Dr. Feola is a Research Biologist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center and a Research Scientist in the joint department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. Dr. Feola received his bachelors in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh with a focus on biomaterials. He then completed his doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh examining the biomechanical properties of pelvic tissues at different points in pregnancy, postpartum and hormonal status (e.g. menopause). This work also encompassed characterizing the textile (e.g. pore size, area density etc.) and mechanical properties of the synthetic meshes used to surgically treat prolapse in the clinic. He was then invited as a Visiting Fellow at the KULeuven in Belgium and later awarded a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue research in these areas. He then completed his post-doctoral training with Dr. Ross Ethier at the Georgia Institute of Technology in collaboration with NASA to study Spaceflight Associated Neuro- ocular Syndrome (SANS) – a major concern for astronauts during long-duration space missions that causes permanent changes in visual acuity. Recently he has worked with Dr. Machelle Pardue to assess visual and retinal structural changes in various disease models

Research Interests:

Dr. Feola aims to combine his training in hormones, biomechanics, and computational modeling with visual assessment and optic nerve head imaging to address ongoing research questions. Currently, his main goal is to understand how an estrogen deficiency increases the risk for developing glaucoma using various animal models. Specifically, Dr. Feola intends to understand how a change in hormonal status affects visual function and biomechanical properties of the eye. These projects also investigate hormones (e.g. estrogen) as neuroprotective against the progression of visual impairment in glaucoma and potentially their benefit in various ocular diseases

Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1t3-awqxilMku/bibliography/49575516/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending