She received her medical degree from the University of Oklahoma, where she was in the top 10 percent of graduating students (Alpha Omega Alpha honor society). Upon completing her residency in ophthalmology and fellowship in cornea, external disease and refractive surgery at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, the #1 eye hospital and residency program in the United States (US), she spent a year restoring sight for the world’s most vulnerable populations. 

Nikpoor was selected for a fellowship during which she performed hundreds of complex cataract and cornea surgeries and taught extensively in Asia and Africa. In the US, she served as a clinical instructor at Stanford University.  During that time, she also worked with the Himalayan Cataract Project (now Cure Blindness Project), a nonprofit organization that revolutionized eye care in the developing world. With 13 million people in the world blind from cataracts, Dr. Nikpoor continues helping eradicate global blindness, including in the Philippines and Marshall Islands. 

Her work has been published in prominent peer-reviewed journals such as Ophthalmology, Cornea, and The American Journal of Ophthalmology. She has presented her work at numerous regional, national and international meetings and authored several textbook chapters. Nikpoor is a section editor for the Cancer Research, Statistics and Treatment (CRST) Journal and holds a leadership role in the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. She also collaborates with leading ophthalmic surgical device and pharmacological companies, contributing to innovation through clinical research, consulting and peer education at both national and local levels. She is routinely invited to speak at national meetings and asked to teach other surgeons the latest surgical techniques. 

In Hawaii, she serves on the advisory board of Project Vision Hawaii, a nonprofit that increases access to health and human services for the people of Hawaii and beyond. She has also performed many free LASIK and cataract surgeries for the Lahaina fire survivors and other ohana in need.