Nazlee Zebardast

Dr. Zebardast is a clinician scientist and full-time member of the Glaucoma Service at Mass Eye and Ear. She specializes in the treatment of adult glaucoma and combined glaucoma and cataracts, with a particular interest in minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS).

She has received numerous awards and honors for her academic and research accomplishments and has published in top ophthalmology journals. She has made significant contributions to global epidemiologic research having established the Indian Family Angle Closure Evaluation with colleagues at Aravind Eye Institute in Southern India. Among other findings, this study determined that siblings of individuals with known angle closure have a greater than 1 in 3 risk of developing the condition. Additionally, she has worked with a many large datasets to understand the prevalence of eye disease and its impact. 

Her current research focuses on machine-learning methods to characterize and define novel glaucoma endophenotypes to understand the genetic underpinning of vision loss in this blinding disease. Her goal is to develop novel imaging and genomics-based precision medicine screening and diagnostic tools to pre-symptomatically identify patients at high risk of functional vision loss and progression while avoiding unnecessary care of those unlikely to worsen.