About Us » FFB Funded Researchers
Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D.
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Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. joined University of Pennsylvania in 1992 as an Assistant Professor. She is presently a full professor, the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology, with a joint appointment in the Ophthalmology and Cell and Developmental Biology Departments, and the Vice Chair for Research in Ophthalmology. In this latter position, she is responsible for planning research directions in the Ophthalmology Department. Dr. Bennett is also a member of two different graduate groups at University of Pennsylvania (Neuroscience and Cell and Molecular Biology), a member of the Cancer Center and of the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences, a trainer in several programs (including the Physician/Scientist Program in Ophthalmology, the Cell and Gene Therapy Program, the Medical Genetics Summer Undergraduate Research Program, and the Veterinarian/Scientist Training Program) and a member of the newly formed Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics. Dr. Bennett is also a member of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Bennett is active with a variety of national and international organizations promoting translational research including ARVO and the American Society of Gene Therapy. Dr. Bennett is currently Scientific Director of A Phase 1 Safety Study in Subjects with Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA)Using Adeno-Associated Viral Vector to Deliver the Gene for Human RPE65 Into the Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE)[AAV2-hRPE65v2-101]. Prior to joining University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Bennett was an Instructor at the Wilmer Institute (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine), where she and her husband (Dr. Albert Maguire) developed the foundation for many of the ocular gene therapy studies that they have pursued at the University of Pennsylvania. Before accepting that position, Dr. Bennett was a postdoctoral fellow in Human Genetics at Yale Medical School and then was awarded the Stetler Fellowship for Women Physicians in Developmental Genetics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Bennett received her B.S. in Biology with Honors from Yale University and took her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Upon completion of her doctorate, she was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at University of California, San Francisco and then completed her M.D. at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bennett’s research effort focuses on developing somatic gene delivery for treatment of ocular diseases. Dr. Bennett has received several awards throughout her career, including the Paul Kayser International Award in Retina Research (shared with Drs. Maguire, Acland, Aguirre, Jacobson, Hauswirth), an Alcon Research Institute Award, the "For the love of sight" award (FFB), the Lois Pope Leaders in Furthering Education (LIFE) Award, and the William Osler Award for Translational Research. |
