F. M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Jean Bennett is a gene therapy expert recognized for her translational work on inherited retinal degenerations. She is known particularly for being the scientific leader of a team that translated reversal of blindness in animal models to the demonstration of efficacy and safety in children and adults.

Her laboratory developed the first FDA approved gene therapy for use in humans , which treats a rare form of blindness.

Dr. Bennett was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022. She has been active in the American Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, non – profit patient – oriented foundations, and is a member of both t he National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

She has completed fellowships at University of California, San Francisco, Yale University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr. Bennett received her PhD in Zoology/Cell an d Developmental Biology from University of California, Berkeley and her MD from Harvard Medical School.