Oculus Research

 Carol Aune, OD is the President and Director of Clinical Operations as well as a principal investigator for Oculus Research. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Houston College of Optometry (summa cum laude). Dr. Aune has been published in the Review of Optometry and the New England Journal of Medicine.  She has been in practice for 10 years and has been the Principal Investigator for over 25 research studies, with 7-8 active studies at any given time. As Director of Clinical Operations, Dr. Aune is responsible for overseeing staff and sub investigators. She has years of experience diagnosing and treating a wide variety of eye diseases as well fitting specialty contact lenses. She has been fully trained in clinical research including current GCP training. She also receives ongoing training to ensure that she is up to date with the latest research, technology, practices, and techniques in clinical research and optometry.

 Hoda Gabriel is a clinical research and development professional with 30 years of experience directing, designing, planning, and successfully executing early and late phase clinical drug programs within the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to Oculus Research, Ms. Gabriel is currently the VP of Clinical Development at T3D Therapeutics. Prior to her current positions, she held director‐level positions with GlaxoSmithKline and Talecris (now Grifols), where she led several international programs and teams to successful NDA/MAA submissions. Additionally, she founded two independent clinical research companies. Ms. Gabriel has experience in the development of multiple therapeutic areas including CNS, Urology, Metabolic, Cardiovascular, Pain, Dermatology and Peripheral Arterial Disease. 

Adel Fahmy is the Chief Financial Officer for Oculus Research. He is also an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University, Duke University, and Durham Tech, where he teaches Computer Engineering and General Engineering. His recent endeavors come after a 30 year career with IBM as Program Director for Software Development and Services. He also served for 16 years as the Treasurer for The Caring Community Foundation, an organization that helps cancer patients, who are in need, with necessary expenses during treatment. He helped the organization raise more than $2M. 

  Jennifer Newsome is the Senior Clinical Coordinator for Oculus Research. She began her career with a degree in Medical Office Administration, leading to her immediate focus in Ophthalmology. She also completed the Ophthalmic Assistant certification process (COA) with the Joint Commission on Allied Heath Personnel in Ophthalmology.  Since 2005, she has worked with various Retina and Glaucoma specialists, Ophthalmologists and Optometrists, assisting in direct patient care for the treatment of multiple eye diseases, laser therapy, and ophthalmic surgery. Following her ten years of ophthalmic clinical experience, Jennifer refocused on clinical research. Her passion for research stems from her deep desire to aid in the advancement of new treatments that will improve the quality of people’s lives. Jennifer has received current Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training, is a Certified Phlebotomist, International Air Transport Association (IATA) trained, and is CPR certified. 

  Erik Aune is the Director of Business Development for Oculus Research. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After completing flight school and receiving his Commercial Pilot License, he worked as a flight instructor before moving on to a career in Optometry. He received training and worked in nearly all facets of the Optometry business including medical billing, collections, lens lab, contacts, patient care, and sales. He also received a Paraoptometric Certification (CPO)  from the American Optometric Association and has received HIPAA training. In addition to his experience in Optometry, his clinical research experience includes research coordinator duties, IP management and storage, IP dosing/unmasked duties, and current GCP training. Erik also handles regulatory documents for study start-up and manages patient recruitment and retention for Oculus Research.

  Donna McElcar, MS, RQAP-GCP is President and Lead Consultant of Clear CQA LLC. Clear CQA provides clear quality assurance advice and services to clinical research providers within the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. Donna has over 20 years of experience in the quality assurance field. She has an extensive and broad background working within small and mid-size CROs, a software vendor, a medical device Sponsor company and as an independent consultant. She provides consulting services by performing gap analysis, QMS infrastructure design and redesign, and inspection preparation activities. She is also skilled at conducting audits of a variety of vendors, investigator sites, computerized systems and internal process/systems. She has a Master of Science in Clinical Research and has been an active member of the SQA and the NCCSQA since 2002. She has been a Registered Quality Assurance Professional in Good Clinical Practices (RQAP-GCP) since 2008.