About Us

The following are brief biographies of the six persons selected in the second year of this award. As you can see, they represent broad disciplinary diversity and bring impressive and relevant training and experience to the CASE/Cleveland Clinic MCRTP.

William Dupps, Jr. M.D., PhD Dr. Dupps received his B.S in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, a Masters and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and an M.D., all from The Ohio State University. He completed his residency in Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa and completed his fellowship in Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute. He has received numerous honors, including election to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, and recently received a Career Development Award from Research to Prevent Blindness. Dr Dupps’ research focuses on measurement of corneal biomechanical properties and computational modeling for diagnosis of corneal diseases and improved predictability of refractive surgery. Dr. Dupps holds Associate Staff appointments in Ophthalmology at the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute and Biomedical Engineering at Lerner Research Institute.

Bennie Jeng, M.D. Dr. Jeng graduated from Washington University where he received his A.B. in Biology. He received his M.D. from University of Pennsylvania in 1998 and then completed his residency in ophthalmology at the Cole Eye Institute of the Cleveland Clinic in 2002. He completed his fellowship training in cornea and external disease at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation of the University of California, San Francisco in 2003. Dr. Jeng's research focuses on optimizing a protocol for the processing of whole blood into serum and on evaluating the efficacy of autologous serum in the treatment of ocular surface diseases. Dr Jeng was an Associate Staff in the Cleveland Clinic's Cole Eye Institute and an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Beginning in July, 2008, Dr. Jeng will be an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Angelle “Desirée” LaBeaud, M.D. Dr. LaBeaud holds a B.S. in general Biology from the University of California, San Diego (cum laude) and M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin (AOA). She completed her residency in Pediatrics and her fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Rainbow Babies & Children Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. LaBeaud has received many awards and honors including the Merck Award in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and the Women Faculty at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Junior Faculty Award. Her research projects concentrate on the risk determinants, natural history, and effective prevention of West Nile virus in Ohio and Rift Valley Fever virus in Kenya. Dr. LaBeaud is on the faculty of Case Western Reserve University as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Reena Mehra M.D., M.S., F.C.C.P. received B.S./M.D. from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and M.S. in Clinical Research, Epidemiology and Biostatistics through the Clinical Research Scholars Program at CASE.  Dr. Mehra completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in 1999 and Fellowship in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2002. The focus of Dr. Mehra’s research involves identification of specific pathways of oxidative stress implicated in the pathogenesis of the sleep-disordered breathing and cardiovascular disease relationship.  She is the recipient of a National Scientist Development American Heart Association Award and T. Franklin Williams ACCP-ASP Award in 2005.  Dr. Mehra is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at CASE.  She is currently supported by a K23 Patient-Oriented Mentored Career Development Award through the NHLBI.

Kristie Ross M.D. Dr. Ross holds a B.S. degree from Virginia Tech in Biology and an M.D. from University of Virginia. She completed her residency in Pediatrics and fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.  Among many honors, Dr. Ross was named Ross Laboratories Outstanding Teaching Resident for two years in a row and received a Young Investigators in Respiratory Research Award. Dr. Ross’s studies will focus on investigating mechanistic links between obesity and airway disease. Dr. Ross is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonology.

James Spilsbury M.P.H. Ph.D., Dr. Spilsbury graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Biology. He also holds an M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from CASE. In 2002, he received a T32 Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Award: Child Behavioral Health Research. In his research, Dr. Spilsbury will examine the associations among psychosocial trauma, sleep, and behavioral outcomes in a cohort of children 8-16 years of age who were exposed to violence. Dr. Spilsbury is an Instructor in the Center for Clinical Investigation at CASE.