Safal Khanal, OD, PhD, FAAO is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his optometry and vision science training in Nepal and the Philippines and earned his Bachelor of Optometry and Doctor of Optometry degrees. Dr. Khanal then worked as a consultant in a conjoint optometry/ophthalmology practice in Nepal, before joining the University of Auckland School. During his time at the University of Auckland, Dr. Khanal also served as an educator in the Bachelor of Optometry degree program, teaching clinical optometry courses and supervising undergraduate students in summer research and honors projects. After completing his first postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of John Phillips, BSc(M Eng), BSc(Optom), MSc, PhD, MCOptom, FAAO, at the University of Auckland Myopia Lab, he moved to the United States for his second postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratories of Timothy Gawne, PhD and Jason Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO, at the UAB School of Optometry.
Dr. Khanal became a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry in 2016. He holds active professional membership in several organizations, including the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision, and continues to serve as an ad-hoc reviewer for several leading journals, including Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, Contact Lens and Anterior Eye, Eye and Contact Lens, Optometry and Vision Science, Documenta Ophthalmologica, Clinical and Experimental Optometry, Journal of Optometry, BMC Ophthalmology, and Experimental Eye Research.
