Dr. Shady Awwad is a professor of Ophthalmology and the head of the Cornea & Refractive Surgery division at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. He received his medical degree with the US-based Alpha Omega Alpha award, completed an internship in general surgery, and a residency in ophthalmology at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC). He then pursued a double fellowship in corneal diseases and surgery and refractive surgery and a fellowship in ophthalmic pathology, all at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He received the American Academy of Ophthalmology achievement award in 2010, and the prestigious George Waring Medal for editorial excellence in 2021 from the Journal of Refractive Surgery, among many other international awards. He is currently the associate editor of the associate editor of the Journal of Refractive Surgery and the president of the Lebanese Ophthalmological Society. He is a co-founder of the International Keratoconuys Society (IKS) and on the steering committee of the International Keratoconus and Cross-Linking (KCXL) meeting, the World Keratoconus Congress, and the EPOMEC congress. He has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and more than 15 book chapters. He is also the co-founder of NeuralVision, specializing in AI solutions for ophthalmic imaging platforms. 

Dr. Awwad’s main clinical and surgical focus is on refractive surgery (LASIK, PRK, SMILE/KLEx, wavefront and topography-guided laser surgeries, phakic corrective lenses such the ICL Evo, and presbyopic surgeries including laser blended vision and Multifocal implants), corneal surgery (keratoconus, allogenic intracorneal ring segments (CAIRS), all types of corneal transplantation, corneal cross-linking, and others), and cataract surgery and anterior segment diseases and surgeries. 

For this, he has been actively conducting research aimed at better understanding and treating visual errors and corneal diseases, a dedication reflected in his extensively large research portfolio. One of his main projects is on developing artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to help in automatically detecting clinical features on corneal and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (for which he has a U.S. patent), and corneal topography and tomography, in addition to wavefront technolgy and keratoconus diagnosis and treatment. He developed many formulas for intraocular lens power calculations in cataracts of patients with a history of laser vision correction, two of which were adopted by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) and featured on its website. He has to date more than 130 publications in major international peer-reviewed high-impact ophthalmology journals, and more than 400 presentations in major international ophthalmology meetings such as the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the Association for Research & Vision in Ophthalmology, and the World Ophthalmology Congress. He received the American Academy of Ophthalmology achievement award for his continuous academic and research contributions, and the Waring Medal Award from the Journal of Refractive Surgery for the most impactful study in 2021, highlighting the dangers of using mitomycin C in association with cross-linking in customized treatments for keratoconus. 

On the educational level, Dr. Awwad is actively involved in teaching at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC). He is the founding director of the Medicals International Refractive Surgery Fellowship Program at AUBMC, one of the very first programs around the world dedicated purely to refractive surgery. In addition, he has organized and has contributed to many transfer of skills and surgical courses presented at all the major international meetings such as the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He has also been a panelist and moderator in numerous scientific sessions held during those meetings, and a peer-reviewer for many ophthalmology journals. 

Dr. Awwad is an associate editor and on the editorial board of the Journal of Refractive Surgery, the official journal of the International Society of Refractive Surgery Society (ISRS). He is also an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the International Society of Refractive Surgery, the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ESCRS), and a founding member of the International Keratoconus Society (IKS). He is also a peer reviewer for many scientific journals, and has been awarded Gold Reviewer for the Journal of Refractive Surgery for 6 consecutive years.