Internationally renowned vision researcher, physician and professional leader, has been named to the role
Dr. Anne L. Coleman, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology and an internationally renowned vision researcher, physician and professional leader, has been named to the role of executive medical director and chair of the department of ophthalmology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Coleman, a Santa Monica resident, will also serve as director of the UCLA Stein Eye Institute and affiliation chair of the Doheny Eye Institute. Her appointment took effect July 1.
“Dr. Coleman’s deep experience as a surgeon-scientist and national leader in the ophthalmology profession has earned her a global reputation for excellence,” said Dr. John Mazziotta, vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences and CEO of UCLA Health. “We look forward to her leadership in this new role.”
At UCLA, Coleman is the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation Professor of Ophthalmology and a professor of epidemiology at the Fielding School. She succeeds Dr. Bartley Mondino, who is stepping down after three historic decades of leadership as chair of ophthalmology and director of the Stein Eye Institute.
Coleman earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, pursued her residency training at the University of Illinois in Chicago and completed her fellowship training in glaucoma at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University. She earned a doctorate in epidemiology from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in 1997 and is a graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s executive program in management.
In her research, Coleman studies the diagnosis, treatment, risk factors, gene-environment interactions and societal impact of glaucoma, cataracts, myopia, amblyopia and age-related macular degeneration. She led a clinical trial that pioneered the use of the Ahmed valve, which is now the world’s leading glaucoma drainage device to lower eye pressure.
Coleman possesses a passion for patient care, especially for the medically underserved. As director of the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic, she has overseen outreach programs to screen and treat the vision of more than 180,000 low-income children and adults in southern California.
As vice chair for academic affairs, Coleman has helped to recruit more than 40 faculty to the UCLA ophthalmology department. She has written more than 240 peer-reviewed publications and been awarded over $20 million in federal and private funding to support her research.
Coleman is also a national leader in her field. She has served as president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), chair of the National Eye Institute’s National Eye Health Educational Program, president of Women in Ophthalmology, and as member of the U.S. Food and Drug Association’s ophthalmic device panel.
Currently, she is a scientific advisory panel member for Research to Prevent Blindness, president of the Council for the American Ophthalmological Society and current associate editor of glaucoma for the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
During her career, Coleman’s achievements have been recognized by many awards, including the AAO Life Achievement Award and Secretariat Award, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
“The ability to bring together the work of clinicians with global standing, like Dr. Coleman, to both the medical and public health fields, and our students, is a very important element of the work we do at FSPH,” said Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health chair and distinguished professor of epidemiology, who is also a physician. “It’s this sort of interdisciplinary approach that makes our school what it is, and being able to partner with our colleagues and affiliated faculty across all the health sciences is a unique strength of UCLA specifically, and the Fielding School especially.”
