About

Eileen Hwang, MD, PhD, specializes in the medical and surgical treatment of retina conditions in both children and adults. Her clinical expertise includes age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, retinal vein occlusions, myopic degeneration, macular hole, epiretinal membrane, retinal tears, retinal detachment, retinopathy of prematurity, Sticklers syndrome, Coats disease, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, and traumatic eye injury. She completed her undergraduate studies in physics at Princeton University and earned her doctorate and medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Her ophthalmology residency was completed at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah, followed by a two-year fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she gained extensive experience performing procedures such as lensectomy, vitrectomy, scleral buckles, lasers, and injections in patients ranging from infants to adults.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Computer Science
• Optics
• Optometry
• Surgery
• Physics
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation

Selected publications

• Preparing Porcine Eyes for Confocal Reflectance Microscopy to Visualize the Vitreous Collagen Fiber Network

  Journal of Visualized Experiments · 2025-10-17

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The vitreous is a clear gel that fills the space between the lens and retina. Its structure is supported by a network of collagen fibers, which likely influences viscoelastic properties and contributes to retinal disease. However, the organization of this collagen network remains poorly characterized because imaging the vitreous in its native state is challenging. Many imaging techniques applied to the vitreous cause dehydration and distortion, and dye-based methods can introduce artifacts or nonspecific labeling, making it difficult to study the collagen network. In this protocol, we outline: 1) a method for dissecting porcine eyes for imaging; 2) a strategy for mounting the eyes on an inverted microscope; 3) guidelines for imaging the vitreous collagen network in its native state using confocal reflectance microscopy; and 4) instructions for quantitative image analysis of network features. We highlight common pitfalls and emphasize key technical points. We report the application of confocal reflectance microscopy to the vitreous. Compared with prior vitreous imaging strategies, this approach preserves the native structure, orientation, and distribution of vitreous collagen fibers without exogenous dyes or dehydration artifacts. Confocal reflectance microscopy can probe the structural basis of vitreous gel stiffness in health and disease.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Relative Risk of Retinal Detachment in COL2A1 Compared with COL11A1 Stickler Syndrome

  Ophthalmology Retina · 2025-08-18 · 1 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  TOPIC: To compare the relative risk of retinal detachment between patients with COL2A1 and COL11A1 Stickler syndrome. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: It is unclear whether the rate of retinal detachment differs between COL2A1 and COL11A1 Stickler syndrome. Previous studies included too few patients to detect a difference between genotypes. METHODS: Individual patient data meta-analysis of cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, case series, and case reports across the MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and Web of Science Preprint Citation Index databases from 1991 to 2025. Articles providing eye examination results in subjects with genetically confirmed COL2A1 or COL11A1 Stickler syndrome were included. From the included articles, individual patient data on affected gene, age at last follow-up, and presence or absence of retinal detachment were extracted. Patients who had prophylactic retinopexy were excluded. A mixed effects logistic regression adjusted for clustering by article and family was used to determine the relative risk of retinal detachment. A risk of bias was evaluated using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Case Series. The study was prospectively registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42023428144). The overall certainty of evidence was evaluated with Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. RESULTS: Of the 1420 articles screened, 179 were eligible for inclusion, and 141 provided individual patient data for a total of 673 patients from 430 families. Retinal detachment was present in 229 of 491 (47%) patients with COL2A1 Stickler syndrome and 51 of 182 (28%) patients with COL11A1 Stickler syndrome. The relative risk of retinal detachment was 1.78 times higher in COL2A1 compared with COL11A1 Stickler syndrome (95% confidence interval: 1.30-2.43, P < 0.001). The certainty of evidence was moderate. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate a higher risk of retinal detachment in COL2A1 compared with COL11A1 Stickler syndrome, which may aid clinicians in determining individualized management plans for patients with Stickler syndrome. However, due to reporting biases inherent to the case series and case reports from which we obtained data, the overall certainty of evidence was rated as moderate, and our analysis was limited to providing relative risk of retinal detachment, not absolute risk. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE(S): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

  PublisherDOI

• Head-mounted surgical robots are an enabling technology for subretinal injections

  Science Robotics · 2025-02-19 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Therapeutic protocols involving subretinal injection, which hold the promise of saving or restoring sight, are challenging for surgeons because they are at the limits of human motor and perceptual abilities. Excessive or insufficient indentation of the injection cannula into the retina or motion of the cannula with respect to the retina can result in retinal trauma or incorrect placement of the therapeutic product. Robotic assistance can potentially enable the surgeon to more precisely position the injection cannula and maintain its position for a prolonged period of time. However, head motion is common among patients undergoing eye surgery, complicating subretinal injections, yet it is often not considered in the evaluation of robotic assistance. No prior study has both included head motion during an evaluation of robotic assistance and demonstrated a significant improvement in the ability to perform subretinal injections compared with the manual approach. In a hybrid ex vivo and in situ study in which an enucleated eye was mounted on a human volunteer, we demonstrate that head-mounting a high-precision teleoperated surgical robot to passively reduce undesirable relative motion between the robot and the eye results in a bleb-formation success rate on moving eyes that is significantly higher than the manual success rates reported in the literature even on stationary enucleated eyes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Utility of Fluorescein Angiography for Early Detection of Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy in Neurodevelopmental Disorder With Spastic Diplegia and Visual Defects Due to <i>CTNNB1</i> Variants

  Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus · 2024

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Ophthalmology
  • Physical medicine and rehabilitation

  PURPOSE: To investigate whether wide-angle fluorescein angiography (FA) was useful for detecting familial exudative retinopathy (FEVR) in patients with neurodevelopmental disorder with spastic diplegia and visual defects (NEDSDV). METHODS: variants. RESULTS: Seven patients (four females, three males) were seen in the ophthalmology clinic (median age: 14 months). One patient presented with a retinal fold in one eye, was observed without FA, and later developed a tractional retinal detachment involving the macula in the contralateral eye. Another patient observed without FA lost vision due to vitreous hemorrhage. Five patients who lacked signs of FEVR in clinic underwent FA under anesthesia; three showed retinal neovascularization or leakage requiring treatment, one showed mild avascularity, and one was normal. CONCLUSIONS: .

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hyalocytes

  Elsevier eBooks · 2024-09-06

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Confocal reflectance microscopy for mapping collagen fiber organization in the vitreous gel of the eye

  Biomedical Optics Express · 2023-01-24 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Vitreous collagen structure plays an important role in ocular mechanics. However, capturing this structure with existing vitreous imaging methods is hindered by the loss of sample position and orientation, low resolution, or a small field of view. The objective of this study was to evaluate confocal reflectance microscopy as a solution to these limitations. Intrinsic reflectance avoids staining, and optical sectioning eliminates the requirement for thin sectioning, minimizing processing for optimal preservation of the natural structure. We developed a sample preparation and imaging strategy using ex vivo grossly sectioned porcine eyes. Imaging revealed a network of uniform diameter crossing fibers (1.1 ± 0.3 µm for a typical image) with generally poor alignment (alignment coefficient = 0.40 ± 0.21 for a typical image). To test the utility of our approach for detecting differences in fiber spatial distribution, we imaged eyes every 1 mm along an anterior-posterior axis originating at the limbus and quantified the number of fibers in each image. Fiber density was higher anteriorly near the vitreous base, regardless of the imaging plane. These data demonstrate that confocal reflectance microscopy addresses the previously unmet need for a robust, micron-scale technique to map features of collagen networks in situ across the vitreous.

  PublisherDOI

• Bilateral Cataracts and Posterior Lentiglobus in USP9X Syndrome

  Ophthalmology · 2023-12-15

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Structure and mechanics of the vitreoretinal interface

  Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials/Journal of mechanical behavior of biomedical materials · 2022-08-04 · 21 citations

  reviewOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association between myopia progression and quantity of laser treatment for retinopathy of prematurity

  PLoS ONE · 2022-12-30 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Previous studies found that infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) who were treated for more posterior disease with a greater number of laser spots developed higher myopia. These studies included multiple physicians with variations in laser density. In treatments by a single physician, laser spot count is a better surrogate for area of avascular retina and anterior-posterior location of disease, so that the relationship with myopia can be better assessed. METHODS: Our retrospective study included infants treated with laser for ROP by a single surgeon at a single center. Exclusion criteria were irregularities during laser and additional treatment for ROP. We assessed correlation between laser spot count and change in refractive error over time using a linear mixed effects model. RESULTS: We studied 153 eyes from 78 subjects treated with laser for ROP. The average gestational age at birth was 25.3±1.8 weeks, birth weight 737±248 grams, laser spot count 1793±728, and post-treatment follow up 37±29 months. Between corrected ages 0-1 years, the mean spherical equivalent was +0.4±2.3 diopters; between ages 1-2, it was -1.3±3.2D; and ages 2-3 was -0.8±3.1D. Eyes that received more laser spots had significantly greater change in refractive error over time (0.30D more myopia per year per 1000 spots). None of the eyes with hyperopia before 18 months developed myopia during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Greater myopia developed over time in infants with ROP treated by laser to a larger area of avascular retina.

  PublisherDOI

• Confocal reflectance microscopy for mapping collagen fiber organization in the vitreous gel of the eye

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2022-11-09

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Vitreous collagen structure plays an important role in ocular mechanics, but capturing this structure with existing vitreous imaging methods is hindered by loss of sample position and orientation, low resolution, or small field of view. The objective of this study was to evaluate confocal reflectance microscopy as a solution to these limitations. The use of intrinsic reflectance avoids staining and optical sectioning eliminates the requirement for thin sectioning, minimizing processing for optimal preservation of natural structure. We developed a sample preparation and imaging strategy using ex vivo grossly sectioned porcine eyes. Imaging revealed a network of uniform diameter crossing fibers (1.1 ± 0.3 μm for a typical image) with generally poor alignment (alignment coefficient = 0.40 ± 0.21 for a typical image). To test the utility of our approach for detecting differences in fiber spatial distribution, we imaged eyes every 1 mm along an anterior-posterior axis originating at the limbus and quantified the number of fibers in each image. Fiber density was higher anteriorly near the vitreous base, regardless of imaging plane. These data demonstrate that confocal reflectance microscopy addresses the previously unmet need for a robust, micron-scale technique to map features of collagen networks in situ across the vitreous.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Impact of Alport syndrome mutations and natural interruptions on collagen folding

  NIH · $83k · 2010–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Jessica A. Kraker

  Mayo Clinic

  65 shared

• Elizabeth C. Koller

  Medical College of Wisconsin

  57 shared

• Denise J. Morgan

  16 shared

• Judy E. Kim

  The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  15 shared

• Paul S. Bernstein

  University of Utah

  13 shared

• Margaret M. DeAngelis

  VA Western New York Healthcare System

  11 shared

• Laura A. Siemianowski

  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

  9 shared

• Ritesh Patel

  9 shared

Labs

• Hwang LabPI

  Not provided

Education

• B.S., Physics

  Princeton University

• M.D.

  University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

• Ph.D.

  University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

• Other, Vitreoretinal Surgery

  Medical College of Wisconsin

Awards & honors

• Knights Templar Foundation (KTEF) Career-Starter Research Gr…
• University of Utah’s Vice President’s Clinical & Translation…
• VitreoRetinal Surgery Foundation Research Award
• Randall J Olson Scholar Award from the Achievement Rewards f…
• F30 fellowship from the National Institutes of Health – Nati…