Meet Our Ophthalmology Residents

PGY-4

Muhamad Festok, MD

Hometown: Birmingham, Ala.
Undergraduate: Birmingham-Southern College
Medical School: Northeast Ohio Medical University
Hobbies: Cooking, hiking, wood working, fishing, basketball

Muhamad Festok was raised in Alabama and went to BSC where he majored in Biology. He was a researcher for UAB Stem Cell institute where he worked under Dr. Kejin Hu. He later went to Northeast Ohio Medical School to obtain his MD in 2019. He initially trained in general surgery last at Yale and is now an ophthalmology resident.

Michael Gaspari, DO

Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.
Undergraduate: New York Institute of Technology
Medical School: NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine
Hobbies/Interests: Cars, sports, watches, and spending time with family

Michael was born and raised on Long Island, N.Y. He completed his undergraduate studies at NYIT, majoring in Biology. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and received an award for his excellence in natural sciences. He continued his studies at the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. Throughout medical school, Michael was involved in several research projects, and award-winning presentations. Michael’s interest in Ophthalmology began after suffering an orbital injury in high school while playing soccer. Outside of the hospital, Michael enjoys playing tennis, golf, attending sporting events, snowboarding, and spending time with his family.

PGY-3

Abid Haseeb, MD

Hometown: Rockford, Illinois
Undergraduate: Brown University
Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine
Hobbies/Interests: Arabic and Urdu poetry, bioethics, art history, basketball

Abid grew up in Rockford, Illinois and went on to study neurobiology at Brown University, where he graduated with highest honors. He then worked as a mass spectrometry scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific in cancer pathway signaling before matriculating to medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Abid has published several papers on ocular manifestations of infectious and inflammatory states, including some of the first major reports and reviews on ocular adverse events of COVID vaccination. He has translated his interests in medicine and the traditional Islamic sciences into presenting work on bioethics in medicine. Abid is thrilled to join the ophthalmology program at Nazareth while exploring Philadelphia with his wife.

Behnam Rabiee, MD, MPH

Hometown: Tehran, Iran
Medical School: Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Ophthalmology Research Fellowship: University of Illinois at Chicago
Hobbies/Interests: Traveling, hiking, paddle boarding, books, video games, spending time with family

Behnam received his MD and MPH degrees from Iran’s top-ranked university, Tehran University of Medical Science, with award-winning grades. Following that, he moved to the United States and completed a three-year ophthalmology research fellowship at University of Illinois at Chicago with Dr. Ali Djalilian. Behnam has published more than thirty peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals so far, such as Science Translational Medicine. Working with his phenomenal team at UIC, he introduced a novel method to alleviate Aniridia and other genetic haploinsufficiencies, and proposed novel approaches for corneal wound healing using stem cells’ exosomes, among other projects. He completed his internship in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., during COVID-19 waves and is now very excited to go through his ophthalmology residency.

Outside ophthalmology, Behnam enjoys traveling, nature, hiking, paddle boarding, books, video games, and spending time with his family.

PGY-2

Ely Manstein, MD

Hometown: Elkins Park, Pa.
Undergraduate: Johns Hopkins University
Medical School: Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Hobbies/Interests: Board and card games, hiking, reading, watching football

Ely was born and raised in Elkins Park, Pa. He attended Johns Hopkins University where he majored in Neuroscience with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience. He then attended the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. There he performed research in diabetic retinopathy and conducted a clinical trial for a medical device to lower eye pressure in patients with glaucoma before starting his Ophthalmology Residency at Nazareth Hospital.

Ibraheem Rehman, MD

Hometown: Vestal, New York
Undergraduate: Cornell University
Medical School: Emory Medical School
Hobbies/Interests: Ping-pong, badminton, tennis, traveling, hiking, and spending time with family

Ibraheem was raised in Vestal, New York and went to Cornell University where he majored in biology with a focus in biochemistry and minored in business. After graduating magna cum laude from Cornell, Ibraheem was accepted into Emory Medical School where he obtained his MD degree. He has published many papers in peer-reviewed journals and is interested in continuing research throughout residency. Ibraheem’s interest in ophthalmology stems from the capability and opportunity the field of ophthalmology has to save vision and improve quality of life, and he aims to spend a part of his career serving the underserved around the world. Ibraheem is excited to start ophthalmology residency.

Outside the hospital, Ibraheem enjoys playing ping-pong, badminton, and tennis. he also loves to travel and spend time with his family.