Caroline Klaver

Caroline C.W. Klaver (1967) is ophthalmologist, epidemiologist at RadboudUMC, and professor in Epidemiology and Genetics of Eye diseases at Erasmus MC, the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD degree from Erasmus University in 2000, and worked as a postdoc in retinal genetics at the University of Iowa and Columbia University in the USA. In addition she holds a professorship at University of Basel, Switzerland. Caroline has expertise in medical retina, epidemiology and genetics of common (age-related macular degeneration, myopia) as well as rare (retinal dystrophies) eye diseases. She is principal investigator of ophthalmologic studies in 7 large epidemiologic cohorts from Rotterdam and has established several international eye consortia. Her research group found the first common gene for age[1]related macular degeneration and myopia, and has published substantially on natural disease course, risk factors, and patient outcomes16 of eye diseases. Caroline and her team have been involved in the design and execution of clinical trials for myopia, and she is currently directing a lifestyle intervention study for macular degeneration. Over the last 5 years she incorporated solutions based on artificial intelligence into her research group18, and has also set up functional studies in animals to decipher molecular mechanisms of important eye genes. Her combined expertise in clinical ophthalmology, clinical and genetic epidemiology, as well as in basic science and artificial intelligence contributes to building a bridge between research on disease mechanisms and innovative interventions on the one hand, and patient profiling and clinical implementation on the other. As an academic clinician-researcher, Caroline feels the necessity of translating research findings to the clinic. She therefore set up informative websites on important eye diseases for the general public, patients, and professionals (www.myopie.nl; www.maculadegeneratie.nl). She was involved in designing the national preferred practice pattern for macular degeneration, and is board member of the Medical Retina working group of the Dutch Ophthalmology Society (NOG), board member of a foundation for blind and visually impaired (LSBS), and board member of the European Retina Society (EURETINA).