Scientific committee

Professor CN Grupcheva (Chair)

MD, PhD, DSc, FEBO, FICO (Hon), FBCLA, FIACLE

Corresponding member of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Evlogi Georgiev 4, Varna, Bulgaria

Prof. Dr CN Grupcheva, MD, PhD, FEBO, FICO, FIACLE, FBCLA, is a Bulgarian medical doctor, specialist in ophthalmology since 1996. She continued her studies with short fellowships at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London and Dundee University, UK. In 2000, she relocated to New Zealand as a Senior Research Fellow at Auckland University for three years. During that period, she completed a PhD with high commendations and Best Doctorial Thesis Prize of Auckland University for 2002. She relocated to her home country to serve as a high-level academic and medical director. During her career, she served as a Head of ophthalmology department for 12 years and Vice Recor for 10. She is a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Science and an active member of esteemed learned societies, such as Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (elected council member) and more.   She has published more than 180 scientific papers and 17 ophthalmology books. She has Hi index of 48 and more than 3000 citations. Professor Grupcheva teaches at all graduate and postgraduate levels and is/was a supervisor of 28 PhD students and 22 residents in ophthalmology. She is the past president of the European Board of Ophthalmology and current President of Bulgarian Ophthalmological Society. Currently, she serves as TFOS ambassador for Bulgaria.

Professor Dominique Bremond-Gignac

MD, PhD, FEBO, Professor of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Necker Enfants Malades, Paris, France

Prof. Dominique Bremond-Gignac, MD, PhD, FEBO, Professor of Ophthalmology, Head of the Ophthalmology Department with pediatric and ocular surface subspecialties at University Hospital Necker-Enfants Malades and Paris Cité University in Paris. Head of Paris Orthoptic Department, associate researcher at INSERM UMRS 1138, Team 17 Research Unit, in innovation therapy. Activity is distributed in clinical practice, teaching and research. Involved with patients with aniridia disease and President of the Scientific Committee of Aniridia Europe and Gêniris

Professor Neil Lagali

 Full Professor of Experimental Ophthalmology at Linköping University, Sweden, Linköping

Neil Lagali is full Professor of Experimental Ophthalmology at Linköping University, Sweden, where he leads a team of researchers focusing on the genetic and molecular basis of common and rare eye diseases with a special interest in aniridia and aniridia-associated keratopathy (AAK), performing research in this area for over 15 years. The team’s focus is to better understand the genetic, molecular, and physiological origins of AAK and to develop new pharmacotherapies. He has led large European consortia such as the EU COST Action ANIRIDIA-NET and has examined the corneas of aniridia patients in many European countries. He currently has over 150 publications in the field of eye research.

Professor Dr Szentmáry Nóra

Homburg, Germany, Dr Rolf M. Schwiete Centre for Limbal Stem Cell and Congenital Aniridia Research, Saarland University

Prof. Szentmáry was born in Budapest and studied medicine at Semmelweis University, where she qualified as an ophthalmologist and earned her PhD in 2005. From 2008 to 2010, supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, she continued her research at the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Saarland in Germany. She completed her habilitation at the Saarland University Medical Faculty in 2012. Her clinical and scientific work focuses primarily on corneal, ocular surface, and anterior segment diseases. She has authored 11 book chapters and 310 scientific publications to date and has successfully supervised 10 Ph.D. theses. Fifty of her publications address clinical or basic research on congenital aniridia. Since June 2020, she has been working as head of the Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Center for Limbal Stem Cell and Congenital Aniridia Research in Homburg/Saar. She has also been Head of the Cornea and Ocular Surface Section of the European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER) between 2017-2022. Between 2022-2023 she was President of the EVER, and she received the title EVER Felow and honorary life member of EVER in 2023. She is editor of Journal of Ophthalmology, Biomolecules, Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica, Ophthalmology and Therapy and Current Eye Research. Professor Szentmáry speaks English, German, French and Spanish besides her mother tongue.

Professor Vito Romano

Brescia, Italy, University of Brescia

Vito Romano is passionate about translational research and clinical trial design, with a special interest in cornea, cataract, and refractive surgery, ophthalmic imaging, and ocular surface diseases. He is Professor of Ophthalmology at University of Brescia (Italy) with an honorary position at the University of Liverpool.

Cooperation, support and sponsors

This conference would not be possible without the kind and generous support and cooperation of our partners and donors.