Tom Johnson is originally from Chicago, IL in the United States and completed his undergraduate work at Northwestern University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Centre for Brain Repair where he is evaluating the efficacy of stem cell therapy as a treatment modality for glaucoma. Upon completion of his time in Cambridge, he plans to return to the US to begin a medical degree at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, MD. His academic interests lie in ophthalmology and particularly in glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disorder of the optic nerve that eventually leads to blindness. Ultimately, Tom would like to obtain a position as a clinician-scientist so that he may treat patients with sight-threatening disorders as well as conduct research that will benefit the field on a grander scale.