Dr Melinda Hakim graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University where she was awarded the John Harvard Scholarship, the highest academic scholarship given at the university. She then received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed an internship in Internal Medicine at UCLA Medical Center. She is also a graduate of the Yale University medical business administration and executive management program. She completed her ophthalmology training at the Doheny Eye Institute at the University of Southern California Los Angeles, and she has also received sub-specialty training in LASIK/refractive surgery at Cedars Sinai Hospital with Dr. James Salz. She is currently Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Hakim has conducted important ophthalmology research on corneal drug toxicity, optic neuritis, x-linked juvenile retinoschisis, and retinopathy of prematurity. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been invited to give presentations at numerous academic ophthalmology meetings including the American Academy of Ophthalmology. For her extensive contributions to medicine, she was awarded the prestigious 2004 Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award by the American Medical Association.
Dr. Hakim has a strong passion for classical violin. She served as the concertmaster of the Buckley Chamber Orchestra and the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra. She was also a devoted member of the American Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has been on concert tour in many countries, made several professional recordings, and has performed solos with orchestras in Boston, Baltimore, Italy, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. She is happily married to Dr. Pejman Cohan, an Endocrinologist practicing in Beverly Hills.
Honors, Professional Affiliations and Highlights
Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award—American Medical Association
Woman of the Year Award—Iranian Jewish Woman’s Organization
Achievement Award--Association of Professors and Scholars
Achievement and Service Award—Hadassah Hospital
President—Persian Women in Medicine
Chairman—Women in Medicine Lobby Day
Board Certification by the American Board of Ophthalmology
Past Vice President—American Medical Women’s Association (Baltimore)
Past Board Member—University of Southern California Medical Staff Committee
Fellow--American Academy of Ophthalmology
Member--Los Angeles Eye Society
Member--Research Study Club of Los Angeles
Member--California Association of Ophthalmology
Member--American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery