Christine A. Curcio
The Power List 2021 – Power List
White-McKee Endowed Professor in Ophthalmology, Director of the AMD Histopathology Lab, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Why is it important to celebrate women in ophthalmology?
Amazing women are accomplishing amazing things in ophthalmology – and we lag behind other medical specialties in recognizing this.
What can be done to make the field more diverse?
People can commit to changing one or two things. For me as an editorial board member, it’s making sure that women (and non-US professionals) are among the reviewers that I invite for any manuscript. Judy Kim had a brilliant solution for the Macula Society: a woman and a man as co-moderators for all scientific sessions at their annual meetings. This helps younger women see this recognition, and also provides role models.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I am a PhD neuroscientist who has collaborated with master clinicians (such as Freund, Spaide, Yannuzzi) on validating many OCT imaging signatures for AMD. My laboratory supplied histology figures for the recent papers of the Classification of Atrophy Group. This group is seeking OCT-based imaging biomarkers for AMD trials.
Outside of work, what makes you happy?
We see our granddaughter, a pandemic baby who is 2,000 miles away, on our phones through pictures and videos almost every day. What a wonderful son and daughter-in-law, and a wonderful husband I have to enjoy her with! I cannot wait to visit family again.
