Dr. Weiss, a native of NYC, New York, graduated from State University of Buffalo summa cum laude with a 4.0 average and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from Mt. Sinai Medical School at 23 years of age and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha.  Her ophthalmology residency was completed at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine followed by a fellowship in ocular pathology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School in Boston and a fellowship in cornea and external eye diseases at Emory University in Atlanta. She is Fellow of Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine, Drexel University School of Medicine.

Following fellowship training, Dr. Weiss was a Visiting Professor at Tri Service General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan and Fulbright Professor at Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine in Harare, Zimbabwe.  She subsequently served as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at University of Massachusetts Medical Center.  She then joined Kresge Eye Institute, the Department of Ophthalmology at Wayne State University as Associate Professor and then Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology, Director of Refractive Surgery. In 2011, she was appointed Professor and Chair of the Louisiana State University Department of Ophthalmology, New Orleans, Herbert E Kaufman MD endowed Chair in Ophthalmology, Professor of Pathology and Pharmacology.

In 2016, Dr. Weiss was also appointed Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Louisiana State University School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Global Health Management and Policy at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. In 2019, she was also appointed Chief Medical Officer of the Louisiana State University Health Care Network.

Dr. Weiss’ principal clinical and research interests are corneal dystrophies.  Her interest in Schnyder’s cornea dystrophy spans over 30 years during which time her research has helped define the clinical findings, visual prognosis, causative gene and mutations, disease mechanisms and animal models. She also formed and Chairs the International Committee for the Classification of Corneal Dystrophies reclassifying the century old corneal dystrophy nomenclature.

Dr. Weiss was Chair of the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel, Chair of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Basic and Clinical Sciences Courses (13 books), Chair of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Basic and Clinic Sciences Course on Refractive Surgery and edited its first book on Refractive Surgery and Program Director of the Eye Bank Association of America and American Ophthalmology Society. She was Acting Chair for the controversial April 2008 FDA meeting on LASIK.

She has been a member of numerous national committees including member of the National Advisory Eye Council, member of NIH Visual Sciences Study Section, Board of Directors of the Cornea Society, the Basic and Clinical Sciences Course on Cornea and External Eye Diseases, Eye Bank Association Research Committee, Preferred Practice Plan for Cornea and External Eye Diseases, Eye Bank Committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Eye Bank Association of America.  

Dr. Weiss has received the Castroviejo Award from the Cornea Society, Service Advisory Award from the FDA, two Secretariat Awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), Senior Honor Award from the AAO, two Knight for Sight Awards from the Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation, Year of Woman Award from Women in Ophthalmology, LSU Ophthalmology Residency Teaching Award and Research Award, and is included in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Best Doctors in New Orleans and Louisiana.

Dr. Weiss has authored over 115 peer reviewed articles and chapters and edited one book. She presently is Chair of the International Committee for Classification of the Corneal Dystrophies, member of the editorial boards of the journal, Cornea, and the American Journal of Ophthalmology, member of the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel and Associate Secretary of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Research, Regulatory and External Scientific Relations committee.