USC medical school dean set for Sternberg Lectureship
Carmen Puliafito, M.D., dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, will give the keynote address at the sixth annual Paul Sternberg Sr. Lectureship in Ophthalmology.
The lecture, titled “The Future of Optical Coherence Tomography,” will be held from 5-6 p.m. on Thursday, April 29, in 208 Light Hall.
Puliafito, holder of the May S. and John Hooval Dean’s Chair in Medicine, is recognized as the co-inventor of the technology of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and was the first ophthalmologist to use OCT to study the human macula in health and disease.
OCT technology has revolutionized retinal practices globally. For his work, Puliafito was awarded the Rank Prize – the world’s highest award in optoelectronics. Throughout his career, Puliafito has been an innovator, most recently participating in the introduction of bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of retinal disorders.
Prior to his appointment at the Keck School, Puliafito was the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he created a strategy of growth that propelled the Eye Institute to new heights in clinical practice, education and research. Prior to Bascom Palmer, he served as founding director of the New England Eye Center and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Tufts from 1991-2001.
Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D., chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, created the lectureship in honor of his father, who died in 2004. The elder Sternberg was an ophthalmologist for more than 40 years.