Dr Smita Praveen is currently the Director -Academics, Deputy Director -Comprehensive Ophthalmology and Senior Consultant -Neuro-Ophthalmology at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India.

She has trained over 800 post graduate students in cataract surgery and comprehensive clinical ophthalmology. As Head of the Dept of Community Ophthalmology (2002-2006) she led a group of 40 people to work seamlessly as part of outreach programs to deliver quality eye care. She has served as faculty at Elite School of Optometry, specifically covering Neuro-ophthalmology.

She has devised several innovative ideas for improving interaction between students and faculty as well as disseminating knowledge in an interactive and interesting way, thereby making learning fun.

She is the recipient of the Pushpa Rani Pattanyek award for excellence in community service (2014-15) given by the Association of Community Ophthalmologists in India (ACOIN).

Her areas of interest include optic nerve regeneration, diplopia, quality of life in patients with neuro-degeneration and training Postgraduates and Fellows in comprehensive clinical ophthalmology.

She is an avid reader, loves music and learning languages.