Staff Directory

Medical Administration

Keith Carter, MD, FACS

Chair

Dr. Carter is the Lillian C. O'Brien and Dr. C.S. O'Brien Chair in Ophthalmology and has served as the Chairman and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa since 2006. He is also a Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, as well as a Professor of Otolaryngology.

Click here to view Dr. Carter’s department web page.

Email: keith-carter@uiowa.edu

Mark Greiner, MD

Medical Director 

Dr. Greiner is Medical Director and researcher for ILEB. He is also Associate Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Robert and Joell Brightfelt Professor of Cornea Research at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. As a clinician-scientist, his practice specialty is Cornea and External Diseases. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Eye Bank Association of America.

Click here to view Dr. Greiner’s department web page

Email: mark-greiner@uiowa.edu

Matthew Rauen, MD

Assistant Medical Director 

Dr. Rauen received a Bachelor of Science degree in biological research from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and completed his medical degree, ophthalmology residency,  and cornea, external disease, and refractive surgery fellowship from the University of Iowa. He serves on the EBAA Accreditation Board and on the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) content committee in the field of cornea surgery and serves on the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons Government Relations Committee.

Click here to view Dr. Rauen's Wolfe Eye Clinic profile page

Email: mrauen@wolfeclinic.com

Christopher Sales, MD

Assistant Medical Director

Dr. Sales is an assistant medical director and researcher for ILEB. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He treats patients experiencing corneal disease and ulcers, dry eye, eye infections, and red eye, and performs LASIK and laser vision correction surgery. Dr. Sales also has expertise in eye banking.

Click here to view Dr. Sales' department web page

Email: christopher-sales@uiowa.edu

Senior Leadership

Esther Baker, BA, MA, MBA

Executive Director

Esther joined Iowa Lions Eye Bank as executive director in January 2019. Esther has a background in non-profit management and program administration, strategic planning, external relations, communication, change management and program evaluation. Previous roles include executive director of Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa, external relations director of the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, deputy director of the Iowa Tobacco Research Center/Quitline Iowa, and public relations director of the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts in telecommunications and Master of Communication. She has also received a Master of Business Administration from the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa.

                                                         Email: esther-baker@uiowa.edu

Adam Stockman, MBA, CEBT

Director of Operations

Adam began his work with ILEB in 2003 as a part time recovery technician, transitioning to a full-time laboratory technician role in 2006. In his current role, Director of Operations, Adam oversees ILEB’s clinical operations departments, which includes Donor Eligibility, Processing Services, and Recovery Operations. Additionally, Adam oversees ILEB’s Quality Assurance and Compliance program. Adam is a skilled trainer and active member of numerous Eye Bank Association of America committees and boards, including current service as Certification Board chair, Accreditation Board member, and Medical Advisory Board member.

Emailadam-stockman@uiowa.edu

Greg Schmidt, MBA, CEBT

Director of Research & Business Development

Greg is a graduate of Mount Mercy College with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. He is the director of research and business development where he oversees the research program, supervises distribution, and is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with local and national corneal transplant surgeons. Greg began working for the eye bank in March 2000.

Emailgregory-schmidt@uiowa.edu

Administrative

Jessica Bramow, MCSE

Senior Database Administrator

Jessica originally joined Iowa Lions Eye Bank in September of 2019 as a senior systems administrator.  After a brief absence, she rejoined ILEB as a senior database administrator in May of 2022. Jessica develops, implements, and evaluates solutions that strategically advance eye bank and cornea service research for teaching and clinical translation for patient service. She also serves as the designated IT expert for the Iowa Lions Eye Bank.  Prior to joining ILEB, she spent 20 years of her career in information technology as a senior systems administrator for the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
 

Email: jessica-bramow@uiowa.edu

Kip Hoffman, CQT

Kip Hoffman
Quality and Compliance Coordinator

Kip joined the Iowa Lions Eye Bank in December 2020 as the compliance coordinator. Prior to joining ILEB, he was a quality analyst for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Patient Access Center. He has ASQ accreditation as a Certified Quality Technician.  Kip also has previous quality experience in the manufacturing sector.

Email: kip-hoffman@uiowa.edu

 

Hajar Osman, BAcc

Accountant

Hajar moved to the United States in 2019 and joined Iowa Lions Eye Bank as an accountant in January of 2020. She is currently responsible for the overall accounting duties for ILEB. Hajar has a Bachelor of Accountancy degree and a diploma in Accounting Information Systems from her local university. Hajar has worked for several non-profit and governmental agencies in Malaysia, including a role as an accountant for Sarawak State Social Welfare Department and a finance manager with the Malaysian Association for the Blind.

Email: hajarbinti-osman@uiowa.edu

Clinical Operations

Emma Berger

Processing Services Specialist

Emma joined ILEB as a part-time cornea recovery technician in September 2022, transitioning to a full-time processing services specialist in October 2023. She received her Associate of Arts degree from Kirkwood Community College in 2022.

Monica Freiburger, BA, CEBT

Donor Eligibility Manager

Monica graduated from Coe College with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Biology. She serves as the donor eligibility manager at Iowa Lions Eye Bank, where she is responsible for the coordination and support of the daily operations. Additionally, Monica serves as an Administrator On Call (AOC) for ILEB. Monica began her journey at the eye bank in 2008 as a recovery technician, and then transferred to a full-time position in donor eligibility which led to her current position as the donor eligibility manager. She was awarded the Jachin Misko Memorial Scholarship for Technical Advancement in Eye Bank in 2014 and is a Certified Eye Bank Technician (CEBT). Monica is an active member of the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), having previously served on the Technician Education Committee, Exam Committee and the Continuing Education Committee. Monica is currently serving on the Statistical Report Committee and the Technical Procedures Manual Subcommittee.

                                       Emailmonica-freiburger@uiowa.edu

 

Kailynn Gilbert, ACNA

Recovery Services Lead

Kailynn began working for ILEB in 2016 as a part-time cornea recovery technician, joining ILEB full time as the recovery services lead in August 2021. Prior to ILEB, she worked at Mercy Hospital for 3 years as a patient care tech and department support assistant. Kailynn also spent several years volunteering at a non-profit, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids. As our recovery services lead, she oversees ILEB’s recovery technicians statewide.

Kailynn is responsible for ILEB recovery technician recruitment, training, and scheduling, as well as inventory control, procurement of donor eye tissue, and other ILEB recovery operations.

Email: kailynn-gilbert@uiowa.edu

Chelsea Green, BA, BS, CEBT

Processing Services Manager

Chelsea graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with her bachelor’s degree in psychological research and minority studies, with a minor in pre-med. She joined the eye bank in 2017 as a tissue processing specialist. Chelsea operates as a tissue processor as well as a tissue circulator for the eye bank.

Emailchelsea-green@uiowa.edu

Kay Jandik, BS, ASCP

Donor Eligibility Specialist

Kay graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a chemistry minor, along with a Bachelor of Science degree in clinical laboratory sciences from the Carver College of Medicine. She is also a certified laboratory medical technologist (ASCP.) She joined the eye bank in 2017 and is currently a donor eligibility specialist where she screens donor charts along with completing various lab duties. Prior to her work at ILEB, Kay was a laboratory technologist for ten years and then an ophthalmology technician for ten years at the Iowa City Veteran’s Hospital.

Emailkathryn-jandik@uiowa.edu

Jen Johnson, BSN

Donor Eligibility Specialist

Jen graduated from Grand View University with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. She began her eye banking journey in July of 2017 as a recovery technician, and then transferred to a full-time position in donor eligibility in May of 2019. Jen is responsible for screening donor charts and completing various lab duties.  Prior to working at Iowa Lions Eye Bank, Jen worked in an emergency department. 

Email: jennifer-l-johnson@uiowa.edu

Rakeli Ntawuyitegeka

Processing Services Specialist

Rakeli joined ILEB in January 2023. Prior to joining ILEB she worked at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for six years in the Neuroscience Intermediate Unit and in a junior unit managed by Respiratory Specialty and Comprehensive Care Unit called the Video Monitoring Unit. 

Email: rakeli-ntawuyitegeka@uiowa.edu

Ashlyn Pickett

Donor Eligibility Specialist

Ashlyn began working for ILEB in February of 2022 as a donor eligibility specialist. Originally from Indiana, she moved to the Iowa City area in 2015 to attend University of Iowa. Prior to working at ILEB she worked for the UIHC DeGowin Blood Center for almost 5 years as a clinical technician, collecting blood for transfusion. Then she moved on to work for University of Iowa Pharmaceuticals as a sterile products production specialist compounding and manufacturing sterile drug products.

Email: ashlyn-pickett@uiowa.edu

 

Todd Shinkunas, BA

Processing Services Specialist

Todd graduated from the University of Iowa in 1996 and began working full-time as a processing services specialist with ILEB in November of 2019. Todd previously worked for ILEB from 2007-2016 as a laboratory technician, and as the eye bank's first distribution manager. During his time away from ILEB, Todd worked as a research support coordinator for the Visual Field Reading Center with UIHC, where he managed activities associated with multi-center clinical trials in Ophthalmology. 

Email: todd-shinkunas@uiowa.edu 

Research

Jessica Skeie, PhD

Research Scientist

Jessica graduated from the University of Iowa with her PhD in biomedical engineering in 2010. She has been conducting research with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa since 2005. Her research interests have included endothelial cell changes in the choroid of patients with age related macular degeneration, bioinformatics of proteomic shifts in retinal diseases, and potential use of genetic engineering for curing inherited retinal diseases. She joined the Iowa Lions Eye Bank in 2016 where she now uses bioinformatics to study the impact of diabetes on corneal endothelial cells.

Email: jessica-skeie@uiowa.edu

Tim Eggleston, BBA, BSE

Research Associate

Tim graduated from the University of Iowa with Bachelor degrees in economics and biomedical engineering. Tim has been working in research at the university since 2001. He has worked in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Pharmacology, Radiology, and most recently in the Department of Pediatrics. Tim joined ILEB in 2019.

Email: timothy-eggleston@uiowa.edu

Hanna Shevalye, BS

Research Associate

Hanna graduated from Grodno State University in Grodno, Belarus with a Bachelors Degree in biology in 2000 and has been working in basic science research since then. She moved to Iowa in February 2013 and started to work on a Carver College of Medicine research team as a research associate in the Department of Internal Medicine before transferring to ILEB in June of 2020. Most of her research experience lies in the area of neurodegeneration and diabetes. 

Email: hanna-shevalye@uiowa.edu

 

Business Development

Gabi Carter, BS

Lead Distribution Coordinator

Gabi graduated from Missouri Western State University in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a health science concentration. She is a clinical/technical specialist and helps with daily distribution tasks and business development. Gabi also works as a patient care technician in the emergency department at St. Luke’s Hospital. She joined the eye bank in March of 2020.

Emailgabrielle-carter@uiowa.edu

Jamie Reinhardt

Distribution Coordinator

Jamie started at ILEB in the summer of 2019 as a processing services specialist where she served as a circulator and tissue processor. Since July 2023, Jamie has served as a distribution coordinator. Prior to ILEB, she worked in the operating rooms of the Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Ambulatory Surgical Center and the main operating rooms at UIHC. 

Email: jamie-reinhardt@uiowa.edu 

Constituent Relations

Tiffany Jensen

Family Services Coordinator

Tiffany joined the eye bank in December 2019 as a processing services specialist where she operated as a circulator as well as a tissue processor. She transferred to Constituent Relations in 2022. Prior to her positions at ILEB, she worked for 15 years in numerous settings across Iowa and North Carolina as a rehabilitation and hospice nurse.

Email: tiffany-crider-jensen@uiowa.edu

Francie Williamson, MS

Partner and Community Relations Coordinator

Francie joined Iowa Lions Eye Bank in October 2022. Prior to joining ILEB she was Communications Coordinator for the Department of Psychiatry at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. Francie has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from University of Missouri-Columbia and a Master of Science degree from West Virginia University.

Email: francie-williamson@uiowa.edu