MEET THE INSTRUCTORS
At HelpMeSee, our instructors ensure our trainees have a proficient grasp of manual small incision cataract surgery techniques. Our instructor-led training prepares our trainees for real-world surgical scenarios using state-of-the-art ophthalmic simulation-based training to provide a realistic, hands-on learning environment.
LEARNING DEVELOPMENT TRAINING CENTER
MUMBAI, INDIA
Dr. Chetan Ahiwalay, MS
Subject Matter Expert & Chief Instructor, India, HMS Vision PLC
Dr. Chetan Ahiwalay is a Subject Matter Expert and Chief Instructor of HMS Vision PLC in India. He leads the HelpMeSee Indian training delivery team and plays a vital role in developing courseware materials.
As an integral part of the simulation development team, Dr. Ahiwalay has contributed immensely to training resources, including the HelpMeSee e-book, training modules, SOPs and analytics. He has been a cataract surgeon since 2008, working with several leading eye hospital chains in India.
Dr. Ahiwalay completed his Master of Ophthalmology from Government Medical College in Aurangabad, India. He completed fellowships in phacoemulsification at the Sankara Nethralaya eye hospital in Chennai, India, and medical retina studies at Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India.
Dr. Ashish Bacchav
Director, Product Management
Dr. Bacchav joined HelpMeSee in 2017 as Lead Instructor and Subject Matter Expert. He is a Fellow of Cornea & Microsurgery at Aravind Eye Hospital in Tirunelveli, India, and a senior consultant with eye hospitals in Thane, India.
Dr. Bacchav’s experience includes more than 10,000 surgeries in MSICS, phacoemulsification, LASIK, cornea and refractive surgery. Dr. Bacchav plays a critical role in leading and training the team of instructors who teach MSICS. As a Subject Matter Expert, he leads the MSICS surgery simulation development for training purposes.
Dr. Akshay Gopinathan Nair
Director, Business Development, India, HMS Vision PLC
Dr. Akshay G. Nair’s areas of specialty are oculoplastic surgery and ocular oncology. He is known globally for his pioneering work on mucormycosis. Dr. Nair is featured on Stanford University’s 2022 Top 2% Scientists list based on the most-cited scientists globally. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and has contributed to 15 scientific textbooks.
He has been the first author on the papers on the validity of the HelpMeSee Eye Surgery Simulator published in Scientific Reports and the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Nair received the American and Asia-Pacific Academies of Ophthalmology Achievement Award in 2019. Other awards include those in neuro-ophthalmology (2011) and ocular oncology (2021) from the All-India Ophthalmological Society, as well as those for his research from the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2013 and 2018.
LEARNING DEVELOPMENT TRAINING CENTER
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR
Polyclinique Ilafy
Dr. Jean Marie Andre-Valentini, MD
Chief Instructor, Madagascar & Head of Mazava Project
He joined HelpMeSee as a Medical Officer in 2013. He is an anterior segment surgeon with over 40 years of experience.
Dr. Andre-Valentini completed his medical education and received his Master of Surgery from Marseille Medical School in France. For decades, he worked on behalf of Marseille Medical School in Francophone, West Africa. In collaboration with the West African Health Organization, he educated local medical professionals on using MSICS.
Dr. Andre-Valentini is a member of the Malagasy Society of Ophthalmology, the French Society of Ophthalmology and the European Society of Ophthalmology.
LEARNING DEVELOPMENT TRAINING CENTER
QUERETARO, MEXICO
Mexican Institute of Opthamology (I.M.O.)
Dr. Karla Pamela GONZÁLEZ Daher, MD
Instructor Deputy Director of the Anterior Segment Department, Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmología (IMO)
Dr. González is an Anterior Segment Surgeon at the Mexicano de Oftalmología (IMO) in Querétaro, Mexico, where she teaches phacoemulsification and Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery to residents. Dr. González qualified as an HelpMeSee Ocular Incisions and Dissections Course Instructor in 2019. Working with Chief Medical Officer Dr. Van Lansingh, Dr. González installed the HelpMeSee Eye Surgery Simulator to IMO, the first in Latin America.
As part of the HelpMeSee Partnership Training program, Dr. González will teach Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery using the Eye Surgery Simulator and the MSICS Cataract Surgery eBook.
In addition to her surgical appointment, Dr. González is President of the Research Ethics Committee and Head of Teaching at Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmología/La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She is also a Collaborator for the International Council of Ophthalmology.
Dr. González graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Querétaro, where she completed her Instituto residency with Mexicano de Oftalmología I.A.P. and subspecialty study in ocular anterior segment microsurgery. She has a Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the Center for Advanced Social Research.
Dr. Teresa Diaz Flores
Lead Instructor, Associate Director of the Anterior Segment Department, Mexicano de Oftalmología (IMO)
Dr. Díaz is certified by HelpMeSee to teach Sclerolcorneal Tunnel Construction Course (STCC) at the Instituto Mexicano de Oftalmología (IMO)/Autonomous University of Mexico, where she also completed a fellowship in Anterior Segment Surgery in March of 2020 and an ophthalmology residency 2018.
Dr. Diaz’s graduate thesis compared the visual results of phacoemulsification cataract surgery with Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS). She received her board certification from the Mexican Council of Ophthalmology in 2018.
SIMLab Training Center
New Jersey, USA
Dr. Nasar Mohammed, MD
Instructor, HelpMeSee SIMLab
Dr. Nasar Mohammed is an Instructor at the HelpMeSee SIMLab in New Jersey. He has over 30 years of experience as an anterior segment and refractive surgeon. In 2022, he joined HelpMeSee to work on its simulation-based microsurgery training program.
Dr. Mohammed’s experience includes extensive volunteer work with NGOs and charitable nonprofit organizations. He organized eye camps and performed thousands of cataract surgeries with the help of Lions and Rotary clubs. For the last three decades, he was the Founder and Director of Roshan Eye Center – a center of excellence for LASIK, cataract and refractive surgeries in Bangalore, India.
Dr. Mohammed received his medical degree from Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, India. He was an Anterior Segment Fellow at the Royal Free Hospital, University of London, UK, following which he completed a fellowship at Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India.
Later, Dr. Mohammed served as teaching faculty at Dr. BR Ambedkar Medical College in Bangalore and worked as a Consulting Ophthalmologist at his alma mater, Manipal Hospital in Bangalore.
Dr. Minal ShahBaldota
Subject Matter Expert & Chief Instructor, Americas
Dr. Minal ShahBaldota is Chief Instructor, Americas, for HelpMeSee. She leads the delivery of training operations for the Americas and oversees training the trainers in the entire region. She is also a core member of the innovation and technology development team, playing a key role developing new surgical training modules with rigorous quality assurance. She is known worldwide as a tireless advocate for using simulation technology to strengthen ophthalmology surgical education.
Dr. ShahBaldota has over twenty years of experience in ophthalmic surgery and mentoring and is a lifetime member of the AIOC (All India Ophthalmological Society) and BOA (Bombay Ophthalmologists Association).
Dr. ShahBaldota received a degree in medicine from the MS University of Baroda, India. She completed fellowships in advanced cataract surgery, phacoemulsification, LASIK and glaucoma.
