Safal Khanal, O.D., Ph.D.

Khanal is an internationally renowned clinician-scientist, speaker, and educator. His primary research program focuses on mechanisms and treatments of myopia (nearsightedness). He has published 30+ peer-reviewed papers in leading journals and served as an invited lead author of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s commissioned paper “Treatment of Childhood Myopia” for the myopia consensus study. His national and international awards include the Borish Award, the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Fellowship, the Eberhard Dodt Award, and the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research Emerging Vision Scientist.  

In 2022, he was one of only six vision scientists nationwide to receive the AAO Career Development Award. He has contributed as an expert to the International Myopia Institute’s white paper on myopia and the British Contact Lens Association’s white paper on presbyopia. His professional memberships include the International Myopia Institute, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), AAO, and the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision. He serves on ARVO, AAO, and ASCO committees, Editorial Board of Scientific Reports, and Frontiers of Human Neuroscience – Visual Neuroscience journals, as well as an ad-hoc reviewer for 10+ journals. He regularly speaks and presents at national and international conferences on eye care and vision research.