Dr. Omar Helmy’s Farewell, end of a chapter and start of a new one

Dr. Omar Helmy served as a research coordinator in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences between 2016 and 2019. Here are his heartfelt words at the farewell party:

“I would like to start by thanking everyone who made it today, and for organizing this special luncheon, it really means a lot to me. I would like to say that it has been an amazing experience in the last three years here at UMass. I have learned so much gained so many skills, accomplished many things and also made great memories and friends. As you may all know, I am going to take up an offer of a surgery internship, all credit goes to the work that has been accomplished here at UMass Eye center.

I would like to start by thanking the people that I closely worked with, starting with Dr. Shlomit Schaal who has been a great mentor and inspiration; I have learned from her that anything can be possible and to go for my dreams, I appreciate the trust she gave me and the numerous opportunities that made me grow as a person. She also gave me freedom to develop my skills and invest in myself such as in teaching, courses in masters of clinical investigation, image analysis, and ophthalmic assisting. Because of Dr. Schaal direction and vision we have worked with over 40 (students) from volunteers, medical students, researchers, residents, and international visitors. As a team we are proud to say that we have published over 12 publications, over 10 posters in 3 consecutive ARVO meetings, and we collaborated with over 10 collaborators in different departments. We believe that we inspired a large number of students to become future ophthalmologists. Thank you for giving me this unforgettable opportunity, Dr. Schaal, I am forever grateful.

I would also like to thank Dr. Haijiang Lin for his endless support for me, as well as being a great mentor for me both professional and life in general, I enjoyed working with him setting up our first clinical trial and I will never forget his interesting teaching stories. I would like to thank Dr. Misha Faustina for her tips and genuine advice, as well as her humor, and I enjoyed working with her in all educational projects, observing surgeries also working with students in teaching and online modules and helping out ophthalmology interest group. I want to thank Dr. Gabriel Luna who motivated and supported me in one of my most challenging times in application process to continue and move forward, I will always remember and appreciate that. It was also a pleasure working with Dr. Priya Janardhana in the EPIC project. It was a huge change at the time for everyone but with her help it went smooth, it has been an enjoyable experience and thank you for your support and kindness. I also would like to thank Dr. Juan Ding and Manisha for their Help in working in ACC with diabetic project recruitment. It was also a pleasure working and assisting Dr. Johanna Seddon in clinical research protocols and initiating her work here at UMass, and it has been a great learning experience for novel research in AMD and innovative treatments. Also, many thanks to Dr. Dan Yoon for his sincere and honest advice, and a pleasure to work with Drs. Hemant Khanna, Dr. Claudio Punzo, and Dr. Justine Grier.

A special thank you especially to the two ladies I worked the most with on a day to day basis: Jackie and Sharon. They are simply amazing. Thanks to Darlene for making my life easier in all the challenging questions that come in for research, billing, and setting up the clinical trials. Thanks to Maria who made life easier here and enabled a smooth transition. She has been always a great help for me since 2016. I enjoyed working with Sam on all different projects he is a great friend he is very smart and I am looking forward to all his future accomplishments. Krasi, I enjoyed working with him on the website: he such an artist and talent and has a very good heart. I want to also mention all the front desk, technicians, photographers (Katlyn and Jess). I would like to thank all our research collaborators in all the different projects: CITC, Neurology, Neurosurgery, OBGYN, Sleep center, Multiple sclerosis, Bioengineering department, MCPHS, Gene Therapy, and Mass spectrometry facility.

As I am going forward to this new chapter, transitioning from research to the clinical world and hopefully one day I will see myself in academic ophthalmology. I hope this is won’t be a final goodbye! I am looking forward to stay in touch. It would be my honor and pleasure to be part of this Eye Team in the future. I am going to miss you all. I am taking with me many memories of fun, friendship and collaboration which I am deeply grateful for. I am wishing the department more success in the future.”