Short presentation

Professor Miriam Kolko is chief physician and glaucoma specialist at the Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet and Professor of Translational Eye Research at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen. She is also president of the Danish Glaucoma Society and a board member of Fight for Sight, Denmark. In addition, Professor Kolko is the glaucoma chair of EVER, she sits in the WGA Associate Advisory Board is co-chair for the EGS neuroprotection SIG.

At the University of Copenhagen, Professor Kolko heads the Personalised Medicine research section and Eye Translational Research Unit. As a clinician and researcher, she bridges the gap between maintaining a clinical career with glaucoma patients and investigating basic, translational and clinical research models that help understand to pathophysiology of glaucoma and to improve glaucoma care.

CV

WORK ADDRESSES

• Afdeling for Øjensygdomme (Department of Ophthalmology), Rigshospitalet, Valdemar Hansens Vej 1-23, 2600 Glostrup

• Institut for Lægemiddeldesign og Farmakologi (Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology), Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen

POSITIONS AND TRUSTED POSTURES

• Professor in Translational Eye Research at University of Copenhagen (UCPH)
• Chief Physician (glaucoma specialist) at the Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet)
• Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology, Glaucoma (FEBOS-GL)
• President of the Danish Glaucoma Society 
• Board member of Fight for Sight, Denmark
• Elected glaucoma chair European Association for Vision and Eye Research, EVER
• Elected member of board of directors Acta Ophthalmologica
• Elected member of Associate Advisory Board (AAB), World Glaucoma Association
• Co-Chair of neuroprotection special interest group, European Glaucoma Society (EGS)
• Part of the management team at Dept. of Drug Design and Pharmacology (DDP), UCPH
• Member of the research strategy committee, Dept. of Ophthalmology, Rigshospitalet
• Head of Research Cluster for Personalised Medicine, DDP, UCPH
• Head of Research Group, Eye Translational Research Unit, EyeTRU, UCPH
• National and international coordinator of multicenter studies within glaucoma disease research.
• Jury member of funding applications from national research council's (Belgium and Canada) and several other national and international foundations
• Board Member of Carl and Nicoline Larsen’s Foundation
• Member of assessment committee and chair of committees for the appointment of assistant, associate, and full professors
• Editorial board member (e.g. Molecular Neurobiol., Cell. and Mol. Neurobiol., Acta Ophthal.)
• Director of glaucoma in the Region of Zealand (2014-2017).
• Head of Section at the Dept. of Drug Design and Pharmacology, UCPH (2018-2019).

EDUCATION

• Medical Doctor degree, University of Copenhagen.
• Fulbright Scholar, Louisiana State University (LSU), Neuroscience Center, US
• PhD from LSU, Neuroscience Center and Dept. of Ophthalmology, US.
• Postdoctoral Fellowships at Louisiana State University, Neuroscience Center, US.
• Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCPH, Dept. of Ocular Pathology.
• Medical Internships in surgery, emergency medicine, and ophthalmology in the Region of Copenhagen.
• Residency in Ophthalmology in the Region of Copenhagen.
• Fellowship in Glaucoma at the Copenhagen University Hospital.
• Clinical exchanges in glaucoma in US (New York, Sacramento), Belgium (Leuven), India (Madurai)
• More courses in pedagogy
• Fellow of the EuropeanBoard of Ophthalmology, Glaucoma
• Several leadership and management courses

SELECTED AWARDS, HONORS AND RECOGNIOTIONS

• Top 1% of scholars writing about Glaucoma, Expertscape's PubMed-based algorithms
• On the Ophthalmologist's Power List, 2021
• Received the largest grant to date from the Synoptik Foundation
• Lions prize, 2018
• Award of Excellence from the Danish Ophthalmological Society, 2018
• Medivit Award, 2014 and 2016
• Victor Larsens Award, 2006
• Fulbright Scholar, 1995
• Awarded research funding of >25 million DKK (>3.3 mill EUR)
• Invited speaker, hereunder keynotes and honorary, at more than 80 scientific meetings
  
  

PROJECT MANAGEMENT, GUIDANCE AND ACADEMIC RESULTS

• I head translational research projects within the field of neurodegenerative eye diseases
• I am national coordinator of clinical multicenter studies within glaucoma
• I have successfully supervised 5 postdocs, 5 PhD students (3 as main supervisor), 3 research assistants, 21 master students, 16 scholar students, and 19 bachelor students
• I currently supervise 10 PhD students (8 as main supervisor, 2 as co-supervisor), 3 master students, 1 bachelor student
• I have more than 100 peer-reviewed papers,10 editorial reviews, 22 popular science papers, and 7 book chapters.
  
  

MY INVOLVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINE AND KEY RESEARCH AREAS

• I direct course work for medical students, residents in ophthalmology, and pharmacy students
• I consult eye patients, including medical treatment, laser treatments and glaucoma surgeries
• I organize seminars, conferences, and public events to facilitate collaborations and community outreach activities
• I have several leadership roles and continuously try to create a transparent, trustworthy, and authentic work environment with motivated students, coworkers, and staff
• I function as an opinion leader and as an external advisor to the pharma industry
• I am national coordinator/principal investigator of more industry-sponsored clinical trials
• I am engaged in outreach activities to improve treatment and diagnostic strategies for patients

This is an abbreviated resume of my full CV - full CV available upon request.