KHALID F. TABBARA, M.D., FRCOphth, ABO
Corneal/External Disease/Uveitis


Khalid F. Tabbara, M.D. is currently Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology at Wilmer Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, Medical Director of The Eye Center, and Director of The Eye Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Tabbara is former Professor and Chairman at  Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine King Saud University, and Research Director at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.         

Dr. Tabbara was Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Department of Ophthalmology and The Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California in San Francisco.  He served as an Examiner in the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) for over 20 years.  Dr. Tabbara also served as President of the International Uveitis Study Group (IUSG), Paris, France in the period of 1996 to 2000, and was Founding President of the Arab Board of Ophthalmology in the period of 1994 to 1998. 

In 1983, Dr. Tabbara established the Research Department of the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and in 1983 led the team that completed the largest survey of blindness in Saudi Arabia.  During the same year, he organized and initiated a four-year structured residency program in Ophthalmology in the Middle East. 

Dr. Tabbara received research grants from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, the University of California, and the King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). Dr. Tabbara's main research focused on ocular immunology and microbiology, infections of the eye, uveitis, cornea, and external eye diseases. 

Dr. Tabbara received Gold Medal Awards from the Pakistani Ophthalmological Society, the Saudi Ophthalmological Society and  the  Pan-Arab Council of Ophthalmology.        Dr. Tabbara received American Academy of Ophthalmology Awards for four Scientific Posters and first Exhibition Awards, and for Distinguished services in the educational programs.  Dr. Tabbara also received the Physician’s Recognition award for Continuing Medical Education from the American Medical Association.

In 1994, Dr. Tabbara  received the Senior Honor Award from  the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and in 1996, Dr. Tabbara received the Best Research Project   Award from the Saudi Ophthalmological Society during its Tenth Annual Scientific Meeting (Ophthalmology 1996) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Tabbara is the author of over 400 scientific publications. He is also the author, co-author or guest editor of many chapters and books in Ophthalmology.

Dr. Tabbara is a founding member of the Saudi Ophthalmological Society. He is the Founding Editor and former Editor-in-Chief of the Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology (the official Journal of the Saudi Ophthalmological Society), and advisory member of the editorial boards of JAMA Middle East, International Ophthalmology Clinics, International Journal of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmic Epidemiology, Middle East Journal of Ophthalmology, Documenta Ophthalmologica,  and the Jordan Medical Journal. 

Dr. Tabbara completed several field projects in Saudi Arabia on Trachoma in school children, treatment of Trachoma with azithromycin, Trachoma in Saudi Arabia, blindness in Saudi Arabia, and Toxoplasmosis in Saudi Arabia. 

Dr. Tabbara received the Trachoma Gold Medal award for the year 2000 from The  International Organization Against Trachoma (IOAT) during the 106th Congress of the French Ophthalmological Society, held on  May 7, 2000 in Paris, France. The International Organization Against Trachoma (IOAT) awards the Gold Medal to one scientist who has contributed to the control of Trachoma in the world.

Dr. Tabbara is currently active in residents teaching, research, continuing medical education, and clinical ophthalmology.