Dr. Raven Diacou graduated from Haverford College with a B.S. in Biology and completed her M.D./Ph.D. degree in the MSTP program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. During her PhD, she investigated the genetics of retinal development. Prior to starting her ophthalmology training at UPMC, she completed a transitional year in Internal Medicine at UPMC
- MD/PhD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2021)
- MS in Biomedical Sciences -Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2015)
- Undergraduate- Haverford College (2010)
Education & Training
Awards
Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology Young Ophthalmologists 2024 State Wide Grand Rounds Competition, First Place
Fight for Sight, Postdoctoral Grant Recipient 2020- $22,500 grant supports Early Career Researchers in Vision Science
Representative Publications
- Diacou R., Cvekl, A., Nandigrami, P., Fiser, A., Liu, W.,Ashery-Padan, R. Cell fate decisions, transcription factors and signaling during early retinal development” (2022). Progress in Retinal and Eye Research. PMID: 35817658
- Diacou R, Bhansali P, Liu W. Three-Dimensional Culture of Mouse Eyecups (2020). Retinal Development. Methods Mol Biol. 2092:35-43.
- Diacou, R., Zhao, Y., Zheng, D., Cvekl, A., and Liu, W. (2018). Six3 and Six6 Are Jointly Required for the Maintenance of Multipotent Retinal Progenitors through Both Positive and Negative Regulation. Cell Reports 25, 2510-2523
- Xie, Q., McGreal, R., Harris, R., Gao, C.Y., Liu, W., Reneker, L.W., Musil, L.S., and Cvekl, A. (2016). Regulation of c-Maf and alphaA-Crystallin in Ocular Lens by Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 291, 3947-3958.
- Lowe, A., Harris, R., Bhansali, P., Cvekl, A., and Liu, W. (2016). Intercellular Adhesion-Dependent Cell Survival and ROCK-Regulated Actomyosin-Driven Forces Mediate Self-Formation of a Retinal Organoid. Stem Cell Reports 6, 743-756.
Research Interests