About Carmen A. Puliafito

Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito was appointed dean and holder of the May S. and John Hooval Dean’s Chair at the Keck School of Medicine of USC effective November 1, 2007. He also serves as a professor of ophthalmology and health management.  Before joining USC, Puliafito was chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. There, he oversaw a twofold increase in faculty size, a rise from 34th to 14th in National Institutes of Health funding within a three-year span, and the reclaiming of the top position in U.S. News & World Report’s eye-hospital rankings from the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He also guided fundraising and the development of a $22 million, seven-acre, state-of-the-art campus in Palm Beach Gardens.  Puliafito earned his medical degree, magna cum laude, at Harvard Medical School. Following a residency and fellowships at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI), he served on the faculties of both Harvard and MIT and founded MEEI’s Morse Laser Center and Laboratory. He went on to build an eye program at Tufts University, where he became founding director of the New England Eye Center.  An internationally recognized leader in ophthalmic laser technology, Puliafito has served as president of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery and as trustee and president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the world’s largest eye-research organization. He holds two U.S. patents and has written more than 120 peer-reviewed scientific articles as well as six books.   In addition to his MD from Harvard University, Puliafito has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.