Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Tamhankar is the Chief of the Neuro-Ophthalmology Service at the Scheie Eye Institute and serves as the primary point of contact for referrals from various specialties, including neurosurgery, neurology, endocrinology, rheumatology, and general medicine. She is also the only adult strabismus surgeon at the institute, with a large referral network for strabismus surgery, attracting patients from Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs. Additionally, she co-leads the thyroid eye disease clinic in collaboration with the oculoplastic service. This clinic is a key referral center for patients seeking medical and surgical treatments for thyroid eye disease and those considering participation in clinical trials. She also lends her clinical expertise at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia in addition to being the only strabismus surgeon there. Outside of her clinical duties she is involved in recruiting patients in various ongoing clinical trials of thyroid eye disease. She is also actively enrolling patients with suspected giant cell arteritis do study the changes in vessel wall MRI in these patients.

Dr. Tamhankar’s research interests are in thyroid eye disease and giant cell arteritis.
She is the principal investigator of several industry sponsored grants investigating the therapeutic benefits of disease-modifying therapies for thyroid eye disease, including insulin-like growth factor 1 inhibitors, interleukin 6 inhibitors such as satralizumab, and FcRn inhibitors like efgartigimod. Additionally, she is conducting research on the real-world use of teprotumumab in thyroid eye disease patients, focusing on its adverse effects, retreatment options, and effectiveness in treating double vision.
Additionally she is part of the international working group of the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium spanning United States, Canada and Europe that is looking to explore the utility of high-resolution vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (VW-MRI) in giant cell arteritis (GCA). She helped to develop a standardized protocol and scoring approach of vessel wall MRI in assessing disease activity in giant cell arteritis. She is also a co- investigator on an NIH grant to establish orbital and cranial vessel wall MRI enhancement as an imaging biomarker of disease activity in GCA. This is a multi-disciplinary and multi institution collaborative effort between rheumatology and ophthalmology.
Dr. Tamhankar is deeply committed to teaching pre-med students, medical students, ophthalmology and neurology residents, and neuro-ophthalmology fellows both in the clinic and the operating room. She serves as the primary preceptor in neuro-ophthalmology and adult strabismus surgery. Dr. Tamhankar provides year-round hands-on teaching for ophthalmology residents, offering active daily instruction in the clinic and serving as the main surgical preceptor in the operating room, where she provides 12 hours per month of surgical training in adult strabismus surgery. Additionally, she mentors neuro-ophthalmology fellows for 20 hours a week, guiding them in both the clinic and the operating room. She also mentors ophthalmology residents to present case presentations during the weekly ophthalmology grand rounds lecture series.

Selected Publications

Yuanyuan Chen, Taylor Linaburg, Sarah Wang, Gibran Merchant, Tejus Pradeep, Patrick Anthony Augello, Gui-shuang Ying, César A. Briceño, Madhura A. Tamhankar: Observational Characterization of the Re-treatment Course of Patients with Thyroid Eye Disease Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology : 2025.

Dogra N, Redmond BV, Lilley S, Johnson BA, Lam BL, Tamhankar M, Feldon SE, Fahrenthold B, Yang J, Huxlin KR, Cavanaugh MR.: Vision-related quality of life after unilateral occipital stroke. Brain Behavior 14 (7): 2024.

Tejus Pradeep MD, Taylor Linaburg MD, Cory Shoshany BS, Wanming Teng BS, Kevin Zhang BS, Yuanyuan Chen BS, Cesar Briceno MD, Madhura A Tamhankar MD.: Correlation of objective ocular alignment and subjective diplopia after Teprotumumab in patients with thyroid eye disease (TED). NANOS Scientific Abstract, Hawaii : 2024.

Rennie L. Rhee, Girish Bathla, Ryan Rebello, Robert M. Kurtz, Mats Junek, Kenneth J. Warrington, Nader Khalidi, Peter A. Merkel1, Konstanze V. Guggenberger, Madhura A. Tamhankar, Thorsten A. Bley for the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium: Vessel wall MRI in giant cell arteritis: standardized protocol and scoring approach developed by an international working group Rheumatology : 2024.

Taylor J. Linaburg MD, Tejus Pradeep, Yuanyuan Chen, Brian Rinelli, Yineng Chen, Gui-Shuang Ying, César Briceño, Madhura Tamhankar: Ophthalmic Surgeries in the Pre-Teprotumumab and Teprotumumab Era NANOS Scientific Abstract , Hawaii : 2024.

Fahrenthold BK, Cavanaugh MR, Tamhankar M, Lam BL, Feldon SE, Johnson BA, Huxlin KR.: Training in Cortically Blinded Fields Appears to Confer Patient-Specific Benefit Against Retinal Thinning Invest Ophthalmol and Vis Sci 1 (65(4)): 29,2024.

Madhura Tamhankar, Tejus Pradeep, Yuan Yuan Chen, Cesar Briceno: Real world experience with teprotumumab in the treatment of patients with dysthyroid optic neuropathy Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology 44 (1): 74-79,2024.

Kasi S, Volpe NJ, Pistilli M, Tamhankar MA: Effectiveness of Medial Rectus Advancement Alone or in Combination with Resection or Lateral Rectus Recession in the Management of Consecutive Exotropia. JAAPOS 17 (5): 465-470,2013.

Madhura Tamhankar, Brady kwong Maxwell Pistilli: Benefits and side effects of prisms in the management of diplopia in adults: a prospective study Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. 25 (2): 85.e1-85.e6,2021.

Kruszewski AM, Tamhankar MA.: Ophthalmic Manifestations of Giant Cell Arteritis Int Ophthalmol Clin 63 (2): 13-23,2023.

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Academic Contact Information

Scheie Eye Institute
Department of Ophthalmology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366