In This Issue

First Year Ophthalmology Residents

David Mora-Boellstorff, MD

David Mora-Boellstorff grew up in College Station, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BS in biomedical engineering. Undergraduate research activities included creating a Java-based simulation of rat brain vessel angiogenesis in response to VEGF and stretching DNA in nanofluidic devices for optical mapping of DNA from single cells. Although these experiences were challenging and rewarding, he ultimately decided to pursue clinical medicine. He attended the University of Texas Medical School at Houston where he went from telling people he wanted to do anything but ophthalmology to not seeing himself being any other kind of doctor besides an ophthalmologist. He completed a transitional year internship at Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington prior to starting his categorical training in ophthalmology in Pittsburgh. He enjoys hiking, alpine scrambling, birdwatching, skiing, watching and playing sports, and lifting weights.

Zachary Nadler, MD

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Dr. Nadler graduated magna cum laude from Emory University with a dual degree in Physics and Mathematics. He went on to pursue a PhD in astrophysics at the University of California Santa Cruz, while also co-founding a denim shirt company called Shirst, before pivoting to pursue a career with a greater emphasis on service. He returned to Pittsburgh and spent several years applying his physics expertise in the UPMC Ophthalmology Department where he conducted ocular imaging research using adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography to characterize optic nerve head structure as part of the Glaucoma Imaging Group. It was this experience that ultimately compelled him to pursue a medical degree. While attending the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, he served on the board of the Ophthalmology interest group, helping to organize community outreach vision screening. He completed his internship north of Philadelphia, at Abington Jefferson Hospital, and is thrilled to once again join the Ophthalmology Department at UPMC. He is a lifelong fan of Pittsburgh sports, and enjoys spending his free-time outdoors with his fiancé and their two dogs, either hiking or playing any sport that involves a racket.

Manuel Paez-Escamilla, MD

Manuel Paez-Escamilla was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Since a young age he was intrigued by history and science, greatly influenced by his dad, who is a neurosurgeon, and his mother, who holds a PhD in psychology. As a teenager, he practiced Tae Kwan Do, where he held a second-degree black belt, won national and Pan-American tournaments, and was part of the Mexican national team. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara School of Medicine, Mexico. He then did his ophthalmology residency at Guadalajara’s Civil Hospital, followed by a combined research/clinical fellowship in ocular oncology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida. During his residency, he managed to successfully pass the challenging International Council of Ophthalmology basic science, clinical science and advanced examinations, which entitled him the use of the postnominal acronym FICO. Following medical school, ophthalmology residency and fellowship, he completed a year of residency training in general surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Outside of residency, he enjoys spending time with his wife Catalina, hiking, going to the gym and playing videogames.