Message from the Department Chair
Message from the Department Chair
College of Applied Medical Sciences
King Saud University
Our commitment is to advance optometric education, clinical care, and vision science research to the highest academic and professional standards.
It is my privilege to lead the Optometry Department at the College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University — a department that has, since its founding, played a defining role in shaping optometric education and practice in the Kingdom. That legacy comes with a responsibility: to keep our academic programs, our clinical training, and our research agenda moving forward together, rather than treating them as separate goals.
On the academic side, we offer a complete pathway for students at every stage of their careers. Our Doctor of Optometry program, fully accredited by the National Center for Academic Accreditation and Evaluation, prepares graduates for primary eye care practice at the highest professional standard. Alongside it, our Master of Science in Optometry and our PhD in Optometry & Vision Science — one of the few doctoral programs of its kind in the region — give students the opportunity to pursue advanced, research-focused careers in vision science, while our Opticianry Technology diploma trains the skilled national opticians our healthcare system needs.
Long before graduation, our students work in our specialized clinics — covering cornea and contact lenses, binocular vision, orthoptics, low vision rehabilitation, color vision, and pediatric optometry — under the direct supervision of faculty who are themselves active clinicians and researchers. This is also where our research agenda lives: faculty-led work in areas such as myopia control, contact lens optics, and ocular imaging is grounded in the patients we actually treat, and it informs how we teach.
What distinguishes our education, in my view, is how closely it is tied to real clinical practice.
We also understand our role as extending beyond the university campus. Through our clinical services, our contribution to the Saudization of the optical workforce, and our engagement in public eye-health initiatives, we aim to make sure the department's academic and scientific progress translates into tangible benefit for the community, in keeping with the aims of Vision 2030.
