Houman David Hemmati, MD, Ph.D.

Medical Advisor

Houman David Hemmati, MD, Ph.D. is a Board-Certified ophthalmologist, most recently Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at USC Keck School of Medicine, where he served as Attending Physician at LA County USC Medical Center. He is currently Chief Medical Officer of Vyluma, Inc., and Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of aesthetic medicine company Levation Pharma and retina therapeutics company Optigo Biotherapeutics, which is developing long-acting intravitreal drugs for wet macular degeneration and diabetic eye disease and was recently Chief Medical Officer of Stargazer Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors of Trailhead Biosystems (stem cells) and MediPrint Ophthalmics (contact lens drug delivery). He was previously Vice President of Medical and Clinical Development for New Therapies at Capricor Therapeutics, and Director, Clinical Development at Allergan, as Clinical Scientist in the Ophthalmology Therapeutic Area on several Phase 1, 2, and 3 studies, including recently-approved Vuity for presbyopia. Previously, Dr. Hemmati served as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Vermont School of Medicine. Dr. Hemmati earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences at Stanford, an M.D. from UCLA, a Ph.D. in Biology from Caltech, and completed an Internal Medicine internship at Stanford Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemical Engineering and Drug Delivery at MIT, and a clinical fellowship in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hemmati has received numerous awards and honors, including The Alcon Research Scholar Award, and the Everhart Presidential Distinguished Lectureship from Caltech.