Carmen A. Puliafito

Carmen A. Puliafito

Carmen A. Puliafito is an American ophthalmologist. He specializes in retinal disease. Since 2007 he has been dean of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, where he is a professor of ophthalmology and holds the May S. and John Hooval chair in medicine.[1][2] In 2012 he was 21st of the most highly-paid research university executives in the United States.[3]

Career

Puliafito was born in Buffalo, New York. He has a degree in medicine from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[2]

Puliafito completed his residency and fellowships in ophthalmic pathology and vitreoretinal diseases and surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He was an associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School until 1991. He was chair of the department of ophthalmology at Tufts University from 1991 to 2001, and founding director of the New England Eye Center. From 2001 to 2007 he was director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and chair of the department of ophthalmology.[2]

Puliafito was appointed Dean of the Keck school in December 2007.[4] He is thus the primary academic officer of the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center.

He is vice chair of the boards of Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital. He sits on the board of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles,[5] the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, and the House Ear Institute. He is an elected member of the board of the Los Angeles County Medical Association. He was president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. He was editor-in-chief of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, and is editor of Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers & Imaging.

Research

Puliafito was one of the inventors of optical coherence tomography (OCT)[6] and among the first ophthalmologists to use this technology to study the human macula in health and disease. For this work James Fujimoto, Eric Swanson and Puliafito received a Rank Prize for Opto-electronics in 2002.[6] In 2012 Fujimoto, Swanson and David Huang, with Puliafito and Joel Schuman, received an António Champalimaud Vision Award from the Champalimaud Foundation.[7]

Puliafito participated in research into the use of bevacizumab for the treatment of retinal disorders.[8][9][10][11] He was the first to describe the use of the semiconductor diode laser for retinal photocoagulation, and researched excimer laser photoablation and optical breakdown and photodisruption. He established an optical imaging program while at the University of Miami, and is still investigating retinal imaging approaches at USC, including photo-acoustic ophthalmoscopy (March 2010).

References

  1. ↑ Dean Carmen A. Puliafito. University of Southern California. Accessed February 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Carmen Puliafito named new dean of the Keck School of Medicine. University of Southern California. Accessed February 2015.
  3. ↑ Alex Philippidis (Nov 18, 2013). "25 Top-Paid Research University Leaders". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Accessed February 2015.
  4. ↑ USC Press Release. Dec 5 2007. USC Installs Dr. Carmen Puliafito as New Dean of the Keck School of Medicine
  5. ↑ http://www.chla.org/site/c.ipINKTOAJsG/b.5264283/
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 [s.n.] (May 2002). New Products. Optometry & Vision Science 79 (5): 279–280. Accessed February 2015.
  7. ↑ 2012: Williams & Fujimoto, Huang, Puliafito, Schuman, Swanson. Champalimaud Foundation. Accessed February 2015.
  8. ↑ Michels S, Rosenfeld PJ, Puliafito CA, Marcus EN, Venkatraman AS. (2005). Systemic bevacizumab (Avastin) therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration twelve-week results of an uncontrolled open-label clinical study. Ophthalmology 112:1035–47.
  9. ↑ Rosenfeld PJ, Moshfegi AA, Puliafito CA. (2005). Optical coherence tomography findings after an intravitreal injection of bevacizumab (Avastin) for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers & Imaging 36: 331–5.
  10. ↑ Rich RM, Rosenfeld PJ, Puliafito CA, et al. (2006). Short-term safety and efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Retina 26: 495–511.
  11. ↑ Moshfegi AA, Rosenfeld PJ, Puliafito CA, et al. (2006). Systemic bevacizumab (Avastin) therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration: twenty-four-week results of an uncontrolled open-label clinical study. Ophthalmology 113: 2002–11.