Scientific Advisors

Dr. Bennett is the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine and previously served as director of the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT) at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to Dr. Bennett’s positions at the University of Pennsylvania, she has been an Investigator at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for more than a decade. She also co-founded life science companies Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), GenSight Biologics and Limelight Bio. Dr. Bennett received her Ph.D. in Zoology and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkley, and obtained an M.D. from Harvard University. She also completed postdoctoral fellowships in Radiobiology and Environmental Health at the University of California, San Francisco, Human Genetics at Yale School of Medicine and Development Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her B.S. in Biology from Yale University.

Dr. Pierce is the Chatlos Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Ocular Genomics Institute in the Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Pierce received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in Ophthalmology at Harvard and fellowship in Pediatric Ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital, Boston, where he also assumed his first faculty position. He was then recruited to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. He returned to Harvard in 2011 to establish the Ocular Genomics Institute (OGI), which aims to translate the promise of precision medicine into clinical care for patients with inherited eye diseases.

Dr. Ayyagari is a Professor of Ophthalmology, Pathology and Biomedical Sciences Graduate program, Viterbi Family Endowed Chair and Director of the Shiley Eye Institute Biobank, at the Shiley Eye Institute and University of California, San Diego, California. She is an internationally renowned leader in the field of genetics and disease mechanisms of inherited retinal degenerations. Dr. Ayyagari obtained her PhD in Biochemistry and trained in ophthalmic genetics during her post-doctoral fellowship. She has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles, mentors high school, graduate and medical school students, and post-doctoral scholars, and serves on several national and international scientific advisory boards/committees.