Dr. Chen, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School. She is a neurobiologist who has made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of neurodegeneration and regeneration. With a stellar track record of publications in journals like Cell, Nature, Science, etc., Dr. Chen brings exceptional expertise to her role at Harvard Medical School. Trained in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Professor Susumu Tonegawa at MIT, her research focuses on developing neuroprotective and regenerative therapies for deliberating neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma, optic neuropathies, and Alzheimer’s Disease. Her laboratory achieved the first full-length optic nerve regeneration in post-born mice. Moreover, they uncovered an unexpected link between the microbiome, T cell-mediated autoimmune responses, and neuron loss or vision impairment in glaucoma, findings that were validated in human patients. Along with Dr. Chen’s discovery of a master regulator of neuroinflammation, these studies led to the founding of FireCyte Therapeutics, Inc. (www.firecyte.com), which pioneers innovative immunotherapies for glaucoma and other currently untreatable optic neuropathies. Her transformative work has received many news commentaries, including in Nature, Nature Review Immunology, and EyeWorld, and has been highlighted by BBC news, underscoring its potential to revolutionize the diagnosis, management, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases in the eye and brain.