Dr. Di Polo is Full Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at the University of Montreal and currently holds a Canada Research Chair in glaucoma and age-related neurodegeneration. She completed her Bachelor of Science in biology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas, Venezuela) and her Doctorate in physiology from the University of California (Los Angeles, USA). Dr. Di Polo then pursued postdoctoral training at the Center for Research in Neuroscience at McGill University (Quebec, Canada). In 2000, Dr. Di Polo became faculty at the University of Montreal, where she studies mechanisms of retinal ganglion cell loss as well as neuroprotective and regenerative strategies for glaucoma. She has received continuous research funding throughout her career, and is presently Principal Investigator on grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense USA, and other competitive grants and awards from non-profit organizations as well as industry. Dr. Di Polo has received prestigious awards, including the Foundation Fighting Blindness Young Investigator Award, the 2017 Frank Stein and Paul S. May Award for Innovative Glaucoma Research, the 2019 Shaffer prize from the Glaucoma Research Foundation, and the 2020 Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize. She is an ARVO Gold Fellow (2019) for her contributions to the vision research community. Dr. Di Polo serves on many executive and scientific boards, including the NIH Audacious Goals Initiative, BrightFocus Foundation, Glaucoma Research Foundation, Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CIHR), and she is currently the Chair of the CIHR Neuroscience A panel.