Prof. m. Francesca Cordeiro

Chief Scientific Officer

Professor M Francesca Cordeiro, is a clinician-scientist, Chair of Ophthalmology Imperial College London, UCL Professor of Glaucoma and Retinal Neurodegeneration, Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist/Research Lead and Director of the ICORG Clinical Trials Unit at the Western Eye Hospital London.

Francesca qualified in medicine from St Bartholomew’s Hospital University of London, obtained MRCP (UK) and FRCOphth, specialising in ophthalmology after training at Moorfield’s Eye & St Thomas’ Hospitals.  In 1998 she completed a PhD on TGF-beta and surgical wound healing through a Wellcome Trust Vision Training Fellowship receiving the 2000 International Glaucoma Review Award and the Moorfield’s Research Medal for this work.  

Her research, funded continuously by the Wellcome Trust since 1996, focuses on  novel and molecular approaches with a target of saving sight and reducing disability, and a clear aim of  translating findings directly to her patients.

 A Wellcome Trust University Award in 2001 allowed her to start as a Principal Investigator at UCL and in 2005 she became honorary consultant at Western Eye Hospital whilst maintaining a research group at the Institute of Ophthalmology. Since then, Francesca’s research has focused on the molecular mechanisms involved in either the treatment or pathogenesis of retinal neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and diabetes. She has been excited to investigate the parallels of brain and eye disease, promoting the eye as a “window on to the brain” for many years.  Together with her teams at UCL and Imperial College, she has worked hard to raise the profile of ophthalmic research outside of ophthalmology.

Her work is published in both ophthalmic and non-ophthalmic journals and she has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and 8 patents. She enjoys communicating her ideas and is regularly invited to speak at  national and international meetings. Francesca has received numerous awards and has delivered over 200 invited talks about her research around the world. She is a frequent organizer of scientific symposia, session Chair and/or Faculty and sits on various international committees and societies including the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), the European Vision Institute, Controversies in Ophthalmology (COphy), European Glaucoma Society (EGS), EVICRnet and European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER), and chairs the EGS Neuroprotection SIG. 

Francesca is Editorial Board Member/Associate of various journals including Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS), Experimental Eye Research, European Journal of Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Research. She has served on a number of scientific advisory boards and  participates in many peer review panels including the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council (UK), Brain Canada, FWF Austrian Science Fund and President’s Science, Technology Awards (France) and Hong Kong Government Awards.

Having previously been a graduate tutor at UCL, she teaches and mentors under- and post-graduates at Imperial College and UCL, having supervised 12 MD/PhD students and over 30 BSc/MSc projects. She in particular promotes the training of academic ophthalmologists, encouraging medical students to consider this career pathway early in their training.

 Francesca has received a number of international awards for her research, including the Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize 2005 from the New York Academy of Medicine, the Research to Prevent Blindness International Research Scholar Award USA 2015, the GG2 Diversity Award for Outstanding Achievement in Medicine 2017 and the 2019 Duke Elder Award (Royal College of Ophthalmologists).

She is currently a Trustee for Fight for Sight Charity and CSO at Novai Ltd.