha Q. Richards, MD FACS
Sohani Amarasekera, MD
Nikisha Richards completed medical school at Wayne State University School of Medicine and her internship at Michigan State University. She went on to complete her ophthalmology residency at Howard University Hospital and an ophthalmic plastic reconstructive and aesthetic surgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Dr. Richards is a diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, serves as an oral examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology, and is currently an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System as well as the school of medicine. She excels in teaching both medical students and residents and is the recipient of the 2016-2017 ophthalmology instructor of the year award at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Sohani Amarasekera grew up in Toronto, Canada. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 with a BA in Biology. After graduation, she undertook a year of glaucoma research at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary under the guidance of Dr. Robert Ritch. She then pursued her Master’s of Public Health at Cambridge University, followed by her MD at New York Medical College.
She has particular interests in retina and global ophthalmology, and has worked on diverse clinical and surgical projects in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Kenya. She recently graduated from the ophthalmology residency program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where she served as Chief Resident of the program. In her spare time, she enjoys spinning, trying out new restaurants, and cheering on the Raptors.
Advisory Board
Mary LeDonne Bank has over 25 years of experience at Goldman Sachs. In her most recent role, she has been aligned to the firm's Engineering Management and Strategy team as the Head of Engineering & Organizational Development and the Chief of Staff for Texas Engineering. In her role, Mary works closely with Engineering leadership on advancing the division's culture, strategy and overall investment in engineer career progression and education as well as helping the firm advance its overall commitment and footprint in the Texas region. Mary attended Pennsylvania State University and did her graduate work at Columbia University. Her greatest accomplishments in life is her family. Mary’s husband James and her have three beautiful children along with there most recent addition to the family a rescue dog named Jetty.
Dria is a 20-year media veteran who has been focused on the health space for the last decade. With experience spanning content, marketing, and business leadership in digital, Dria has worked across various lifestyle categories.
She's new in her role as General Manager at Leaf Group, overseeing the mission-driven fitness and wellness portfolio. Most recently, she led Healthline Media's content and brand strategies as SVP. Healthline's family of brands reach the largest audience in digital health, providing evidence-based information to 85M people per month in the US. Dria’s team drove brand-defining content initiatives, commerce programming strategies, quality and integrity standards, and audience development.
Dria lives in New Jersey with her family.
As Vice President and CFO of CMU, Angela has bolstered financial performance, liquidity, and cash management. In addition to her work at CMU, Angela is an award-winning c-suite executive and serves on boards for publicly traded companies, industry organizations, and regional assets.
In her previous roles as VP, CFO for PNC Investments, Angela advised on growth and profitability for the PNC Brokerage Line of Business. Angela was instrumental to the successful Royal Bank of Canada integration, leading employee integration and reviewing financial information as part of M&A due diligence. In addition to her work at PNC, Angela’s leadership experience includes finance and engineering roles with PPG Industries, Chrysler Corporation and Delphi Corporation.
Angela completed her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and earned her Master of Science in Industrial Administration (MSIA/MBA) from Carnegie Mellon University.
Jayme L Butcher is a partner at BlankRome and the co-chair of the commercial litigation practice group. Jayme has first chair experience in courts across the country and has also led commercial arbitrations at the American Arbitration Association and FINRA.
Recognized by numerous Pittsburgh organizations for her professional excellence, Jayme helps clients reach their goals by developing clearly defined litigation strategies that complement clients’ broader business objectives. Consistently, Jayme uses and proposes value billing arrangements tailored to fit each engagement, demonstrating that she is always mindful of the stated objective and achieving it in the most cost-effective manner. Jayme was inducted into the Fellows Class of 2019 of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation.
Jayme is also the proud mother of a teenage daughter who she regularly includes in her charitable work, by exposing her to all aspects of her career so that she grows up with an understanding and appreciation of helping clients.
George Duncan, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist at the Eye Center at GBMC. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed his residency in Ophthalmology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Duncan completed a fellowship in oculoplastics at the Edward Harkness Eye Institute at the Columbia University Medical Center. Prior to joining GBMC, Dr. Duncan served as an ophthalmologist at MD EyeCare, which is now the GBMC Health Partners Eye Center at Joppa Road.
Courtney Goodwin’s professional career began in the United States Air Force as an Intelligence Analyst conducting threat assessments to help his team safely complete missions. After being honorably discharged, he’s spent the last 15 years in medical devices and biotech. His experience spans from start-ups to large, global organizations; from EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, to Regeneron, to Medtronic. During his career he’s led sales, sales training, and marketing (upstream and downstream) teams. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from Millikin University and an M.B.A from Fordham University.
Professionally, he is passionate about leadership development and turning customer insights into actionable strategies that help businesses grow and make an impact on the patients they serve. Personally, he’s passionate about military history, Olympic weightlifting, and his pups, Sweet Pea, Atlas, and Squish.
Susan is Senior Counsel at Google and is passionate about community service. She has been involved with the Google Legal Impact Committee since 2010. Google’s Legal Impact Committee began organically in 2009, with three legal assistants building a program to encompass the following ideals: (i) Maximize Your Interests and Time by tailoring multiple opportunities to interests, availability and commitment; (ii) No Administrative Hassle by scheduling pro bono experiences and providing assistance; and (iii) Global Offices and Non-Attorney Participation Welcome by finding opportunities open to all interested volunteers.
Since the beginning, Google’s Legal Impact Committee has successfully partnered with local law firms on pro bono opportunities, which have led to lasting relationships with legal non-profits, and innovative pro bono volunteer opportunities. She has been on the board of Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto since 2015 and currently serves as the Board Chair.
Charles is a board-certified ophthalmologist and fellowship-trained orbital and oculoplastic surgeon specializing in reconstruction of the face and eyelids, including traumatic injuries and congenital deformities.
He received his medical degree from Texas A&M College of Medicine, completed a residency in ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as Chief Resident, and a fellowship in Orbital and Oculoplastic Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
He is a veteran and served as a Naval Flight Surgeon, caring for flight crews stationed in the Pacific and the West Coast. He was honorably discharged from the Navy at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. He has been on faculty and staff at multiple universities and Level 1 trauma centers providing surgical care and training residents and medical students.
Simone Lignelli is a community member and volunteer who has a passion for helping others. She was born in Brazil and has resided in Pittsburgh since 2009. Her exposure to multi-cultures provides her with a unique perspective of the health care challenges facing the world. Her motivation and focus on children and those in need is driven by her life experiences. She and her husband have two children and reside in Shadyside.
As VP & CIO, Supply Chain at VSP Vision, Lovett partners closely with presidents and executives across the enterprise to advance meaningful business outcomes through technological initiatives and help the nation's largest not-for-profit eye health company continue to meet the needs of its stakeholders.
Prior to joining VSP, she held executive leadership roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she led global distribution channel technology and eCommerce digital operations teams. Prior to that, she spent 20 years at U.S. Steel in both domestic and international technology leadership, development, and operations.
Lovett received a Digital Transformation certification through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a BS in Computer Information Systems from Westminster College, and a dual MBA/Master of Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh's Katz School of Business.
Marni currently serves as Co-Founder of Backrs, an online social impact community. Marni has a cross-sector experience in strategic planning, performance management, human capital development, operational leadership, start-ups and turnarounds. Prior to Backrs, she worked at McKinsey & Company, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and with other start-ups. Marni has an Economics degree from Northwestern and a MBA from Harvard. She resides in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband Jon and two kids, Ellen and Will.
AnnE Rice is currently the Director of Patient Privacy and Healthcare Compliance at Real Chemistry, providing support to ensure that the work performed is compliant with the applicable rules, laws and regulations.
Prior to joining Real Chemistry, AnnE spent 21 years at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as the Senior Director of Health Information Management and the Privacy Officer for the Physician Services Division of UPMC. She trained and advised the Physicians, Advanced Practice Providers, and staff in matters of Patient Privacy, Medical Records, and the laws governing them, and assisted the patients in exercising their rights under HIPAA.
She has also overseen student externships and projects for the Community College of Allegheny County, Duquesne University, and the University of Pittsburgh. She has routinely been a guest lecturer in the Health Information Management and Physician Assistants programs at Pitt. She is also a board member of the Ciox Consumer Advisory Board.
Joel S. Schuman, MD, FACS is the Elaine Langone Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Neuroscience & Physiology at NYU Langone Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and Professor of Neural Science in the Center for Neural Science at NYU College of Arts and Sciences. He chaired the ophthalmology department at NYU Langone Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine 2016-2020, and was Vice Chair for Ophthalmology Research in the department 2020-2022.
Dr. Schuman and his colleagues were first to identify a molecular marker for human glaucoma, published in Nature Medicine in 2001. Continuously funded by the National Eye Institute as a principal investigator since 1995, he is an inventor of optical coherence tomography (OCT), used world-wide for ocular diagnostics. Dr. Schuman has published more than 450 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles.
Katherine Semrau, PhD, MPH, is director of the BetterBirth Program at Ariadne Labs. As Program Director, Dr. Semrau oversees the research and execution of the BetterBirth Program.
Dr. Semrau has over 15 years of experience in the fields of maternal and child health and epidemiology. Her research has focused on prevention of maternal and child mortality, improvement of quality of care, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Currently, Dr. Semrau is overseeing a large randomized controlled trial of a coaching-based intervention to increase use and adherence to the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist.
Ryan Vaughn has focused his 20+ years of professional experience in Ophthalmology. After graduating from St. Vincent College (Latrobe, PA) with a B.S. in Biology, he joined Alcon (Ft. Worth, TX) and has held increasing roles in sales, sales training, sales leadership, and corporate accounts. In this time, Ryan has supported multiple product categories within the Alcon family; his early career OTC and Rx pharma and the last 15+ years with Cataract, Refractive and Retina surgical devices. Frequently recognized as a top performer, Ryan’s approach creates optimism and confidence, balanced with empathy required in today’s complex business environment.
Personally, Ryan is a proud husband and father to four wonderful children: Ian, Gizzie, Lucy and Brooks. He is a passionate sports fan and golf enthusiast and may also be found walking his neighborhood with his dog, Arnie.
