ECS Co-Chairs

Early Career Section Co-Chairs


Avni P. Finn, MD, MBA, FASRS
avnipfinn@gmail.com

Dr. Finn earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology and minor in Spanish from Stanford University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Finn pursued her medical degree at the Dartmouth School of Medicine in Hanover, New Hampshire followed by ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Finn then performed a fellowship in medical and surgical diseases of the retina and vitreous at Duke University. Dr. Finn was a recipient of the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Fellowship and of the Ronald G. Michels Fellowship Foundation Award.

Dr. Finn is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Retina Society, the Macula Society, and serves on programming committee for the Vit-Buckle Society, and the communications committee for the American Society of Retina Specialists.

She currently practices in Nashville, Tennessee where she is an Assistant Professor at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is the Medical Director of Imaging at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute and Associate Director of the Vitreoretinal fellowship. Dr. Finn is actively involved in clinical research, with numerous national and international presentations and lectures, over 50 peer-reviewed publications.

She has published numerous original research articles on a wide variety of retinal diseases, including new techniques for macular hole surgery, the use of intraoperative OCT imaging, and biomarkers of atrophy and scar in macular degeneration. Dr. Finn has a strong interest in surgical innovation and retinal imaging analysis.

Priya Vakharia, MD, FASRS
pvakharia@rvaf.com

Dr. Vakharia currently practices at Retina Vitreous Associates of Florida in Tampa, Florida. She is a Collaborative Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida/Morsani College of Medicine. She did medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She completed ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was co-chief resident. She did fellowship at Tufts New England Eye Center/Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston.

Dr. Vakharia is heavily involved in clinical trials, both as a principal investigator and a sub-investigator. She is on the Executive Committee of the Vit-Buckle Society and is on the editorial board of Ophthalmology Management and Ophthalmology 360. She was the Keynote Speaker at the Sankara Eye Foundation Gala for fighting blindness in 2024, was awarded the Joanne Angle Award for Research at the 2023 Women in Ophthalmology Meeting, and was voted as a “Top 40 under 40” doctor by Ophthalmology Management in 2022. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.