Dr. Sadiqa Stelzner

Dr. Sadiqa Stelzner is an educator and a leader in innovative eye surgical techniques and laser surgeries. Dr. Stelzner’s vast medical training and experience as well as her compassion for her patients have made her one of the top ophthalmologists in the country. As chief physician at the Santa Monica Eye Group, Dr. Stelzner specializes in cataract, refractive laser , esthetic and eyelid surgeries.

In addition to serving her patients in private practice, Dr. Stelzner is Chief of Ophthalmology at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopedic Hospital. She was Director of Eye Care at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans’ Hospital. As Associate Clinical Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine/Jules Stein Eye Institute, Dr. Stelzner attends the UCLA Ophthalmology residents. In addition to her work at UCLA, she is also the benefactor of several UCLA undergraduate and graduate scholarships. She is a staff surgeon at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Cedars-Sinai Surgery Center of the Pacific, and Specialty Surgical Center of Beverly Hills, California.

The scope of Dr. Stelzner’s experience also includes conducting research, teaching, and publishing many peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals. She was invited to Milan, Italy, to perform scientific research on a grant from the Italian Council of Science. Later, she completed a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is a sought-after speaker at national ophthalmology conventions and around the world, including a recent trip to speak at several hospitals in Japan. Twice every year she is one of the teaching faculty for the cataract surgery courses for ophthalmology residents from UCLA, USC, UCI, UCSD and Loma Linda.

A very important part of Dr. Stelzner’s work is giving back to the community, both locally and globally. She is a regular volunteer at local high schools, providing eye care to students and their families. She recently traveled as part of a humanitarian team to Mexico and El Salvador, where she performed sight-restoring surgeries and taught local eye physicians her safe and innovative eye surgery techniques. She has also traveled to Japan to share her world-renowned surgical techniques.

Dr. Stelzner earned her undergraduate degree in biochemistry, and graduate degree in cellular and molecular biology at UCLA. She received her medical doctorate from Boston University. She completed her ophthalmology residency at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she went on to work with Dr. David McIntyre at an internationally renowned private practice. In addition, Dr. Stelzner completed executive management training at the Yale School of Management.

Dr. Stelzner lives on the Westside with her two children.