On November 1, 2007, Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., was appointed to Dean of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He also holds positions as the May S. and John Hooval Dean’s Chair in Medicine and professor of ophthalmology and health management at the Doheny Eye Institute. He previously directed the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute where he was also the professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Miami School of Medicine and medical director of the Institute’s Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital.

Named one of the country’s top ten medical retinal specialists in a 24-state survey of his peers, Dr. Puliafito is a board-certified ophthalmic surgeon specializing in diseases of the retina and vitreous. He is also an internationally recognized authority on ophthalmic lasers and co-inventor of the technique known as optical coherence tomography (OCT). He has been a pioneer in the basic investigation and clinical application of the Nd:YAG laser, diode laser, photodynamic therapy for macular degeneration and other retinal disorders, and the excimer and other lasers for refractive surgery.

He holds two U.S. patents and is the author of more than 120 peer-reviewed publications in scientific literature as well as six books. He was editor-in-chief of both Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, the leading academic journal in the field of biomedical lasers, and Ophthalmic Surgery and Lasers. Dr. Puliafito has served as president of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, vice president of the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in the East, and Who's Who in Science and Engineering.