Ois Podcast

Balamurali "Bala" K. Ambati, MD, PhD, MBA, is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s youngest doctor, having graduated from medical school at age 17. In this episode, Dr. Ambati explains to our host Paul Karpecki, OD, that this accelerated pace gave him a head start meeting great people, exploring the field, doing deep dives in research, and building a good network.Dr. Ambati has had diversified roles over his career, and said, “It’s been great to meld clinical work with research. When you take the patch off somebody, that smile of them seeing again is something special.”In addition to owning an ophthalmology practice in Oregon, Dr. Ambati is President [of iVeena Delivery Systems, a company Dr. Karpecki says is ”really making incredible strides in advancing a treatment for keratoconus”.The company’s candidate for treatment of keratoconus is IVMED-80, which has received orphan drug designation from the FDA. IVMED-80 is designed to restore the activity of lysyl oxidase (LOX), an enzyme r