Clinical Advisory Board
Natalie Afshari, MD, FACS
Stuart I. Brown MD Chair in Ophthalmology
Professor of Ophthalmology at the Shiley Eye Institute, University of California, San Diego
Vice Chair of Education
Prior to her appointment to UC San Diego, she was Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Centers of Excellence at the Duke University Eye Center. She received her medical degree from Stanford University and her residency training at Harvard University, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. She then completed a two-year fellowship in cornea and refractive surgery at Harvard University.
Dr. Afshari is the recipient of the Senior Achievement Award and the Secretariat Award by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and has been named a Gold Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. She has received the inaugural Top Ten Women in Medicine award by Triangle News, Women Who Mean Business award by San Diego Business Journal, and the Teacher of the Year award at the Duke University Eye Center. She has also been recognized in the Best Doctors in America in each listing for the past decade, and was named in the U.S. News & World Report’s Top Doctors List.
Dr. Afshari is the co-editor of the two-volume cornea book titled “Principles and Practice of Cornea”. She is also on the editorial boards of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science and American Journal of Ophthalmology. She has previously served on the EyeNet editorial board, BCSC Cornea text book committee, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology council representing the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. She was co-chair of the cornea program committee for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and co-director of Cornea Subspecialty Day for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She is currently the chair of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery FDA Committee. Her NIH research grant is on the study of Fuchs dystrophy, and she investigates the intricacies of endothelial keratoplasty and regeneration of cornea.
When not researching or practicing, Dr. Afshari donates her time and surgical expertise as an international volunteer. She has traveled to West Africa, Central America, and Mexico to help patients who might otherwise go untreated.
Jodi Luchs, MD
Associate Clinical Professor
Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine
Dr. Luchs graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and received his M.D. in 1991 from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed an internship at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, and his Ophthalmology residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He was a fellow in Cornea/External Disease at Wills Eye Hospital. Following his training, Dr. Luchs joined South Shore Eye Care in 1996, and now serves as their Director of Clinical Research and Director of Cornea/External Diseases and Refractive Surgery. In 2006, he was named as the Co-Director of the Division of Refractive Surgery for the Long Island Jewish/North Shore University Health System. Dr. Luchs continues to be a member of the Cornea Service of Northwell Health, and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. He has numerous publications on cornea, external diseases, and refractive surgery to his credit, including 2 books, and has lectured nationally, and internationally. Dr. Luchs is Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American College of Surgeons, and the Nassau Academy of Medicine. He is also a member of the Castroviejo Corneal Society, and a founding member of the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery (AECOS) and the Society of Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgeons (CEDARS). He serves as an Assistant Editor for Advanced Ocular Care, Therapeutics/Cornea & External Disease section, an Assistant Editor for Ocular Surgery News, Technology Section, and an Editor, of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Ophthalmic News and Education (O.N.E.) network, Cataract Section. In 2015, he received the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Achievement award.
Dr. Luchs is also the Founder and CEO of Insightful Solutions, LLC, the makers of OJO Eye Care Crystals– the first Doctor-Formulated Eye Health beverage containing the AREDS vitamins.
Jodhbir Mehta, MBBS, FRCOphth, FRCS(Ed)
Associate Professor
Singapore National Eye Centre
Associate Professor Jod Mehta graduated from Guys and St Thomas’s Medical School, University of London, UK in 1995. He did his basic and advanced specialist training at Moorfields Eye Hospital, UK and also did sub-specialized fellowship training in Cornea External Disease and Refractive Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital and Singapore National Eye Centre. He is a member of the Royal College of Ophthalmologist UK, the Royal College of Surgeon of Edinburgh, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Singapore-Malaysian Ophthalmology Society and the Asian Corneal Society.
He has won 24 awards in the UK and Internationally for clinical and research work, most recently the 2013 Nakajima award from the Asian Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology for the most outstanding young clinician in Asia Pacific. His research interests cover all aspects of corneal external disease and refractive surgery from basic science, translational and clinical research. These include investigating new stem cell based therapies and studies on patients with corneal genetic disorders. Translational research involves the development of an artificial cornea device, new instruments for corneal transplantation to improve patient outcomes, and effects of femtosecond lasers in corneal/refractive surgery as well as development of novel drug delivery devices.
Victor Perez, MD
Director of the Ocular Surface Center at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at Plantation
Professor of Ophthalmology
Secondary Appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Walter G. Ross Chair in Ophthalmic Research
Dr. Perez heads the Ocular Surface Center at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and he also holds an appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Perez received his medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan Puerto Rico. After completing residency at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA he went on to complete fellowships in Immunology Research at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA,Ocular Immunology Research Fellowship at Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA,, Corneal and External Diseases at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, and an Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Fellowship at Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
In clinical practice Dr. Perez specializes in cataract surgery, ocular Immunology, uveitis, corneal and external diseases, corneal transplant surgery, ocular surface disease, and keratoprosthesis.
William Trattler, MD
Director of Cornea at the Center for Excellence in Eye Care
Voluntary Assistant Professor,
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
Faculty
Florida International University Wertheim College of Medicine
Dr. Trattler is a refractive, corneal and cataract eye surgeon at the Center For Excellence In Eye Care, who lectures extensively across the US on improving visual outcomes with various eye surgeries and procedures. Dr. Trattler focuses on making a positive difference for each of his patients.
Dr. Trattler received his bachelor's degree with honors from Dartmouth College and his Doctorate of Medicine degree from University of Miami School of Medicine where he graduated in 1992 with Distinction in Research. He completed his ophthalmology residency at University of Pennsylvania, Scheie Eye Institute and then spent an additional year for subspecialty training in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Dr. Trattler performs a wide variety of cataract and refractive surgeries, including PRK, all laser LASIK, as well as laser cataract surgery. Dr. Trattler is also involved in treating corneal diseases such as keratoconus and post lasik Ectasia with Corneal Collagen Crosslinking and other procedures. In 2012, Dr. Trattler was certified to provide femtosecond laser cataract surgery by the LensAR system at the Medical Arts Surgery Center in Baptist Hospital.
Dr. Trattler is on the Volunteer Faculty at the Florida International University Wertheim College of Medicine, as well as the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Dr. Trattler is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. In 2002, Dr. Trattler received the “Outstanding Young Ophthalmologist Leadership Award” from the Florida Society of Ophthalmology (FSO). In 2006, Dr. Trattler was recognized by his peers as one of the top 50 Cataract and Refractive Surgery Opinion Leaders in a survey conducted by the publication Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. In 2016, he was recognized by the publication Ocular Surgery News as a Premier Surgeon 300 Innovator in Refractive Cataract Surgery. Also in 2016, Dr. Trattler was named by the publication “The Ophthalmologist” as one of the “Top 100 most influential people in the world of ophthalmology.”