Harshvardhan Chawla, MD

Ophthalmologist

Education & Honors

Harshvardhan Chawla, MD is a board-certified vitreoretinal surgeon. Dr. Chawla was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California. He earned his medical degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Dr. Chawla completed his ophthalmology residency at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, where he was selected as Chief Resident and received the James P. Hill, PhD Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology Research. He then completed an intensive two-year vitreoretinal fellowship with the University of Alabama at Birmingham / Retina Specialists of Alabama – renowned as one of the highest volume surgical programs in the United States. Based at the Callahan Eye Hospital (a level-one ocular trauma center), he gained special expertise in the management of complex retinal detachments, endophthalmitis and ocular trauma.

Awards, Clinical Research & Authorships

Dr. Chawla has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on medical and surgical diseases of the retina. Specific topics include retinal vascular disease, diabetic retinopathy, artificial intelligence-based diagnostics and retinal detachment prevention. As a Research Associate for the Helen Keller Research Foundation, Dr. Chawla published extensively and was selected to attend the International Society of Ocular Trauma symposium in Lisbon, Portugal. His work has been presented at national and international conferences including the Association for Research in Vision (ARVO), the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) and the American Ophthalmological Society (AOS).

His academic distinctions include:
– Chief Resident, Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
– James M. Hill, PhD Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology Research, Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
– Distinction in Research, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
– Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship, University of Southern California
– Phi Beta Kappa, University of Southern California
– Academic Achievement Award, University of Southern California
– Dean Joan Metcalf Schaefer Scholarship, University of Southern California
– Presidential Scholarship, University of Southern California