Age Related Macular Degeneration: Understanding The Basics & Potential Therapies

Claire M. Gelfman, Ph.D., has been a member of Beth Am ever since she and her family moved to San Diego about 10 years ago from the Houston area. She currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and has been doing research in the field of ophthalmology for over 20 years.  In this talk, she will focus on not only the anatomy and physiology of the eye under normal healthy conditions, but also what happens during age-related macular degeneration.  Current treatments will be reviewed, as well as those on the horizon that utilize gene therapy approaches.

Claire Gelfman Bio: Dr. Gelfman serves as Cheif Scientific Officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness since April 2021.  She is responsible for leading the overarching scientific strategy for the organization with a focus on research initiatives designed to accelerate new treatments and cures for inherited retinal diseases and dry age-related macular degeneration.

She was previously Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development, at Adverum Biotechnologies, an ocular gene therapy company developing treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal diseases.   Prior to that, she was the Senior Director, Scientific Services/Preclinical and Translational Science at Ora, Inc., an ophthalmic contract research organization (CRO) providing pre-clinical, regulatory, and clinical trial services for companies worldwide.  Prior to Ora, Dr. Gelfman spent 12 years at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals in the area of molecular genetics where she was involved in early drug target discovery using molecular, cellular, and biochemical approaches, and directed in vivo pharmacology efforts in the areas of ocular inflammation and retinal degeneration.  

Dr. Gelfman received a postdoctoral fellowship grant from the National Eye Institute to study changes in gene expression in the retinal pigmented epithelium at the University of California Davis, where she also taught and mentored both undergraduate and graduate students. Her experience covers more than 20 years in drug discovery and development in ophthalmology, spanning academia, the CRO industry, and the biotechnology sector. Dr. Gelfman holds a BA in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin.