Mohammad Soleimani

Mohammad Soleimani, MD, FICO, is a nationally and internationally recognized cornea and ocular surface specialist, surgeon, physician-scientist, educator, and academic leader whose work integrates complex clinical care, translational research, artificial intelligence, and regenerative medicine. He serves as Professor of Ophthalmology and Chief of Cornea, External Disease, and Refractive Surgery at the USC Roski Eye Institute, where he is developing multidisciplinary clinical, research, and educational programs focused on vision-threatening corneal and ocular surface disease.
Following residency and fellowship training in cornea and external disease, Dr. Soleimani pursued further advanced subspecialty training at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he completed two consecutive fellowships focused on ocular surface disease and ocular regenerative medicine. This combination of advanced clinical and translational training has shaped his approach to complex corneal disease, ocular surface reconstruction, tissue regeneration, and the development of emerging biologic therapies.
Dr. Soleimani’s research program brings together artificial intelligence, advanced ocular imaging, regenerative medicine, and large-scale clinical data to address major unmet needs in corneal and ocular surface disease. His work focuses particularly on infectious keratitis, ocular chemical injury, corneal wound healing, limbal stem cell dysfunction, extracellular-vesicle-based therapies, and image-based prediction of disease severity and treatment outcomes. A central goal of his research is to develop clinically deployable tools that improve early diagnosis, risk stratification, therapeutic selection, and long-term visual outcomes.
He has established broad national and international collaborations involving ophthalmologists, data scientists, engineers, cell biologists, and translational investigators. These collaborations support the development of large and diverse imaging datasets, artificial-intelligence models, regenerative treatment platforms, and multicenter clinical studies. His research strategy emphasizes rigorous validation, biologic relevance, reproducibility, and translation from computational and laboratory discovery to patient-centered clinical application.
Dr. Soleimani has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and has authored or edited several books and numerous book chapters. His work includes diagnostic algorithms, clinical outcome studies, imaging-based prediction models, and emerging biologic therapies for complex anterior-segment disease. He also contributes to the advancement of the field through editorial service, including his editorial role with The Ocular Surface, and through peer review for leading ophthalmology and biomedical journals.
His clinical practice closely complements and informs his research. He provides advanced care for patients with corneal disease, chemical eye injury, keratoconus, limbal stem cell deficiency, severe ocular surface disease, corneal scarring and edema, and complications of prior ocular surgery. His surgical expertise includes penetrating keratoplasty, endothelial keratoplasty, deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty, keratoprosthesis, complex anterior-segment reconstruction, ocular surface reconstruction, and refractive surgery.
Dr. Soleimani is deeply committed to education, mentorship, and scientific workforce development. He has mentored medical students, residents, fellows, postdoctoral scholars, and international researchers and has held leadership roles in fellowship education, clinical quality, and academic program development. Through his clinical leadership, translational research, editorial service, and commitment to mentorship, he is strengthening USC’s national and international presence in corneal and ocular surface medicine while developing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for patients with complex, vision-threatening disease.

• Research to Prevent Blindness/Academy: IRIS Registry AAO Research Award, 2026
• American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery: Best Poster Award, 2026
• Cornea Research Foundation of America: Research and Education Award, 2025
• UNC Department of Ophthalmology: Arthur Chandler Teaching Award, 2025
• Avant-garde Health: Top 1% of U.S. Ophthalmology Research Physicians, 2024
   – 2025
• Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology: ARVO Kazuo Tsubota Innovation Grant, 2024
• IOFF Germany: International Ophthalmic Fellowship Foundation Educational Fellowship Award, 2020

• Pathophysiology of Chronic and Delayed Mustard Gas Keratopathy
  NIH · R01EY035221 · Role: Scientific Collaborator
• Prevention of Corneal Transplant Rejection Using AAV-BDRK-401 Therapy
  NIH · R41EY033262 · Role: Clinical PI/ Consultant
• Phase I Study of Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Secretome for Promoting Corneal Regeneration
  NIH · UH3EY031809 · Role: Scientific Collaborator
• National Practice Patterns, Outcomes, and Risk Stratification of Keratoprosthesis Implantation in the IRIS Registry
  Research to Prevent Blindness/Academy Award for IRIS Registry Research · Role: Principal Investigator
• Virtual Reality Simulation for Training in Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK): A Pilot Study
  Cornea Research Foundation of America · Role: Principal Investigator
• AI in Infectious Keratitis
  Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology · Role: Principal Investigator

• Cornea Refractive and Transplantation Surgery
• Ocular Surface
• Artificial Intelligence in Ophthalmology
• Regenerative Medicine
• Stem Cell Therapy
• Corneal Tissue Engineering
• Infectious Keratitis and Ocular Trauma

• Acanthamoeba keratitis: Insights into diagnostic challenges and treatment advances. Surv Ophthalmol. 2026 Jul 14.. View in PubMed
• Posterior Segment Pressurization With Intravitreal Balanced Salt Solution to Stabilize Anterior Chamber Gas During Endothelial Keratoplasty. Cornea. 2026 Jul 02.. View in PubMed
• Smartphone-Assisted Placido Ring Imaging for K1 Stratification in Keratoconus: A Deep Learning Study. Diagnostics (Basel). 2026 Jul 02; 16(13).. View in PubMed
• Sex-based differences in ocular trauma: a systematic review with narrative synthesis. Front Public Health. 2026; 14:1814050.. View in PubMed
• Beyond diagnosis: AI-based surgical risk assessment in Acanthamoeba keratitis with real-world validation. Ocul Surf. 2026 Jun 18; 42:44-50.. View in PubMed
• Predictors of retinal detachment and visual outcome in acute retinal necrosis: a 14-year retrospective cohort. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2026 Jun 17.. View in PubMed
• Keratitis patterns in patients with human immunodeficiency virus: A 10-year retrospective study. Saudi J Ophthalmol. 2026; 40(2):173-177.. View in PubMed
• Anterior segment optical coherence tomography: a tool for infectious keratitis. Ther Adv Ophthalmol. 2026; 18:25158414261449336.. View in PubMed
• Endogenous endophthalmitis complicated by iris abscess and anterior lens capsule rupture. BMJ Case Rep. 2026 May 22; 19(5).. View in PubMed
• Evaluation of the Potential of a Fast-Curing Polymer Bioadhesive Hydrogel for Corneal Defect Repair. Gels. 2026 Apr 23; 12(5).. View in PubMed
• Nocardia keratitis: Microbiological characteristics, antibiotic sensitivity, and clinical profile in a tertiary care setting. Saudi J Ophthalmol. 2026; 40(2):183-188.. View in PubMed
• Prevalence of cataracts in Iran based on the Persian eye cohort study. Sci Rep. 2024 12 30; 14(1):31812.. View in PubMed
• Distribution and prevalence of refractive error in Iranian adult population results of the PERSIAN eye cohort study PECS. Sci Rep. 2024 06 24; 14(1):14515.. View in PubMed
• Risk Factors for Uncorrected Refractive Error: Persian Cohort Eye Study – Rafsanjan Center. J Curr Ophthalmol. 2022 Oct-Dec; 34(4):421-427.. View in PubMed
• Single-Field Fundus Photography for Screening of Diabetic Retinopathy: The Prevalence and Associated Factors in a Population-Based Study. Diabetes Ther. 2023 Jan; 14(1):205-217.. View in PubMed
• Sexual distress and sexual function in a sample of Iranian women with gynecologic cancers. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2018 Aug; 35:47-53.. View in PubMed
• The Factor Structure of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale in Veterans Experienced Chemical Weapon Exposure. J Relig Health. 2018 Apr; 57(2):596-608.. View in PubMed
• Psychometric Properties of the Death Anxiety Scale-Extended among Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease. Omega (Westport). 2020 Feb; 80(3):380-396.. View in PubMed
• Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Death Depression Scale-Revised in Iranian Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction. Iran J Psychiatry. 2017 Jul; 12(3):172-181.. View in PubMed
• Death Anxiety and Quality of Life in Iranian Caregivers of Patients With Cancer. Cancer Nurs. 2017 Jan.. View in PubMed
• Perceptions of people living with Parkinson’s disease: a qualitative study in Iran. Br J Community Nurs. 2016 Apr; 21(4):188-95.. View in PubMed