Research Day - Friday, April 11th, 2025
RI Auditorium (Block E) Glen Hospital
Montreal, QC
9:00am - 4:30pm
Register here:
Accreditation Statement
The McGill Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department Research Day is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1), as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and was approved by the Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Physicians may claim a maximum of 4.5 hours.
Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the learning activity.
Through an agreement between the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Medical Association, physicians may convert Royal College MOC credits to AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Information on the process to convert Royal College MOC credit to AMA credit can be found at www.ama-assn.org/go/internationalcme.
Keynote Speaker:
Adriana Di Polo PhD, FARVO
Canada Research Chair in Glaucoma
and Age-Related Neurodegeneration
Department of Neuroscience
Department of Ophthalmology
University of Montreal
Dr. Di Polo is Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at the
University of Montreal (Quebec, Canada) since 2000. She holds a Canada Research Chair in
glaucoma and age-related neurodegeneration. She completed a BSc in biology from the
Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas, Venezuela) and a PhD in physiology from the
University of California (Los Angeles, USA. Dr. Di Polo then pursued postdoctoral training at the
Center for Research in Neuroscience at McGill University (Quebec, Canada).
Dr. Di Polo’s research program focuses on understanding mechanisms of neuronal, glial, and
vascular deficits in glaucoma. The ultimate goal of her laboratory is to develop regenerative and
neuroprotective therapies to restore retinal ganglion cell function. She has received continuous
research funding throughout her career and is presently Principal Investigator on grants from
the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institutes of Health, Department of
Defense USA, Alcon Research Institute, BrightFocus Foundation, Glaucoma Foundation, and
other competitive grants from non-profit organizations as well as industry.
Dr. Di Polo serves on many executive and scientific boards, including the NIH Audacious Goals
Initiative, BrightFocus Foundation, Glaucoma Research Foundation, Glaucoma Foundation, and
she served as Chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Clinical & Systems
Neuroscience panel. She is the current Director of the Retina and Posterior Segment Group of
the Quebec Vision Health Research Network and is the President of the Canadian Association
for Neuroscience (CAN) (2023-2024). She is an ARVO Gold Fellow and has received many
awards including the Foundation Fighting Blindness Young Investigator Award, the 2019 Shaffer
Prize from the Glaucoma Research Foundation, the 2020 Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Research Prize,
and the 2023 Alcon Research Institute Senior Investigator Award. Dr. Di Polo is deeply
committed to teaching and training vision scientists at all levels of education, and she served on
the Women in Eye and Vision Research (WEAVR) committee (2017-2020).