Leah A. Owen, MD, PhD

Leah Owen, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Utah. Dr. Owen has a BS in Biology and Chemistry from Westminster College and completed an MD/PhD program and ophthalmology residency at the University of Utah, as well as a pediatric ophthalmology fellowship at the Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Owen is board certified and specializes in the medical and surgical treatment of pediatric eye disease, including cataract, tear duct obstruction, amblyopia, retinopathy of pre­maturity (ROP), and strabismus. She also specializes in the surgical treatment of adult strabismus. She is an active member of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group, all of which work continually to improve the ability to treat eye diseases.

As principal investigator of a National Eye Institute-funded lab, Dr. Owen also works to advance the understanding of the root causes of blinding eye diseases on a genetic and molecular level. The goal of Dr. Owen’s work is to advance the treatment of pediatric eye conditions and enable disease prevention for conditions, including ROP, strabismus, amblyopia, and heritable retinal disease. She and her team work with multi-disciplinary colleagues nationally and internationally to achieve these goals. Their work has led to important discoveries that are changing the way we care for patients and reducing a child’s risk of blindness. As an example, Dr. Owen’s work to understand why some preterm infants are at greater risk for developing blindness from ROP has led to a partnership with Genentech to translate these findings to new prevention therapies, which may not simply minimize blindness but prevent it altogether.

Her practice combines these clinical and research aims to provide excellent and cutting-edge care to her patients.