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Dr. Pulin Shah is an ophthalmologist at Ochsner. He leads the department of Ophthalmology as section head of Cataract and Corneal Surgery and medical director of the Ochsner Baptist Laser Vision Center. Dr. Shah has personally performed over 10,000 cataract procedures, taught many medical students and residents, and was principal investigator of a major clinical research trial, which has brought innovative new technology to our region.

He was raised in the heart of Cajun Country: Lafayette, Louisiana, where he attended the Episcopal School of Acadiana. His parents, a doctor and an engineer who immigrated to the United States from India in the 1960s, taught him the value of professionalism and hard work. He went on to attend Emory University in Atlanta, then Louisiana State Medical School in New Orleans. He completed his ophthalmology surgical training at California Pacific in San Francisco and at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. He returned to New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina to establish his medical practice at Ochsner Medical Center.

Dr. Shah serves as a medical director for the Southern Eye Bank, a local nonprofit organization which supports organ and tissue donation and provides precious eye tissue for patients undergoing corneal transplantation. He also partners with St. Thomas Clinic and Daughters of Charity to provide free cataract surgery to needy New Orleanians. Dr. Shah's contributions extend beyond our borders, through his position as board president of the International Eye Institute, where he leads a team of volunteer medical professionals every year to travel to Central America to perform sight restoring cataract and corneal surgeries. Dr. Shah also serves on Ochsner's International Advisory Board and has established the Ochsner International Eye Care Fund to allow grateful patients and donors to directly support his efforts in the fight against preventable blindness worldwide.

Medical Education

Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans
Field of Study: No Value Specified

Internship

University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine
Field of Study: Transitional - Medicine/Surgery

Residency

California Pacific Medical Center
Field of Study: Ophthalmology

Fellowship

Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
Field of Study: Cornea/External Disease

  • American Board of Ophthalmology