About Dr. Sarnicola
Dr. Enrica Sarnicola graduated “cum laude” at University of Siena in 2012 and completed her Residency in Ophthalmology at University of Siena in 2017.
She completed a Fellowship in Cornea and External diseases at University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Eye Institute in USA with Prof. Edward J. Holland.
From 2018 to 2020 she worked at the Turin Eye Hospital, one of the only three Italian eye hospitals, where she become the Referent of the Cornea Service.
In 2021 she moved to Tuscany (Italy) to join her father, Vincenzo Sarnicola, to work at the Clinica degli Occhi Sarnicola.
She also currently works as a researcher at the University of Salerno since 2023 and collaborate periodically with Prof. Mor Dickman at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands) where she offers surgical and clinical assistance for patients in need of corneal or ocular surface stem cell transplantation (since 2025).
Being passionate about research, she published 41 peer-reviewed publications, including the largest series (over 600 eyes) of DALK procedures with a 10-year follow-up, and the two papers about a new indication for DALK as an early surgical approach for the treatment of Acanthamoeba and fungal keratitis poorly responsive to medical treatment, several publications on ocular stem cell transplantation with the group of Dr Holland.
In June 2025 she published a new surgical technique “the first auto-transplant of the entire bulbar ocular surface” on the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.
She also wrote several books chapters, including three chapters about DALK in the Mannis-Holland “Cornea” book.
Dr. Sarnicola has received the National Scientific qualification as Associate Professor in the Italian Higher Education System, for the disciplinary field of Ophthalmology, and she operated as Assisting Visitant Professor at Duke University, Durham USA, in 2018 and at the Sydney University in 2020, and as Visiting Professor at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in 2025.
Having a reputation for his knowledge and expertise in the field of Cornea and External Disease, especially in the context of lamellar keratoplasty, Dr. Sarnicola is frequently invited to give lectures to national and international meetings, including instructional courses about DALK at the ASCRS, ESCRS, and AAO annual meetings since 2013. She has been recently added in the Editorial Board of CORNEA JOURNAL OPEN.
She serves as a reviewer of Cornea Journal, as a Scientific Secretary of S.I.C.S.S.O. – The International Society of Cornea, Stem Cell, and Ocular Surface since 2014.