Eleonora M. Lad is the Vice Chair for Clinical Research and Associate Professor in the Department Of Ophthalmology, Duke University School of Medicine. She received her MD and PhD from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science in 2007 and completed her ophthalmology residency at Stanford University. Dr. Lad’s career goal is to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for AMD. Her research interests are as follows: (1) investigating the role of neuroinflammation and abnormal protein aggregates in the pathogenesis of AMD and developing relevant treatments, (2) visual function testing in dry AMD to establish endpoints and biomarkers for future clinical studies in early AMD, and (3) elucidating the use of novel retinal imaging biomarkers for the early diagnosis of aging diseases (AMD and Alzheimer’s disease). Dr. Lad was awarded the Research to Prevent Blindness Ernest & Elizabeth Althouse Special Scholar Award, the VA Clinical Science Research and Development I01 Merit Award, the Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development (K23) Award from the National Eye Institute, the 2016 ARVO/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award, Duke Health Scholar, and a number of foundation grants.
