Bela Anand-Apte, MD, PhD, MBA

Dr. Anand-Apte is the Chairman of Ophthalmic Research at the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She is also Professor of Ophthalmology and Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1996. 

Her research team explores the basic biological mechanisms of vision loss due to abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye with special emphasis on Sorsby fundus dystrophy, age- related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Dr Anand-Apte received the equivalent of an MD degree from King Edward Memorial Hospital and Bombay University in India. Having developed an interest in research she completed a Ph.D. degree in Immunology and Microbiology from the Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. A brief postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard University was followed by a Research Associate position at Children’s hospital in Boston in the Department of Surgical Research. 

She has received the Karen Grunebaum award for research in Cancer, the Tom and Sandy Trudell Research Award for the study of retinal degenerative diseases, awarded through the Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Lew Wasserman Award from RPB (Research to Prevent Blindness). Research from her laboratory has led to the understanding of novel functions for matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors in neovascularization and its implications in inherited retinal dystrophies and age-related macular degeneration. A more recent focus on regulation of the blood retinal barrier in diabetic retinopathy is providing interesting insights into the loss of vision in diabetes. The ultimate goal is an improved understanding of ocular pathologies that lead to blindness. Dr. Anand-Apte has a strong commitment to improving diversity in the biomedical science research field and has played a pivotal role in establishing programs at the Cleveland Clinic to reach this goal.