Poonam Mudgil

Dr. Poonam Mudgil holds a PhD in Molecular Microbiology and is a Senior Lecturer in Medicine at University of New South Wales. She has held research fellowships at Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Western Sydney University, and Charles Sturt University with international collaborations across Australia, USA (University of Louisville, Colorado, Texas), and Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.

Her research addresses major public health issues in ophthalmology through biophysics/biochemistry approaches, including tear film structural analysis and antimicrobial lipid discovery for dry eye disease. She has led projects on antimicrobial resistance and alternative treatments, funded by Research Infrastructure grants (2014-2021), ARC-Linkage (2021), and Tri-Faculty Conference Support (2024).

Scientific Leadership

• Elected Member, Annual Meeting Program Committee - Cornea section, ARVO (2024-present)
• Mentor, ARVO Global Mentorship Program (2019-present)
• Chair, Ethics and Regulations in Human Research Committee, ARVO (2019-2022)