Dr. Mustafi grew up in Chicago and earned his bachelor’s degree with Honors in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. He then matriculated to Case Western Reserve University as part of the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program to earn his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Mustafi completed his Ph.D. dissertation work under the tutelage of noted vision scientist Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski. He was recognized for his dissertation research on the genetic features of the retina in health and disease with a doctoral excellence award.
Upon completion of his internship, he completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Southern California/LA County. He was awarded the prestigious Heed Fellowship upon finishing residency and completed his medical and surgical vitreoretinal fellowship at the University of Washington. He then joined the faculty at UW with his clinical practice at Seattle Children’s Hospital and his research laboratory at the Karalis Johnson Retina Center.
Dr. Mustafi has published papers and presented work at national meetings on the topic of retinal degenerative conditions and their genotypic diagnosis. In addition to his clinical practice caring for pediatric patients afflicted with retinal disease, he has an active laboratory dedicated to studying the genotypic features of retinal degenerative conditions and methods to study patient-derived cells to better understand the features causing these vision-threatening diseases. Dr. Mustafi is actively involved in clinical trials and provides patients with information regarding trials that would be beneficial for their condition.In his spare time, Dr. Mustafi enjoys running, golf, traveling, spending time with his wife and kids, and rooting for his beloved Chicago sports teams.