Affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Dr. Safal Khanal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry. Research in his laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanistic basis of emmetropization, eye growth regulation, and normal and abnormal refractive development, through a combination of imaging, electrophysiology, and molecular techniques in animal models and humans. Dr. Khanal received his Bachelor of Optometry and Doctor of Optometry degrees before joining the University of Auckland School of Optometry where he earned his PhD studying defocus signaling mechanisms in humans. He then completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Auckland and the University of Alabama at Birmingham studying myopia mechanisms and treatments in human children and tree shrews. Dr. Khanal is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and an active member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision.