Up Close and Personal with 2026 Award Winners

Sean Berkowitz, MD, MBA

I am deeply honored to join the Michels family and grateful to the mentors, colleagues, and patients who have shaped my path. After graduating from Duke University, I conducted research at the National Institutes of Health and earned my MD/MBA at Vanderbilt University, where I also completed ophthalmology residency. I am a vitreoretinal surgery fellow at the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute and will return to Vanderbilt Eye Institute as an Assistant Professor after fellowship.

My research focuses on improving value in ophthalmic care through health systems science, operational redesign, sustainability, and surgical innovation. I hope to build a multidisciplinary value-engineering program that integrates clinical outcomes with the costs and resources required to achieve them. I contribute to education, advocacy, and environmental stewardship through the American Academy of Ophthalmology and other professional societies.

Outside of work, I enjoy speed chess and spending time with my wife, our goldendoodle, and our growing family.

Arthur Brant, MD

I am deeply honored to join the Ronald G. Michels Fellowship Foundation family. I am grateful to my mentors and my father, a former mentee of Dr. Michels, who have profoundly shaped every step of my career. I completed my undergraduate degree in computer science, medical degree, and ophthalmology residency at Stanford before beginning a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at Mass Eye and Ear. I also spent eight years at Google as a software engineer and researcher.

I co-founded Zero Blind Babies, which performs more than 400 ROP examinations weekly across Ghana, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. We built a web-based platform supporting ROP programs in Syria, with expansion to additional countries underway. My career will focus on expanding access to ROP care until every NICU in the world can provide babies with the standard of care.

Outside of medicine, I cherish time with my wife, daughter, family, and close friends.

Luke (Jin Kyun) Oh, MD

I am honored and grateful to join the Michels Fellowship Foundation family. I grew up in Seoul, South Korea, and attended Cornell University. I completed my medical degree at SUNY Downstate, followed by a research fellowship and ophthalmology residency at Columbia University. I am currently completing my vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Throughout my training, I have been fortunate to have extraordinary mentors whose guidance and support have shaped my career and the physician I aspire to be.

My academic interests include inherited retinal degenerations, clinical trial endpoints, surgical and medical outcomes in complex vitreoretinal disease, and ophthalmic education. I hope to build a career that combines vitreoretinal surgery, clinical research, and the development of new therapies for patients with inherited retinal disease.

Outside of ophthalmology, I cherish time spent with my wonderful partner, friends, and family.

Liangbo Linus Shen, MD

I am deeply honored to join the Michels family and grateful to my mentors! I grew up in China and came to the U.S. to study biomedical engineering at Duke, where my retina journey began with intraoperative OCT with Joseph Izatt and Cynthia Toth. I earned my MD from Yale, completed ophthalmology residency at UCSF, and am a vitreoretinal surgery fellow at Duke. I will return to UCSF as retina faculty in 2027.

My academic interests span retinal imaging, artificial intelligence, clinical trial design, surgical innovation, device development, and education. At UCSF, I will establish the Precision Retinal Imaging and Machine Learning in Eye Health (PRIME) Lab to improve care and accelerate therapeutic development through imaging research. I hope to build a career integrating patient care, vitreoretinal surgery, innovation, research, and teaching.

In my free time, I enjoy designing models for 3D printing, playing pickleball, and hiking with my wife, Helen.