Date: Thursday, November 4th 2021, 18h-20h
⇒ TO VIEW THE RECORDING ⇐
Hybrid event
Videoconference (Zoom)
In-person*: Picnic VéloCafé, 1251 Rue Rachel Est, Montréal, QC, 13 min by walk from Métro Mont-Royal (limited to 25 persons)
*COVID-19 vaccination pass and ID are required.
Speakers Biosketchs
Cynthia Qian, MD, FRCSC, DABO
Dr. Qian is an assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology of University of Montreal. She is a surgical retina attending at both the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and Ste-Justine Hospital for Children, where she is the director of electrophysiology laboratory and retinal dystrophy units. She attended medical school at McGill University, and went on to complete her ophthalmology residency training at University of Montreal. She then embarked on a two-year surgical vitreoretinal fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary of Harvard Medical School in Boston, followed by a second fellowship at the Kellogg Eye Center in retinal dystrophy. She has received many prestigious national and international awards, including the Canadian Millennium Scholarship, the Governor General’s Medal, the title of Person of the Year at the Forces Avenir Gala, and one of the Canada’s Top 40 under 40.
She is an expert on pathologies of the pediatric retina and on retinal dystrophy, particularly on the surgical implantation of retinal prostheses and subretinal gene therapy. She successfully implanted the first retinal prosthesis in Quebec with her colleague Dr Flavio Rezende in 2017. Currently, she is the main clinician evaluating candidates for the RPE 65 genetic mutation Luxturna treatment and will be one of the two surgeons performing this surgery in the province of Quebec.
She is a regular spokesperson for the Canadian Ophthalmology Society (COS) and spearheaded the COS official statement on treatment of retinitis pigmentosa. She has been recognized for her ground-breaking work both as a leader in medicine and as a rising star in clinical ophthalmology
Sarah Chorfi, MD, FRCSC
Dr Sarah Chorfi is a clinical fellow of Inherited Retinal Degenerations at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary of Harvard Medical School. She grew up in Montreal and attended medical school at McGill University, where she graduated on Dean’s Honours List. She went on to complete her ophthalmology residency at University of Montreal, where she was avidly implicated in medical student and resident teaching, as well as leading numerous research projects and speaking at national and international conferences. She is currently undertaking her clinical fellowship in Boston, where she serves as the sub-investigator for several clinical trials of gene-specific therapies such as drug delivery and gene editing. She was awarded many distinctions for her dedication to education, innovation, and excellency, including the Initiation to Vision Student Research Award, the Lieutenant Governor’s Youth Medal, the McGill Faculty of Medicine Research Bursary, and the Vision Health Research Network Recruitment Scholarship
In a friendly atmosphere, students, researchers and the general public will have
the opportunity to discuss about gene therapy or
on any other topic related to vision health research.
This second Scientific Café,
is initiated by the VHRN Student Committee