About

I am a consultant ophthalmologist based in Bucharest, with a practice focused on corneal transplantation and the surgical rehabilitation of complex anterior segment cases. My work centres on the corneal transplant programme at the Bucharest Emergency Eye Hospital, alongside consultations and surgery at Intensive Eyecare Bucharest.

My surgical practice spans the full keratoplasty spectrum — DMEK, DALK and penetrating keratoplasty — together with complex cataract surgery, anterior segment reconstruction and ocular trauma. I am a Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology and hold a PhD in Medicine from the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

My training in cornea has been built through repeated fellowships and observerships abroad — in Nottingham with Professor Harminder Dua, and in Rome with Domenico Schiano-Lomoriello — together with eye bank observerships in Rome and Genoa that inform how donor tissue is selected, prepared and handled. Alongside clinical work I have authored 13 peer-reviewed publications and 5 book chapters, and I teach regularly at national meetings and in surgical wetlabs.

Current appointment

Bucharest Emergency Eye Hospital — Bucharest, Romania Ophthalmology Consultant, August 2023 – present Corneal transplant programme — DMEK, DALK and penetrating keratoplasty — with independent theatre lists, outpatient clinics and emergency on-call cover, including complex anterior segment reconstruction and ocular trauma surgery.

Previous experience

Bucharest Emergency Eye Hospital — Bucharest, Romania Hospital Specialist Ophthalmologist, January 2017 – August 2023 Theatre sessions, clinic hours and emergency casualty.

Bucharest Emergency University Hospital — Bucharest, Romania Resident and specialist registrar in ophthalmology, January 2013 – December 2016 Supervised medical and surgical training based at the Bucharest Clinical Emergency Eye Hospital.

Education

• Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology (FEBO) — European Board of Ophthalmology, 2021.
• PhD in Medicine — “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest. 2013 – 2017. Thesis: functional and aesthetic outcomes of medial rectus recession surgery for convergent strabismus.
• Doctor of Medicine, General Medicine — “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest. 2006 – 2012.

Surgical expertise

Cornea and ocular surface

• Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), including DMEK triple with phacoemulsification
• Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK)
• Penetrating keratoplasty (PK)
• Amniotic membrane transplantation, single and multilayer; conjunctival and Gundersen flaps
• Eye banking and corneo-scleral rim preparation

Cataract and anterior segment

• Phacoemulsification; manual small-incision cataract surgery (MSICS)
• Anterior vitrectomy; IOL suturing; intrascleral haptic fixation
• Complex anterior segment rehabilitation

Trauma

• Corneo-scleral wound repair; pupilloplasty; iris repair and iris prosthesis (CustomFlex Artificial Iris certified)

Laser

• Femtosecond laser; refractive and therapeutic laser applications

Fellowships and observerships

• Eye Bank Observer — San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital, Ophthalmology Unit, Eye Bank of Rome. Rome, Italy, March 2023.
• Cornea Observer — IRCCS Fondazione G.B. Bietti, Ospedale Britannico, with Domenico Schiano-Lomoriello. Rome, Italy, February – March 2023.
• Eye Bank Observer — Fondazione Banca degli Occhi Lions Melvin Jones, Ospedale Policlinico San Martino. Genoa, Italy, October 2021.
• Cornea Observer — IRCCS Fondazione G.B. Bietti, with Domenico Schiano-Lomoriello. Rome, Italy, February 2020.
• Cornea Observer — Queen’s Medical Centre, NUH NHS Trust, with Professor H.S. Dua. Nottingham, United Kingdom, January 2019.
• Cornea Observer — Queen’s Medical Centre, NUH NHS Trust, with Professor H.S. Dua. Nottingham, United Kingdom, January 2018.

Teaching and surgical instruction

Clinical and surgical ophthalmology teaching for senior medical students at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

• Cataract surgery wetlab instructor — Alcon, September 2024.
• Cataract surgery drylab instructor — Théa, May 2024 (two sessions).
• Corneal topography hands-on training — Alcon, October 2023.
• Cataract surgery wetlab instructor — Alcon, January and February 2023.

Invited lectures

• Tips and tricks in DALK and PK for keratoconus — Global Keratoconus School, Progrese și Inovații în Oftalmologie. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 2025.
• What does DMEK surgery teach us about cataract surgery? — Progrese și Inovații în Oftalmologie. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 2025.
• Precise K values: it all starts with an optimised ocular surface — Progrese și Inovații în Oftalmologie. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 2025.
• Complex DMEK cases — Black Sea Ophthalmological Society International Congress, XXIII edition. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, April 2025.
• The standard DMEK case — Black Sea Ophthalmological Society International Congress, XXIII edition. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, April 2025.
• Complex anterior segment rehabilitation — case report — Progrese și Inovații în Oftalmologie. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 2024.
• DALK: pearls and pitfalls — Progrese și Inovații în Oftalmologie. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 2024.
• Advances in DMEK surgery at the Bucharest Emergency Eye Hospital — Progrese și Inovații în Oftalmologie. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 2023.

Selected presentations

• Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty for corneal macular dystrophy: a case series analysis — International Society of Cornea, Stem Cells and Ocular Surface Congress. Grosseto, Italy, June 2024.
• The DMEK triple: concomitant phacoemulsification with IOL implantation and DMEK — Xth Congress of the Romanian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. Eforie Nord, Romania, June 2024.
• Combined surgical approach for complex ocular rehabilitation — Xth Congress of the Romanian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. Eforie Nord, Romania, June 2024.
• Surgical technique: utilising one corneo-scleral rim for one DALK and one DMEK — Cornea Session, XXIst National Ophthalmology Congress. Sinaia, Romania, October 2023.
• Initial personal experience with DMEK endothelial grafting: a surgical video-based case series — Cornea Session, XXIst National Ophthalmology Congress. Sinaia, Romania, October 2023.
• Manual deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK): indications and surgical technique — Cornea Session, XXIst National Ophthalmology Congress. Sinaia, Romania, October 2023.
• Multilayer amniotic membrane transplantation: indications and surgical technique — Cornea Session, XXIst National Ophthalmology Congress. Sinaia, Romania, October 2023.
• Phaco and phacodynamics — Alcon Young Ophthalmologists Workshop, XXth National Ophthalmology Congress. Sinaia, Romania, October 2022.
• Take your training into your own hands — Alcon Talks webinar, October 2021.
• Phaco through phacodynamics — Alcon Talks webinar, March 2021.
• A case of extreme hyperopia — VIth Congress of the Romanian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. Eforie Nord, Romania, June 2019.
• Instead of an evisceration — case report — Romanian Society of Ophthalmology. Bucharest, June 2018.
• Penetrating corneal wound and traumatic cataract: case series — XVIth National Ophthalmology Congress. Sinaia, Romania, October 2017.
• Intraocular foreign body and traumatic cataract: anterior surgical approach — Romanian Society of Ophthalmology. Bucharest, May 2017.
• Iridocorneal endothelial syndrome — 7th National Glaucoma Conference. Iași, Romania, May 2015.

Courses and certifications

• Boston KPro wetlab — ESCRS, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2025.
• Ziemer Refractive Training Programme — Port, Switzerland, November 2024.
• DMEK wetlab — Moorfields Education, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, October 2023.
• IVCM HRT3 RCM online course — April 2023.
• Penetrating keratoplasty: introduction to corneal banking — postgraduate course, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, March 2023.
• Good Clinical Practice certification — NIDA Clinical Trials Network, January 2023.
• CustomFlex Artificial Iris online certification course — May 2022.
• DMEK wetlab — ESCRS, Paris, France, September 2019.
• 8th EGS European Resident Glaucoma Course — Geneva, Switzerland, January 2014.
• Basic phacoemulsification wetlab — ESCRS, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 2013.

Peer-reviewed publications

• Ladea L, Dragosloveanu CMD, Coroleuca R, Brezean I, Catrina EL, Nedelcu DE, Vilcu ME, Toma CV, Georgevici AI, Dinu V. Risk factors associated with corneal nerve fiber length reduction in patients with type 2 diabetes. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2025;14:8411.
• Salavat MC, Munteanu M, Chercotă V, Ardelean AI, Schuldez A, Dinu V, Borugă O. Corneal endothelial cell loss following cataract surgery in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a comprehensive review. Biomedicines. 2025;13:1726.
• Baltă G, Tofolean IT, Tiu T, Dinu V, Alexandrescu CM, Baltă F, Voinea LM. Sequential pars plana vitrectomy and inverted internal limiting membrane flap technique for rhegmatogenous retinal detachments with peripheral breaks and concomitant non-causative macular hole in non-highly myopic patients. Retina. 2024;44(10):1777–1784. doi:10.1097/IAE.0000000000004180
• Abicca I, Schiano-Lomoriello D, Gilardi M, Giannini D, Dinu V, Coutinho C, Savini G. Repeatability of automatic measurements by an anterior segment swept-source OCT biometer in patients with keratoconus. Journal of Refractive Surgery. 2024;40(7):e445–e452. doi:10.3928/1081597X-20240514-03
• De Piano M, Abicca I, Dinu V, Roszkowska AM, Micera A, Schiano-Lomoriello D. Expression of hormones’ receptors in human corneal endothelium from Fuchs’ dystrophy: a possible gender association. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2024;13:3787. doi:10.3390/jcm13133787
• Ladea L, Zemba M, Calancea MI, Călțaru MV, Dragosloveanu CDM, Coroleucă R, Catrina EL, Brezean I, Dinu V. Corneal epithelial changes in diabetic patients: a review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2024;25:3471. doi:10.3390/ijms25063471
• Zemba M, Dumitrescu OM, Gheorghe AG, Radu M, Ionescu MA, Vatafu A, Dinu V. Ocular complications of radiotherapy in uveal melanoma. Cancers. 2023;15:333. doi:10.3390/cancers15020333
• Barac IR, Artamonov AR, Baltă G, Dinu V, Mehedințu C, Bobircă A, Baltă F, Barac DA. Photoactivated chromophore corneal collagen cross-linking for infectious keratitis (PACK-CXL) — a comprehensive review of diagnostic and prognostic factors involved in therapeutic indications and contraindications. Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2022;12(11):1907. doi:10.3390/jpm12111907
• Baltă F, Dinu V, Zemba M, Baltă G, Barac AD, Schmitzer S, Dragosloveanu CDM, Barac RI. Choroidal thickness increase after subliminal transscleral cyclophotocoagulation. Diagnostics. 2022;12(7):1513.
• Dragosloveanu CDM, Potop V, Coviltir V, Dinu V, Păsărică M, Ducan IL, Maier C, Dragosloveanu Ș. Prematurity — risk factor or coincidence in congenital glaucoma? Medicina. 2022;58(3):334.
• Dinu V, Dinu D, Barac R. Esotropia and hyperopia. Archives of the Balkan Medical Union. 2016;51:403–405.
• Dinu V, Dinu D, Barac R. Surgery for consecutive exotropia after bimedial rectus recession: a case series. Archives of the Balkan Medical Union. 2016;51:330–333.
• Coviltir V, Dinu V. ICE syndrome — case report. Romanian Journal of Ophthalmology. 2015;59(2):119–122.

A complete and current publication list is available on ORCID.

Book chapters

• Dinu V. Keratoplastia penetrantă — Partea II. In: Popescu I, Ciurea VA, eds. Tratat de chirurgie. Vol. II — Oftalmologie, 3rd edition, 2024.
• Dinu V. Laser-ul în oftalmologie. Generalități. In: Dumitrache M, ed. Tratamentul LASER în bolile oculare, 2021:55–83.
• Dinu V. Transplant de cornee. In: Dumitrache M, ed. Managementul în bolile oculare, 2019:415–430.
• Coviltir V, Dinu V. Steroizii și suprafața oculară. In: Stănilă A, Mihai E, Stănilă DM, eds. Tratamentul suprafeței oculare, 2019.
• Coviltir V, Dinu V. Sindromul iridocornean endotelial. In: Chiseliță D, ed. Dezbateri clinice despre glaucom, 2015:83–99.

Languages

Consultations are held in Romanian and English. I also have working French (B1) and basic German (A1).