2026 Cohort

Dr. Pundir’s exceptional research and community engagement have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Awardand the Forces AVENIR Award. Most recently, Fighting Blindness Canadaawarded her the Emerging Clinician Scientist Awardfor her work on inherited retinal diseases. She also received the CSCL-CIHR Resident Awardfor her research on retinopathyof prematurity.

Her commitment to medical education extends globally through her work with the Orbis Flying Eye Hospitaland the Cybersight Project. She was recognized as one of the “Heroes of Orbis”for her work in Bangladesh and Ghanato train residents. At McGill University, she is also collaborating on the development of a structured surgical curriculum for ophthalmology residents in Ukraine.

Dr. Helen Song is a Nebraska native currently completing her Cornea, Anterior Segment, and Refractive Fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida. Her interest in cornea and external disease stems from her time as a recovery technician for the Lions Eye Bank Nebraska during medical school. This early exposure has since evolved into a robust commitment to global ophthalmology, shaped by experiences at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology and more recently through current Ebola virus initiatives in Sierra Leone.Dr. Song plans to advance her research into high-consequence infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on bridging the gap between molecular mechanisms of infectious keratitis and accessible eye care for underserved populations worldwide.

Dr. Sheena Song is a Global Ophthalmology and Cornea Fellow at Duke University. She grew up in Southern California but spent much of her childhood in Thailand and the Philippines, experiences that sparked an early interest in international work. Dr. Song earned her bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to receive her medical degree from Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Northern California. She completed her ophthalmology residency at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in New York, followed by a fellowship in Cornea, Cataract, and Refractive Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Inspired to pursue global ophthalmology since her premedical years, Dr. Song has participated in ophthalmology collaborations around the world since 2012, including work in Nicaragua, Guatemala, China, the Philippines, Mongolia, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, North Macedonia, Myanmar, and most recently, South Sudan. Dr. Song is deeply passionate about education and building sustainable clinical and surgical capacity in resource-limited settings. As she begins her career as an attending physician, she aims to become an excellent surgeon while continuing long-term teaching and global health partnerships abroad. Outside of medicine, she enjoys spending time outdoors, social dancing, and surfing.

James (Yunbo) Tian, MD, is a cornea, cataract, and refractive surgeon at Omni Eye Specialists in Denver, Colorado. A Duke University graduate with dual majors in Chemistry and Biology, he completed medical school, ophthalmology residency, and cornea fellowship all at Duke. During his time at Duke, he won the Golden Apple Resident Award, Golden Apple Fellow Award, the Robert Machemer Resident Research Award, and the ASCRS Resident Excellence Award. Dr. Tian is an accomplished clinician with numerous peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and national presentations, and maintains expertise in complex cataract surgery, cornea transplantation, and lens and iris repairs. He has a strong commitment to service, having cared for veterans, underserved populations, and patients with special needs, and has participated in international ophthalmology missions performing cataract surgery and corneal transplantation in El Salvador, Nepal, and Indonesia.