Arvind Chandna, MD, joined The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco on November 1, 2015, as a Senior Clinicial Researcher in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus.
Dr. Chandna has an impressive array of credentials. He attended medical school in New Delhi and then went to UK in 1979 to specialize in ophthalmology. He trained at Charing Cross Hospital, London; Central Middlesex Hospital, London (Neurosurgery); Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Bristol Eye Hospital, Bristol University (M.D.) and finally Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. In 1992, he spent a six-month fellowship at Smith-Kettlewell training with the Jampolsky Fellows Program.
In 1992 he was appointed as Consultant Pediatric Ophthalmologist to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool to lead the development of new and unique pediatric eye services in the hospital and the community. From a small, dedicated unit the pediatric ophthalmology department grew into a well-established comprehensive service with significant components of research and teaching and training of overseas fellows. He is an active member of the College and has held positions of Clinical Lead, College Tutor, and has served on committees for the College and the National Health Service. He is an Honorary Professor at King Edward Medical University, Lahore.
Dr. Chandna has been actively involved in volunteer work since 1992 and opportunities to help in the fight against childhood blindness has taken him to Sudan, Tanzania, Pakistan, Ghana, China, Myanmar, and India. He is dedicated to teaching and training and has held workshops and courses in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, India, and Pakistan. He is Founder and Chair of Vision 4 Children (The Littler Trust), an international charity set up in January 2008 to help the fight against childhood blindness. While at Alder Hey, he organized a Smith-Kettlewell satellite program on pediatric vision research and has subsequently spent time at Smith-Kettlewell as a Visiting Scholar.
With his clinical and research background, as well as his winning personality, Dr. Chandna is unique in his ability to bridge the basic clinical-researcher divide. He brings his clinical knowledge, research experience, fundraising abilities, and many other assets to The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. His plans are to develop further research at Smith-Kettlewell in eye tracking, strabismus and amblyopia in children and adults with a view to translation into routine clinical practice to improve patient care.